Chapter Thirty
~Katarina~
Katarina held Isabella tight, staring at the dark of Nikolai’s room for most of the night.
She didn’t get a wink of sleep as she played the problem over in her head like an unending puzzle that continuously lost a piece before she put it together.
Gill was possibly out. Her in-laws wanted to fight for custody.
There was some guy named The Executive coming after Jessie.
Even while her child snored away, happy as a bug in a warm, fuzzy rug, Katarina fussed with the problem till the bedroom door creaked open at five am.
Nik poked his head in, and the pair caught gazes in the hazy morning light.
“Can’t sleep?” he murmured.
Katarina shook her head.
“Come on,” he nodded back toward the hall before creeping back out with his overalls in hand.
Katarina slithered out from behind her baby and tiptoed out the door with Nik.
She spared a glance to find Isabella still wrapped firmly around Barnibus.
With a deep inhale, she followed her silent boyfriend down the stairs into the kitchen.
He opened a cabinet near the sliding door and pulled out two pairs of boxing gloves, tossing her a pair.
“What?” She whispered with a little laugh.
“Sometimes you just gotta punch stuff…this makes it hurt less.” Nik winked at her before shuffling out into the yard. “I got an hour before I gotta brush the tusks and pull on the overalls.”
“Oh, Nik, I don’t want to interrupt your morning routine.”
“Pfft,” Nik shook his head, “my normal routine starts in fifty minutes. Couldn’t sleep, thought about going in early to work.”
“Then let’s work-”
“Let’s punch stuff first.” Nik grinned, putting up his mitts to the air. “Let’s see what you got, or can you only whoop ass with a tire iron?”
Katarina chortled, tugging the gloves tight around her wrists with her teeth. “Oooooh, that’s it. You’re going in a bruised bugbear.”
“Whole lotta talk for—”
Nik jerked out of the way, grinning from floppy ear to floppy ear as Katarina swung at him.
She swung again, causing him to dance from foot to foot.
Katarina chased him across the yard, losing herself to the movement.
With every jab, Nik floated just out of reach, egging her on with a simple wiggle of his eyebrows.
It wasn’t till the backdoor whooshed open and a sleepy-eyed Jessie and Isabella stepped out that she even realized they’d worked up a sweat.
Jessie ducked out of the doorway, Isabella rubbed her face against his head to wipe away the crusties.
“Momma angry?” Isabella blinked slowly into the ruby light climbing over the trees of King’s Fall.
“Ah—Bug! No, Momma’s not angry. Nik and I were exercising.”
“I wanna!” Isabella fake boxed between Jessie’s horns, making small ‘pew-pew’ sounds as she swung on the air.
“Careful there, Bug, don’t wanna take Nik out,” Jessie laughed. He sauntered up to the sweaty pair of lovers, taking Katarina by the back of the head. She happily leaned into the kiss, humming with delight against his lips.
“Momma kiss!”
She didn’t even think about it. When she glanced up at Isabella leaning over the top of Jessie’s head, she saw her child smiling down at her.
“Yeah, I did,” Katarina wheezed, breathlessly as she studied her daughter’s face. “How does that make you feel?”
Isabella shrugged. “Beckfast?”
Katarina doubled over, hands to her knees, laughing so hard it made her limbs weak. She only caught sight of Jessie sneaking Nik a kiss before the large man jostled Isabella for a shriek of delight. Jessie chortled, sauntering away from the pair, “Breakfast sounds perfect.”
“I gotta head in. Finish that engine,” Nik pressed a kiss to the back of her sweaty head. He helped hoist her back up straight before whispering. “Now would be a good time to talk to Blightwood about that Gill problem.”
Katarina sobered up in a moment as Nik pressed a kiss onto her cheek. Shit. She needed to do that today. The school made it apparent that Gill and his preferences for pickup were just as valid as hers. And while it was the weekend, and she didn’t have to worry…Monday would come soon enough.
I need to talk to the big man. I need to protect her. I need to ensure he stays away.
So, while the boys got dressed and Isabella sleepily chased marshmallows in her cereal bowel, Katarina called up Sera. They had a mission…and Katarina was going to need to support. The kind a best friend who isn’t afraid to get arrested for biting an Enforcer could offer.
“Lord Commander?” Katarina gasped in shock as she stopped, halfway out the front of the shop, Sera and Isabella on her heel.
