Chapter Five #4
Kala had lost an enormous amount of time wondering what happened to her when she was fifteen and drugged by a group of mercenaries. Not knowing had nearly killed her. She wouldn’t put anyone else through that if she didn’t have to.
The young woman sat, her hands tied behind her back.
She didn’t want to know why her dad had been walking around with rope in his pocket.
Nope. That was better left to the wind. She noticed their captive had started chewing her way around the croissant, and her eyes closed briefly.
Like she was struggling. Or enjoying it. Could be either.
“She had a bomb,” her father complained. “She was on the ground trying to put it behind my wheel. How long has your mother been in there with Tasha?”
“Over an hour,” Kala replied. “Devi’s in there, too. Problem with the hem. She’s working on it but she could be out any minute, and you know she told you no blood on the carpet. I’ll go get the tarp.”
“You are not going to kill me.” The young woman was good.
She’d gotten through that croissant in record time. Surely someone had a ball gag. Like half the wedding guests were lifestylers. If one needed to restrain a suspect, this was the place to do it.
“I can cut your tongue out,” Kala offered. “Look, I get the whole waking up and trying to figure out what happened to your body thing. Been there. Done that. No sedatives as long as you’re calm, but I can do other things.”
Gray eyes rolled. She was actually quite pretty even if she was a little on the thin side. The thin side could be lovely if it was natural, but Kenz got the feeling this girl didn’t get much of a chance to eat. “I think that the… What is word. Keks. The keks would work. The one with the berries.”
Muffin? “You want a muffin?”
“I don’t get carbs where I come from. They’re serious about fitness,” she explained. “That croissant… Death might be worth it. I don’t suppose you could gag me with champagne. I have never been allowed alcohol.”
“Sure you haven’t,” her dad said, pacing and looking down at his phone.
“It is terrible where I come from.” It was clear the girl had decided to change tactics. “I am taken from home at young age and forced to go to France.”
“Are you serious?” Her dad was suddenly interested. “That is terrible.”
“They make me change name. I was Olga and now I am Sosa, which is short for Solene. Which is stupid name but apparently Olga is not sexy. I was eight. I did not want to be sexy,” she said quietly.
Kala groaned. “That is not going to work. I liked you better when you were spitting bile.”
“I mean, I do feel bad she had to go to France,” her dad replied.
Olga/Sosa nodded as though accepting all of the sympathy she could get.
Her dad could be an asshole. France was amazing.
She wanted to go to Paris with Ben. They always ended up in Nepal or some other place like it, and while beautiful there weren’t a whole bunch of five-star restaurants and world-class shopping.
Every time they got to go somewhere romantic, work got in the way.
Was that where they’d gone wrong? They should have found ways to need to work in more romantic places. Maybe Ben needed a soothing space to find his emotional center.
“Is something wrong with her?” Sosa asked, and it took Kenzie a moment to realize she was talking about her. The would-be assassin looked to Kala. “Did you get all the brain parts? I hear this can happen with twins. Not enough to go around. She obviously got the boobs.”
Kenzie growled. Their boobs were the same. Mostly. Sometimes she thought Kala’s nipples were a bit out of alignment, but no one was perfect and Coop seemed fine with them.
“She’s going through… Are we calling it a breakup?” Kala seemed amused. “They weren’t technically together, but my sister is always looking for an epic love story. If I had to guess she was thinking about what she would have worn in Paris when she met Ben beneath the Eiffel Tower.”
Kenzie picked up the massive blueberry muffin and stuffed it into Sosa’s mouth before looking to her sister. “Do you want one, too?”
Kala squared off with her. “Am I wrong?”
Oh, she could do this. Maybe this was exactly what she needed. “Fight club.”
Sosa nodded, her eyes lighting with glee as she managed to somehow start eating that muffin.
Lou turned to the only man in the room. “I don’t know what to do. I left the spray bottle at home because Devi told me if I ruined Kala’s dress, she’d be upset. She’s making my wedding dress. I have to be cool with her, but I don’t think Tasha wants a fight club on her wedding day.”
“Fight club?” a feminine voice said, and Kenzie realized the doors to the portion of the suite they were using to get dressed had opened.
Her big sister stood there looking like an angel in her white wedding dress with a veil and a sweetheart neckline, and Kenzie was never getting married because Ben was a total asshole. “We are not having fight club.”
“Shit,” her father cursed.
