Chapter 7 Kaia
KAIA
The mortification of saying such terrible things in front of a child leads me to lock myself up in my room for the entire rest of the day and not come out until Flynn collects me the next day.
He doesn’t comment about the untouched food left outside the door.
“Where are we going?” I ask, my hand lingering on the top of the car door. Two black cars sit in front of the one Flynn is walking around, and a further two are parked behind us, each with several armed guards already inside.
“Somewhere,” Flynn replies once he’s on the other side of the car. “Get inside.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“Why, for swearing in front of my daughter?” His face remains expressionless as he opens his door. “Would I really do that?”
He slips into the car before I can reply and I’m left standing there, staring at the sun gleaming off the roof of the car.
Behind me, subtle noise drifts up from the lake, birds sing in the air and dart with the wind between the trees surrounding the property, and an uncomfortable knot grows in my stomach.
So that child was his daughter.
I suspected as much but refused to ask yesterday because I was horrified with myself.
I never knew Flynn Gallagher was a father.
While my knowledge of the Gallaghers is mostly limited to how dangerous they are, how they make their millions from drugs and clashing with my family in the forgery market, not once did anyone ever mention a child.
Was Flynn ever married?
My curiosity burns as I nervously slip into the car and await what I’m sure will be a furious, grisly fate.
I said such cruel things in front of his daughter and threatened to end not just him but his entire family.
Now I know that won’t happen.
It doesn’t matter what Flynn has done, doesn’t matter how terrible a man he is, killing a child isn’t something I can do.
Every time I close my eyes, I’m stuck picturing the wide-eyed way she stared up at Flynn while tugging on his leg and the oddly heartbreaking way she clung to him when he picked her up.
Not a word was spoken and yet the way she acted was enough to bring me to tears the second I was safe behind my door.
Frank slides into the driver’s seat as the car after we sit in silence for thirty seconds.
A fourth man takes up the seat next to Frank, and within minutes the entire procession pulls away from the estate.
As we drive, the windows darken to block my sight and likely delay any further attempts to escape by navigating this place I’m being held captive, so despite my best efforts, my thoughts turn back to Flynn’s daughter.
Is there a mother? The way we fucked the other night leads me to believe there isn’t because Flynn fucked me like a man possessed, and even now my core tightens at the memory.
A man doesn’t fuck like that if he’s got regular access to sex. So she’s dead or missing at the very least.
But what kind of woman would leave her child with a man like Flynn?
I sneak a glance across at him as my thoughts tangle.
His head’s down, his eyes focused on the screen in his hand as he taps rapidly across apps and messages that flick across far too quickly for me to peek at.
Flynn Gallagher, the man leading the family known for blowing up several nightclubs and killing hundreds, for flooding the drug market and getting tens of thousands of teens hooked on recreational drugs that destroy minds, the family famous for assassinating the mayor’s brother because he got too close to them… is a father.
It doesn’t feel real.
Maybe I haven’t really woken up yet and this is all some weird fever coma dream.
Somehow, that brings me a touch of comfort, and I rub my thigh as words form on the tip of my tongue.
“I’m sorry.”
Flynn doesn’t look up. “For what?”
“For the things I said in front of your daughter. I wouldn’t have said them if I knew she was there.”
“What if she wasn’t my daughter?” He finally glances up and locks onto me with those moonlight-bright eyes. “What if she were Frank’s?”
“Well…” I glance toward the front of the car where Frank seems too focused on driving to listen. “I wouldn’t intentionally speak like that in front of any child but I…I said some terrible things and your daughter overheard. I’m sorry.”
Flynn snorts softly and rests back in his seat. As he watches me, one of his hands latches onto the silver locket almost hidden from view in the V-line of his shirt and toys with it.
“Never apologize for speaking your mind,” he says. “Keeping all that inside isn’t healthy. Besides, I knew you wouldn’t give up on trying to kill me that easily. I expected as much.”
“I—that’s not the point.” My teeth snag lightly on my lower lip. “I’m not sorry for what I said, exactly. That’s all still true. I just…didn’t know you had a kid so it never even crossed my mind that someone could overhear.”
Flynn’s eyes narrow. “Let’s not lie to one another, Kaia. You were so honest yesterday. Keep that up.”
My brow lifts slightly. “I…I’m not lying.” As I speak, my heart lurches faintly.
