Chapter 26 Kaia
KAIA
Flyn’s reluctance to let me return to the prison cell with Vic was unexpected.
After hearing him pour his heart out to me in the garden, there was nothing else I wanted to do but help bring an end to this painful mess for all of us, but mostly for Angie.
Her being non-verbal makes so much sense now, as does Flynn’s entire attitude since I arrived here.
Between the pain I feel about my own family and after listening to how much guilt he feels, how he’s labeled himself a failure, I can’t not help.
This is my family’s actions, my family’s cruelty, and it’s up to me to fix this in any way I can.
Partly for Flynn because as I’m thrown back into the cell, redressed in my dirty clothes, my mind lingers on his brief confession of liking me.
I’m not even sure he’s aware he admitted it, but I can’t stop thinking about it. That, plus a desire to redeem myself in my own eyes after hurting Angie, is the reason I’m here.
Vic, like all the others, expects me to sit down, shut up, and just exist until he or my uncle is ready to put a baby in me.
They don’t see me as a person, as anyone of value.
No one ever has until I ended up here. To them, I’m breeding stock and I’m going to show them what a mistake they’ve made.
“What happened?” Vic asks, cutting through my racing thoughts as I slowly pick myself up from the cold stone floor.
“He had questions,” I murmur, nursing the fresh split on my lip given to me at my request by Flynn’s hand. “Didn’t like it when I wouldn’t give him what he wanted.”
“What does he want?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” I trudge closer to the man I used to call brother and slump down against the wall with a groan.
“All he cares about is his stupid kid. It was endearing at first, I won’t lie.
Tapped into my maternal side I guess, but he stood up there and kept telling me all this bullshit and then acted innocent when I told him I overheard his attempts to sell me into slavery.
When I told him he was an idiot because, as you said, uncle would just buy me and free me, he didn’t like that. ”
I slide my tongue over my bleeding lip and Vic’s brow lifts.
“You know the Gallaghers,” Vic replies. “I bet he’s just pissed because he knows how much his daughter would fetch on the black market and that’s money we’ll be making.”
My stomach rolls. “That’s fucked up,” I mutter.
“But maybe you’re right. You know, ever since I woke up here, he’s been lording everything over me.
Acting like he’s got some grand plan while locking me up and expecting me to wait around.
I get the impression he doesn’t think there’s any serious threat from uncle.
He lied about killing you to fuck with me, I’m sure of it. ”
“What do you mean?” Vic eyes me with narrowed lids. “We have his kid.”
“Sure, but he’s got another. And it’s been weeks of uncle fucking around. I don’t think he believes you even have Eva anymore. Or that she’s dead, which y’know, ruins our usefulness.”
“Bullshit. Uncle’s been sending him videos sent from my guy.”
“No, he hasn’t. Flynn says he’s never heard a thing, so has no reason to believe she’s alive. He also doesn’t think Uncle knows where she is and that either you killed her or locked her up. Either way, she’s dead by now and he’s…weird. It’s like he doesn’t care.”
“Fuck,” Vic mutters. “Uncle’s supposed to be following a plan.”
“Clearly not.” Each word leaks across my tongue like tar as I play into the worst version of myself that I can concoct.
It’s easier than I’d like it to be, but given the horrors my life has been filled with and the twisted information I’ve learned about my family, it’s sickeningly easy to pretend.
Vic begins drumming his fingers on his thigh, something he’s done every time he’s caught in a tough spot.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a family meeting or a friendly board game, he does it every time he thinks he’s going to lose.
“Y’know…I bet I could kill him.”
“What?” Vic’s resting his head against the wall and rolls it to the side to stare at me properly.
“I could kill him. Flynn. Came close twice already.”
“Then he’d be a fool to let you get closer.”
“Not necessarily.” Crossing my legs, I face Vic and lower my voice.
“Think about it. He just spent hours bragging about how we’ve got no value anymore.
He killed Aunt Kara and murdered Anya…” My heart clenches in my chest. “I was so lost thinking everyone was gone and I was alone but you’re here, Vic. ”
“You didn’t sound too happy the last time you were here.”