“Ian.” Yep, her mom was right behind Tash, and her eyes had gone straight to the chick with the muffin in her mouth. She simply stared.
There were women in the world who would wonder why their husband dragged a young woman to his daughter’s wedding. It could be the start of a tale as old as time—older man, young hot girl… Yeah, her mom did not go there.
“Tell me they’re not sending little girls to take you out.” Her mother looked fabulous in her emerald green floor-length gown that hugged her every curve.
“Not little girl. Haven’t been for long time.
” Sosa had finished her muffin. She eyed Charlotte Taggart, and Kenzie saw the minute she decided she could cause some turmoil.
Her expression changed, and she managed a couple of actual tears.
“I’m so sorry, ma’am. He tells me he is divorced and when I tell him I’m having his baby, he freak out. I didn’t know.”
Kala snorted. Lou shook her head.
Her dad simply stepped back, obviously leaving her to fate.
Fate was named Charlotte in this case. Her dad shook his head and leaned against the door.
“Sorry, baby. You know how much I love super-young people with their weird words like skibidi, and I don’t even know what Ohio means in their language.
I only know it does not mean Ohio. I couldn’t resist her charms. And if Alex had gotten here earlier, you would never have known. ”
They had such a beautiful love. Her mom and dad. It brought tears to her eyes. Her father was perfectly comfortable joking because Mom trusted him so much. Because they were meant to be.
She could have had that love with Ben.
“Uhm, should I get the tarp now?” Lou asked. “I actually brought one because I know Lucy was invited and said she couldn’t come, but you never know.”
Lucy Brooke Flanders. Kenzie liked her. She was a lot like Kala. Which was probably why her twin viewed the slightly younger woman as her nemesis.
Charlotte went to stand in front of the girl, towering over her in her Louboutins. She stared at her and said nothing. Sosa kept crying.
“I was hungry. He was kind to me,” she insisted. “Please not to be hurting my baby.”
“Mom, don’t kill her,” Tasha said. “It’s got to be bad luck on my wedding day.”
“She’s not going to kill her.” Kala sank down to the chaise, obviously ready for the drama. “But we might need that tarp.”
There was a brief knock on the door, and her Uncle Alex appeared.
He was in a tux, like most of the men, and had a harried look on his face.
He glanced around the room and winced. “Sorry. I got caught helping Li after Dai… Well, it’s all good now.
No damages. Why is there a strange girl covered in cake tied up in the bridal suite? ”
“She’s having my baby,” her father replied simply.
“Shit. She’s the one who’s been trying to kill you?” Alex asked, reaching the obvious conclusion as to why her father would threaten to disrupt his eldest daughter’s wedding.
“I don’t know.” Kala always had to poke the bear. “Dad does like a Russian mob princess.”
Her mother snorted. “Ona ne printsessa. Ona obuchennaya ulichnaya krysa.”
That was harsh. “I don’t think she’s a street rat. Rude, much, Mom? And I don’t know how trained she is since she thought it would be smart to plant a bomb on Dad’s Nav in broad daylight.”
“Also, she impugned the reputation of said car,” Kala pointed out.
Her mom glanced over at Alex. “Could you please have a few of the bodyguards escort our friend here to the club? I’ll deal with her after the wedding.
For now, I’m going to watch my daughter marry the man of her dreams and have some champagne.
I’ll be in a better mood later, but we need to figure out what’s going on. ”
Kenzie knew. “Huisman’s done playing around.
I know the hackers haven’t settled on who put out that hit, but we know it’s Huisman.
” She looked back at her sister, who was marrying the man of her dreams. “You look gorgeous. Don’t worry about this.
You’ll be on your honeymoon soon, and Kala will have a new chew toy. ”
Everyone looked to her twin, who simply shrugged. “That’s fair.”
Kala was pretty self-aware. It was time to get this thing moving. And by thing Kenzie meant life. Her life.
Her sister looked stunning and she was about to start her marriage, and her other sister was married to the man she’d been in love with since she was a kid, and Lou was happy with TJ and they’d gotten a rescue dog, and her parents were still happy pervs after all these years.
So happy they would never believe the other would cheat. Because they wouldn’t.
And Kenzie was lying around all sad and shit. So sad she was a bit worried Bud Two had caught her depression.
She wasn’t going to let one man bust her life down.
“I don’t think I like sound of this,” Sosa said. “I will not to be going anywhere with you. Call the police.”