I really didn’t know he had a daughter, but from the sudden irritated glint in his eye he doesn’t seem to believe me.
“When I said I wanted to wipe your family out, I mean people like Frank.”
A soft snort rises from the front of the car and my eyes narrow.
“What, you think I couldn’t kill you?”
Frank lifts his eyes to the rearview mirror and our gazes meet. “You’d have a harder time using that body of yours to get my guard down.”
My cheeks flush hot as if I’ve been struck and as sweat suddenly prickles down my spine, soaking into the back of my shirt, I defiantly lift my chin.
“I absolutely could.” A small voice blooms in the back of my mind, taunting me about how I look, what I weigh, and how no man in their right mind would be interested in me.
This time, the man next to Frank laughs. As uncertainty blooms in my chest, Flynn sighs deeply. “Frank is gay,” he says. “Your tits won’t work on him.”
Laughter rumbles between Frank and the man next to him while Flynn lightly rolls his eyes and returns to his phone.
The warmth flaring across my rosy cheeks doesn’t dissipate, nor does the tightness growing in my gut or the humiliating warmth that seeps up my neck just as it did yesterday when I realized my rant was overheard by a child.
Underneath all of that, there’s an odd rush of relief. How I look has no factor with Frank because I’m not a man and I shouldn’t care, but for some reason a part of me does.
The same part of me that’s still riding the high that a man as attractive as Flynn fucked me without hesitation.
“Where are we going anyway?” I snap, eager to change focus. “Did you just bring me along to toy and make fun of me?”
“So what if we did?” Flynn’s eyes are back on me in an instant. “Will it affect your desire to kill me?”
My eyes narrow. “Only by increasing my desire to.”
“What about your desire to fuck me?” His voice lowers slightly while he leans forward until his seatbelt catches on his shoulder.
“I would never again,” I snap angrily. “I only did that to lower your guard.”
“I’m not opposed to having my guard lowered again.” His eyes drift down to my chest, and a shiver runs down my body as if his gaze is as heavy as a touch from his fingertips.
“Why am I here?” I repeat insistently, my jaw tightening as emotions collide in my chest. Irritation at these games, anger at my lack of power, and shame at feeling like the butt of the joke yet again.
Flynn continues to toy with his locket as he leans back in his seat, letting the moment pass and then he sighs. “Don’t get excited. Your uncle finally met my demands and agreed to meet for an exchange.”
“An exchange?” This is new information. An exchange means Antov has something Flynn wants, but what?
Flynn offers no more information and silence falls for the remainder of the car ride, broken only by the guard next to Frank turning on the radio and flooding the car with a loud pop song that Frank immediately silences.
An exchange.
My uncle nor my brother ever mentioned dealings with Flynn outside of irritation and anger at him moving in on our territory.
Thinking of them brings pain swiftly back to my chest, and I gaze out the blackened window with only my own reflection for company.
Vic. I miss him.
Anya.
Kara.
I miss everyone.
Just picturing their faces is enough to make my chest twitch like it’s about to crack open so, to distract myself from the pain, I glare past my own reflection to the blurred mirage of Flynn.
Killing him has to make me feel better, but he treats it like a game, like I’m not a real threat.
If I’m part of this exchange, then in the end it won’t matter.
My freedom means I’ll stop at nothing until Flynn is dead and buried.
As I play out various scenarios in my mind of exactly how I’d like to kill him, the car slows and pulls to a gentle stop.
Flynn snaps his seatbelt open, then he leans across and does the same for me.
Our eyes meet for a fleeting second, then he’s out of the car, and Frank’s at my door holding it open for me.
Suddenly, freedom is within my grasp and very real.
Climbing from the car, a gentle wind catches in my hair and pulls at the loose shirt I snatched from the piles of clothes provided for me.
A large, empty parking lot stretches out before me with a gigantic warehouse situated at the far end against a backdrop of trees, and the numerous cars that came with us all leave tire treads in the dusty dirt at my feet.
No one’s been here in a while it seems.
Frank hovers nearby, and while he’s not directly looking at me I get the impression that all his attention is locked on all my movements.
That doesn’t stop me from walking a few feet though and taking in my surroundings.
The trees and bushes hug most of the parking lot and a long, winding road behind us shows me only one way in and out.
I could make a break for it and run for the trees but there’s no guarantee that there’s anything on the other side.