Chapter 23 - Kaia
KAIA
Time starts to trickle by much like it did the last time I was locked up, but this time feels different.
It might be because this is a bigger cell with more room to stretch my legs, or because I’m sharing it with my brother and we’ve had two uncomfortable moments of peeing over a bucket, moments that should be more humiliating, but I’m too distracted.
Twins.
Suddenly, everything about Flynn makes sense.
His anger toward me, his cloaked accusations that I’m playing games or keeping secrets, and the real reason he kept me alive after I tried to kill him.
Twice.
Everything he’s doing, all of his actions and his words are because he’s trying desperately to get his daughter back.
And everyone knew.
Frank.
Florence.
Every guard and servant around this place knew a hole had been carved in Flynn because of my family and no one said a word.
All because they likely thought I had a hand in her kidnapping.
But I didn’t know.
If I did, I certainly wouldn’t have sat back and let it happen. We don’t deal in people, never mind children.
Sitting back against the cold stone wall, I stare at the cell door as my stomach gurgles softly from hunger and distress. I replay every interaction with Flynn because everything now lives in a brand-new light.
He patched me up after the explosions because I have value, a fair trade with his daughter and his life would go back to normal.
He took me to the exchange because, in his eyes, there was no need for games if he was getting his daughter back.
I held a hairpin to his neck and threatened to kill him, I poisoned him and nearly succeeded; both times he let me keep my freedom in the estate.
He easily could have chained me up and treated me like a dog. Does he fear laying a hand on me would result in the same for his daughter?
I can’t imagine Antov ever raising his hand to a child, but I still can’t stomach the fact that my family stole her.
And the sex? Was it to keep me happy and ply me for information or was it real pleasure?”
“Stop sighing.” Vic’s voice cuts across my thoughts, dragging me from my memories.
“Huh?”
“You’ve been sighing for the past ten minutes. It’s really fucking annoying.”
“Sorry. I was just thinking.”
“Well stop it.”
My eyes narrow and I glare at him. “No? I’m trying to figure a way out of here.”
“Time,” Vic sighs. “Time will free us.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“I am.”
“How can you be sure? You’ve been locked up in here for over a month. You have no idea what’s going on out there.”
Vic rolls his head across the ground and looks at me. “Does that cunt have his kid back?”
“Well…no.”
“Then I know exactly what’s going on out there.”
“You’re underestimating him.” Shifting my weight to ease the cramp in my ass, I face my brother fully. “Have you thought about just telling him where his daughter is?”
Vic’s eyes ignite with anger. “Why the fuck would I do that?”
“To get us out of here! He already honored one exchange; he would definitely do it again. I mean…I’ve spent time with him, Vic. He’s a decent man underneath it all. He would do anything to get her back so why don’t we just—.”
“God,” Vic interrupts with a groan. “I thought something like this would finally give you some backbone.”
Heat lances across my chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means exactly that. Look, Kaia.” He slowly, painfully drags himself into a sitting position. “No Yudkin is ever going to bend to the demands of a fucking Gallagher. Irish cunts.”
“This isn’t about that,” I snap sharply. “I want out of here. You need out of here. We should be back home with Antov instead of holding a child hostage, Vic. I mean, what the hell is wrong with you? Why would you go after his daughters?”
“Why?” Vic presses his lips together so hard that they almost disappear. “This was your problem, Kaia. You were happy to reap the rewards of my hard work, to stroke your ego with combat training and running the home, but you were never out in the real world.”
That warmth igniting my chest flushes rapidly up to my face. “I…I don’t see what that’s got to do with anything?”
“The Gallaghers are a fucking cancer, okay? They’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long and I finally have the upper hand and you want me to hand over my trump card?
That fucking brat is the reason they treated me, the reason you’re alive.
Why would I give that up? There is nothing Flynn can do, not really.
Not unless he wants to bury a coffin that doesn’t even reach his hip. ”
“Vic!” My heart begins to pound. “That’s an awful thing to say!”
“No it’s not if it’s the fucking truth.” He shifts on the thin pillow he calls home.
“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve tried to break into the market with fake jewelry and robberies, only to be grabbed by the balls and fucked by a Gallagher because they refuse to give up that corner of the market?
Do you know how many scumbags I have breathing down my neck because I’ve shipped millions of blood diamonds here that I can’t do anything with because of that bastard?
Spewing their bullshit about keeping the market clean and free from exploitation like we’re not all fucking criminals anyway! ”
His tirade leaves him breathless and Vic sinks back against the wall with a groan.
Everything he says stuns me. While my involvement in the business has always been a focus on the accounts and hiring, weapon maintenance and more, never once did I see anything suggesting we owed money.
“Exploitation?” I repeat softly. “I thought the Gallaghers were more bloodthirsty than that.”
“Sure,” Vic snorts. “They talk a big game and they’ve got a lot of blood on their hands from Flynn’s father, but Flynn himself?
Fucking pussy. Killed the mayor’s brother because he was a pedo and acted like it made him a big shot, stole an insane amount of cooking houses from the Russians, and gets everyone so high that they never think of betraying him and calls it loyalty.
” Vic turns and spits at the floor. “He’s a fucking pig who takes shortcuts and makes the rest of us look back. But he’s a fucking pussy, you hear me?”
I’ve never heard Vic so angry before, but given his current state I definitely don’t blame him.
Although the more he reveals, the more I see that Flynn might actually just be a somewhat decent guy in a fucked up world.
The loyalty he gains from Frank and the men around him is unlike anything I’ve seen in my own family.
Vic almost sounds pissed that Flynn gets that loyalty without having to pay.