Isabella grabbed onto her calf and stared up at the large, Fowlst man looming over the doorway.
She had the papers in her hand to hand over to the council on her way to talk to the very councilor darkening the shop doorway.
They’d stopped by the shop to get everything printed and stapled.
Penny squawked, “Oi! No Enforcers allowed without warrants! And we charge double for council vehicles!”
“Penny,” Katarina hissed softly, shushing her.
“I’m not here on official business, nor do I own a vehicle, Ms. Delight. You know that.” Aravis grumbled, stepping away from the door.
“You know the desk girl’s name?” Sera sneered, following Katarina out into the parking lot. Katarina walked with her daughter wrapped around her leg like an ankle weight.
“Penny Delight and I have met on a few occasions during Titan Bonesaw’s reign, yes.
” Aravis’ monotone voice and less than enthused facial expression told Katarina all she needed to know.
Aravis knows the real deal behind the shop’s facade.
The only problem was, if he had the proof.
Which, clearly, he didn’t, otherwise none of this would have actually happened.
The large Fowlst stepped further onto the asphalt to allow the women room to close the shop door behind them.
Katarina squinted at him. “You’re not here on official business?”
“At least, not in that capacity. Ms. Witchbane, it would behoove me to tell you that my efforts have failed.” Aravis immediately hung his head slightly. A mop of obsidian hair fell forward around his face as he exhaled heavily. “I fear—”
“Gill’s out,” Katarina finished the sentence for him.
He straightened, brows furrowed. “You knew?”
“His parents showed up yesterday to gloat,” Katarina grumbled, arms crossing under her chest. She glanced down at Isabella who was more interested in the onyx talons that clicked against the ground than anything the Fowlst or her mother was saying.
“Well, it seems he has friends in the council. I wasn’t even made aware he was being processed for release until he was waltzed by my office as I left last night. Fergus was none too pleased, either, but there is more than one way to get out of a jail cell early.”
Katarina froze, eyeing Aravis up and down. “Wait…friends? Gill doesn’t have friends in the council. He has lawyers and friends with lawyers but…”
Katarina’s face paled as Aravis nodded, humming in acknowledgement. “You see my conundrum.”
“You know?” She hissed, leaning toward him before thinking better of it. “Do you know who The Executive is?”
“The Executive?” Aravis’ rose his thick brows.
“Oh no.” She shook her head vigorously. “No, you’re not tricking me a second time.”
“The first time wasn’t a trick,” Aravis chuckled softly, his stoney face finally softening with playful mirth. “Merely doing my job. But thank you for putting a name, of sorts, to the ghost I’ve been hunting.”
“You fuuuuu-” Katarina glanced down at Isabella. Inhaling sharply through her nose, she waggled her finger at Aravis. “Fudger.”
Aravis’ shoulder shook with laughter. “Relax, Ms. Witchbane. Your boyfriend isn’t who I’m really after.
By all accounts, the Bonesaws do run a legitimate business and are good for the ecosystem of King’s Fall.
As much as I detest the breaking of rules, I’ve come to understand some rules require breaking…
for they were never good rules to have in the first place. ”
Katarina blinked once, sitting back on her heels. “Is that so?”
“Let’s say someone near and dear to me put things into perspective,” Aravis’ lips tugged up at the corner.
“And this Executive, whoever they are, is more of a threat to King’s Fall than this shop.
So, I’ll focus my attention elsewhere. I can’t promise that, if I were presented with evidence, that I wouldn’t pursue justice for any laws broken by Jessie Bonesaw…
what I can promise is he’s not my problem right now.
The person playing the council for a fiddle is.
And I think they’re targeting you and your loved ones.
So, I’m saying this now, please, be careful. ”
Katarina nodded vigorously.
Aravis put his hand out and at first, she placed her palm in it. With another chuckle, he shook his head. “I meant your paperwork. I assume that’s all things I would file?”
“Oh!” She scrambled to pluck them off her chest. Handing them over, she watched him flip through them swiftly then offer her a nod.
Katarina watched the Lord Commander tuck her paperwork under a wing and slowly stalk away like a dark shadow over the land.
Isabella finally crept forward till she was staring up at Katarina with her big eyes.
“Well…that…changes today’s agenda,” Sera murmured as she crept up alongside Katarina.
