Chapter 43
Pandora’s Box
Onyx
I jog up the stairs to my fifth-floor apartment. I don’t take the elevator to keep from getting trapped. When I step out of the stairwell, I frown and quickly pull my gun as I notice my door has been disturbed.
I move quietly to the door and nudge it open. The scent of a cigar is the first thing that catches my attention. Apparently, I have company.
“What are you doing here?” I say as I place the safety back on my gun.
“Och, hello to you too, Léan,” he says like a grumpy big brother.
I roll my eyes as I tuck my gun away. “Hello, Finlay.”
“Orla has passed away. Everything has changed.”
“Is Deja all right?”
My heartbeat picks up. This is my worst nightmare come true. I thought I was doing the right thing by her.
I didn’t know this would take years of my life away from me. Years Deja and I can never get back. She’s grown to be a woman without me.
“She is fine, but the auld woman left behind something I think you should have.”
“Did Ken and Ewan send you?”
“Och, no. My nephew sent me, but it was Da’s words that caused him to.”
“Ian?” I ask with my brows threaded.
“Aye, he’s still playing a match. He did leave the journals for Logan like he said he would, and they are loaded. Nothing about any of our lives has been by accident.”
“Nothing was an accident around Ian Black,” I scoff.
Finlay chuckles. “Ye would have been my wife had we not fought like brother and sister from the time ye arrived.”
“Is that right?”
“Aye, ye should read the letter and the pages Logan and LaSalle copied for ye. It will all become clear.”
I nod and move to take the manila folder he’s holding out to me. Taking the pages out, I then take a seat on my sofa across from the accent chair Finlay is sitting in, like he’s the owner of the place and I’m the guest. When I see the handwriting on the pages, it’s like a punch to the gut.
I run my hand over the page as I close my eyes. I miss Ian. He was the closest thing I had to a father. I learned a lot from him.
Léan
My Léan, my Onyx. From the day I found ye, I knew ye were special. There was something in yer eyes that gave me pause.
I knew that day I would make sure ye were avenged. No young girl, no child should have been in the state I found ye in. When I began to train ye and show ye the love ye deserved from a father, I saw ye had forgotten where I found ye and where ye came from.
Yer brain erased all the horror. Ye might have forgotten, but I never would. The Krupin family had no right to do what was done to any of the girls or boys they took and sold.
I saw a lot of things while in my time of service, but coming across ye and the bodies of yer friends who hadn’t survived was by far the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Ye have lived yer life thinking the Alliance doesn’t involve ye. Thinking ye have no skin in the game.
Ye are one of the reasons I started this. Learning about the families connected and how many of them I knew, I was disgusted. But I made note of those who wouldn’t touch it, those I could ally with.
Those were the families I could stand with. The families who earned off your suffering, from yer body, will fall once the Alliance is in place. They will never have the power to do to another what was done to ye.
To make that happen, I needed more power. To make this happen, I had to place ye on the board before me. I’m sorry, love.
Angus was waiting in that coffee shop for ye because Lennox and I told him to be there. I needed Léan Black to become Helen Walsh. Onyx was ready to disappear, so I made that happen for ye before I lost ye altogether.
I saw ye ready to bolt. I would have lost a daughter and the wee one ye didn’t want to tell me about. Ye had to become Helen.
Ye and the little one were safer that way. I knew ye were pregnant even though ye hid the fact from me. That vacation ye took told me more than ye knew.
I believe with all my heart Angus was the best thing for ye. His love for ye was real. Never doubt that.
Angus cherished ye as a woman, his woman. Finlay wasn’t right for ye. The lad loves ye, but as an annoying sister.
My plans for Joe were elsewhere. At first, I didn’t think ye had it in ye to fall in love, not romantically. Not after ye walked away from Deja’s father.
I had hoped that relationship would stick. Then Phoebe Romaine contacted me and pointed out what threads to pull. I watched and waited.
I saw the moment Cole became infatuated and I nudged that bond as much as I could, knowing Oland couldn’t resist triggering ye to take his life and setting ye on a path to finish what I started.
Lev Krupin was the only one from that family who could be trusted. He thought differently from the rest. He didn’t believe in all their practices.
The Krupin family is dangerous. Phoebe told me you would hunt them and always find the task just outside your reach until Deja and Cole were together and yer past deeds came back to haunt ye.
I have one more task for ye, love. This one brings the board to a decisive advantage. It’s time for the zugzwang. You are my final checkmate before I hand over a winning board to my boys. They will handle the rest.
Phoebe said to tell ye to find the child. The one with the gray eyes that see all. Ye will know it’s him because he looks like his father and he will finish what his grandmother and I started.
Forgive me. I didn’t want to return yer past to ye, but this is how we win.
Your father, not by blood, but always in heart,
Ian Black
I swipe at the tears rolling down my cheeks. I do remember where and how he found me. I just pretended not to because he was so kind, and he wanted to protect me.
Ian Black saved my life and then gave me the skills to never be taken advantage of ever again. However, I didn’t know the family I’ve been hunting is the reason for how I ended up in that horrible life.
The Krupins haven’t made it easy for me to find them or get close to them. They are like ghosts. Pavel is only seen when he wants to be, and even then, it’s nearly impossible to get near him.
I guess he learned from what I did to his brother.
I’m one of the best and they still evade me.
I thought it would end with Pavel. However, once I began to dig, I found I’d only be cutting off one head and there would be another who would follow.
Deja and I would forever have to look over our shoulders.
“There is something else ye should know,” Finlay says, causing me to look up at him.
“What’s that?”
“Misha Krupin has killed Pavel. The sisters have taken things over and they are worse than the brothers. He wants their heads and could get in your way.”
This is what I mean. That family is unhinged, but not untouchable. Ian’s work will not go in vain.
“Understood.”