“You’re wrong,” I say quietly. “You think he’s weak because he’s doing everything he can to get his daughter back or to treat people well in the work that they do, but that’s not true.”
Vic arches one brow. “Oh really?”
“Yes, really. He’s doing more to get his daughter back than uncle’s done for us.
All he’s done is try to blow me up. He hasn’t come for us, has he?
I don’t care that he doesn’t know where the kid is, he hasn’t tried to rescue us not once!
Maybe he’s sitting back just waiting for you to die because then there’ll be no one to steal being Pakhan from him. ”
“Wow.” Vic begins laughing. “He’s really got you fooled, doesn’t he? Did he bat his sad eyes and tell you how sad he is for missing his daughter?” Mockery drips from his tone. “Did you feel bad for the big bad man who just wanted his baby back?”
“Fuck you, Vic,” I snap back, my anger rising. “You know, at least he has some kind of moral compass because you don’t seem to have any.”
“Can you fucking blame me? The bastard tried to kill me!”
“Because you kidnapped his daughter!” I yell back. “Pretty fucking justifiable some might say.”
“Whose fucking side are you on?”
“Yours! Ours! But my god, swallow your pride for one damn second and see that we’ll rot here if we’re not careful. You’ve got to know that harming his daughter in any way is a death sentence for both of us. Do you want to live in a stalemate until we’re all ancient?”
Vic’s face twists into a sneer. “What did he do to make you defend him so much, huh?”
Angie immediately bursts into my mind and I shake my head. “Nothing.”
“Did you fuck him?”
“What?” Despite my best efforts, my cheeks flare as if I’ve been slapped. “Of course not!”
“If I find out you spread your cunt for that fucker, I’ll—.”
“I didn’t! In fact Flynn was going to sell me to some sort of slave auction, I heard him on a call. Would he do that if we were fucking?”
Vic laughs weakly, pressing one hand to his belly. “Oh, you should have let him.”
“What?” Scarcely able to believe what I heard, my mouth falls open and something cold lodges in my stomach.
“I said you should have let him.” He waves his hand at me and turns his head away. “You’d be fine.”
“How the fuck would I be fine?”
“Uncle would have bought you. He’d literally be throwing you back to him.”
“I—what?”
Vic sits up straighter and looks back at me, his brows low. “Kaia. Uncle runs those auctions like fucking laundry. Flynn putting you up for sale would just grant you freedom. What do you think our rigged gambling casinos were paying for?”
The coldness spreads through me like a wave, filling me up on the inside as I struggle to accept the truth in Vic’s words.
“No…no, that doesn’t make any sense. I see our accounts, I manage them and I do all the fucking paintings he demands of me.
We…we make our money through forgeries and gambling, not people. Vic…we don’t—.”
“Grow the fuck up, Kaia. You think a few thrown hands of poker and some stupid paintings have been enough to keep this family afloat for years? You’re not that fucking stupid.”
“Don’t call me stupid. I’m not stupid for thinking our family was smart enough to stay away from something as disgusting as slavery.
You can’t be serious. I…we own eighteen casinos, most of them underground.
We forge passports and paintings, documents to other countries, visas and money.
You’re—!” Bile suddenly darts up my throat and I cough. “You’re telling me we’re also slavers?”
“You really had no idea?” Vic begins to laugh quietly. “Wow. I thought you were disillusioned. Good at looking the other way. Turns out you’re just sheltered. Well wake the fuck up, Kaia because this shit is real and once Flynn caves, and he will cave, we’ll be on top in no time.”
“Why did no one tell me?!” Aunt Kara never said a word, Anya never said anything either.
How could I have managed all the accounts and missed even a hint of something so disgusting?
I shake my head and the bile creeps up again before I can stop it.
As the acid surges, I’m forced onto my hands and knees to throw up over the stone floor.
“God,” Vic grimaces. “You’re disgusting. There’s no way you care about people that much.”
“I don’t,” I gasp, wiping my mouth. “But that doesn’t mean I stop having fucking decency. I can’t believe—you know what, it doesn’t matter.” Sagging back against the wall, I glare at my brother. “When this is over, it stops.”
“What?”
“All of it. Whatever fucked up things you and Antov are doing, it stops. I’m shutting it all down.”
“And how the fuck are you going to do that?”
“I don’t know, but I bet I know a damn sight more about our finances and our dirty laundry than you do, so I’ll do what you’re so fond of doing. I’ll use my leverage.”
A shadow passes over Vic’s face and his frown deepens. “And how the fuck are you going to do that when Uncle will be too busy fucking a baby into you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Did you think you had power here, Kaia? A month with that fucking Gallagher and you forget the only thing of worth you have is that slit between your legs. This?” He motions to the cell around us. “This doesn’t change anything.”
Sickness overcomes me and my voice fades under the sheer weight of the horrible words spitting from my brother. “I’d never let that happen,” I force out.
“You don’t have a choice, Kaia. You’re the only one capable of carrying on the Yudkin line because we sure as hell aren’t marrying another family to come and make bank off our livelihood. Why else did you think we let you skate by in life? God, you’re fucking disillusioned, you are.”
I can’t speak. His words have sent my mind into shutdown, so I press back against the wall and swallow around the burning in my throat.
Some of this doesn’t even feel real, like I’m in a dream or I really did die in the lake.
My own brother, the man who came back for me in the house, isn’t who I thought he was.
It slowly dawns on me that he only came back for me because of my worth to him and Uncle and not because he cared.
It hits like a crushing weight, and tears build in my eyes.
“Don’t forget, Kaia,” Vic mutters. “Yudkins do anything to survive. Anything.”
Oh god.
Flynn isn’t my enemy here.
Not when my own family is ten times worse.