They’re targeting me. The Executive knew about Gill.
Got him out early in hopes of what? Disarming me!
Fury pumped through her hot and fast. Fists clenching up, she stared at the shop.
Each bay was full, the sound of drilling mixed with cars being raised and lowered.
There was a distinct echo of ‘no! not that one! The other one’ which was always followed with ‘what other one’ off the steel.
You can’t scare me Gill.
“Bella?” She flashed a giant grin down at her little girl. “Want to learn how to put a car together?”
Isabella’s eyes grew as wide as her face, sparkling with wonder. “Vroom vroom?”
“Oh yeah.”
Isabella went screaming toward the shop, arms in the air. “Vroom Vroom!”
“You good to get sweaty?” Katarina laughed. Chasing after her child, she scooped up her menace before she could reach anyone working.
“For you, hot cakes? Always!” Sera snorted, jogging along after. “Show me this vroom vroom.”
Walking to the backyard allowed Katarina to sneak a glance at Jessie.
Under a car, holding up an intricate pipe system, letting Oats get up in the underbelly of the vehicle for all the fiddly work.
It stirred her insides seeing Jessie to effortlessly hold up the absurdly heavy thing while also chopping it up with the skinny mechanic.
He even swatted at Oats with his tail, eliciting a sputter and ‘hey! Keep that thing to yourself man! HR! I wanna talk to HR!’.
To which Jessie just tossed his head back and cackled.
Nik was out back in the yard, welding away. Katarina would ogle him later when open flames weren’t involved. Though she did like the sight of him in a welder’s mask with sparks flying around him like a mad scientist.
Instead, they picked up all the tools she’d stashed away for her to work on the Reaper, fake rolled up their sleeves (all of them wearing tank-tops) and got to work on her dream car.
While Sera helped Isabella wash down the outside of the dusty beast, scrubbing it with giant, yellow sponges, Katarina was under the hood.
She was excited to start hooking up hoses, belts, and wires in preparation for the engine Nik was nearly done with.
This part she loved the most. She’d memorized the internal map for the car a thousand times.
I daydreamed that one day I’d get my mitts on one of these.
And here she was, pulling a timer belt taut and peeking up to check on her kid who was helping Sera dust out the empty inside.
I’m gonna need to order seats. And new glass for the back window; it’s gone. And tires. All of which, despite herself, made her smile.
“She’s gonna be so cool when she’s fixed up,” Sera murmured, standing beside Katarina as all three of them took a water break.
“Can’t drive her on the streets of King’s Fall, though.”
“Why not?” Sera snorted.
“They banned the production of them, due to the whole drag racing thing.”
“Yeah but you’re not producing her. Plus, you’re putting different parts in her. That’s just called owning it.” Sera winked at Katarina. “Trust me, I’m a lawyer.”
“It’s because you’re a lawyer that your reaction scares me,” Katarina laughed, nudging her friend with her elbow.
Katarina couldn’t stop smiling the whole time, even when Isabella came launching out of the car with a dead, roasted rat she’d found. Even that couldn’t wipe the goofy look on her face. Though, we definitely ran inside to sanitize our hands after that.
Isabella stayed inside the shop to soak in the AC and sit with Penny. She’s going to be out like a light in less than five minutes. After she got express permission from Penny it was okay, she headed back out with Sera to the backyard.
“Now that the kiddo is out of earshot,” Sera giggled, poking at Katarina. “You want to explain to me what all is going on?”
“With what?” Katarina groaned, knowing that was a loaded question.
“You, the boys, the Lord Commander knowing all about your business, who the fuck The Executive is?” Sera raised a brow. Katarina grimaced.
“Oh boy, where do I even begin…You want the spicy details first or last?”
“Pfffft! First! What do you take me for? A nun.” Sera slapped at Katarina’s calf before sauntering back up to the front of the car. “Hit me with the good stuff then we can talk important stuff after.”
And that’s why I love you. Katarina shook her head, trailing after her best friend in the whole world.
As they lifted the car up enough to wiggle underneath, Katarina explained all of it.
The boys, being the middle of a sandwich, the knot, Jessie’s heat, Nik’s potty mouth.
Then, while she was screwing in bolts to hold everything in place, she got to the real problem.
The Executive, whoever they were, got Gill out of jail early. Which means this guy has got to go away ASAP.