“I guess…” I sniff deeply and shrug. “Part of me was clinging to the illusion that life is easy. I didn’t want to accept that the world I knew, the world you curated to protect me, is gone.
And it’s gone because of Flynn. He needs to die because of everything he’s done, and I know how to get close to him. ”
“You still haven’t told me how.”
“Easy. He thinks I’m weak and easy to manipulate. Playing into that will work like a charm. Then I let him think he has a chance and when his guard and his pants are down…” I snap my fingers. “I’ll kill him.”
“Killing him would make things easier. I would have, but I haven’t had the chance,” Vic says, as if he has any weight in the conversation.
“He’ll never get close to you because he knows you’re a threat. But me? He thinks I’m a dumb woman so it will be easy. A man like that only thinks with his money or his dick, and I bet I can get his guard down.”
“It could work,” Vic murmurs lowly. “But you better not let him fuck you.”
“You think I want a Gallagher rat inside me?” I scoff. “He’ll be dead before that.”
Vic tilts his head then he leans forward. “It’s risky. If he kills you, our entire line ends.”
I fight back a gag. “He won’t. My failed attempts will work in my favor because he’ll think I don’t have the ability or the balls to kill him. A little flirting, get him by the dick and cut his throat. Easy.”
The gears turn behind Vic’s eyes and he slowly nods. “Easy.”
“I wonder what will happen after,” I say, feigning innocence.
“After?”
“Yeah I mean…Flynn Gallagher will be dead. What do we do then?”
“Kill his kids of course.”
“Okay but after,” I say, leaning into the idea that I’m too dumb to think ahead while swallowing down rising sickness. “We go back to Uncle?”
“Obviously.”
“And strengthen our line with a baby.” The words escape me like vomit and Vic snorts.
“Don’t pretend you’re okay with that.”
“I’m not but it’s one baby. Nine months and then it’s over. You and Uncle get what you want, easy. It’s just…weird.”
“What is?”
I pop my lips together. “Well…you came up with the plan to sabotage Flynn and kidnap his daughter, you took the brunt of it in the fire and being locked up here, you’re relying on Uncle who, from the sounds of it, isn’t even capable of following the plan you gave him.
So it’s weird to me that after all your hard work and sacrifice, it’s him who gets to remain the Yudkin Pakhan for the next eighteen years at least. For doing nothing. ”
Anya taught me that Russian men, above all, are greedy.
Women, money, power?
It doesn’t matter.
They all crave it, and I thought Vic’s vice was money, given how much he likes to gamble when we play cards, but everything I’ve learned tells me differently.
He’s focused on the business, lashed out at Flynn because he was a threat, which means Vic’s greedy for power.
Power that our uncle is going to scoop up with no effort whatsoever.
Vic’s brows twitch together and his lips press into a thin line.
“Is it not weird? We do all the work and he gets to keep leading up for the next couple of decades? You’ve done everything, I’m the one killing Flynn. What is he even doing?”
Vic’s dark eyes snap to me. “He’s our uncle.”
“I know,” I reply simply, resting back against the wall. “You’ve been babysitting him for this long, what’s a few more decades?”
Vic’s fingers drum faster and faster against his thigh until a greedy glint in his eyes brings them to a stop. “We could kill him. Fucker didn’t even come looking for me.”
“Maybe he didn’t know you were alive,” I reason. “Maybe that’s why he didn’t follow the plan.”
“But you’re alive and you’re important. At least the thing between your legs is.”
Bile creeps up my throat as I force a smile. “Who knows. Maybe he’s just dumb.”
Vic snorts. “That’s true. Fucker doesn’t even know that I hid Eva right underneath him.”
“You did?” I ask innocently as my heart rate pounds so loud I fear he might hear it.
“Yeah, in the old excavation tunnels. Bastard doesn’t even know they’re there. Left her there with my guy.”
Success. I lean up and start coughing quickly but Vic ignores me.
“You’re right you know,” he says and our eyes meet even as I cough.
“Fuck. About what?”
“I’ve done all the work. I’ve burned off half my fucking skin for this family. It’s my kid who will lead this family, not his. Fuck him. We kill him after you kill Flynn, got it?”