CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Connor
I sit Raina down on my sofa, the silence stretching thick between us. She’s still glowing from dinner, cheeks a little pink from the wine, her jaw relaxed from smiling. But I need her focused now.
“There’s something I have to tell you,” I add, watching her sink into the sofa.
Smile faltering, she leans forward, bracing herself. “Go ahead.”
“First, why didn’t you tell me Valdrin Sokolov is working for Noel Tahiri? And that he was your contact?” I wait for some kind of shocked response.
“Would it have made a difference?”
I think about that. “There’s only a few names that make my ball shrink. Valdrin Sokolov is one of them.”
“I only knew him as Havok.” She shrugs, keeping everything tight and controlled. “I never heard the name Valdrin Sokolov before I met him. Have you heard from Tahiri?”
“Not exactly. But a source Shane paid to watch them told us Noel is holding Valdrin as a prisoner.”
Her eyes widen. “What? Why?”
I shake my head. “Noel suspects he had something to do with your disappearance. That he helped you escape. That makes him a traitor.”
Raina stands up and starts to pace. “God, I didn’t even consider what this would do to Valdrin. That he would get hurt by me refusing to carry out...”
“My death?”
“Basically.” She sits down. “What can I do?”
“You need to call Sokolov. Re-establish contact. We assume his phone is bugged. Say you needed a few days to yourself. Then set up a meeting with him.”
Nodding, she says, “Okay. But why establish contact if I’m not Levin Berisha’s daughter and I’m not going back to them?”
I wait a beat and take her hand. “Raina, love, we think Valdrin might be your father.”
She freezes, searching my face. Then, slowly and calmly, she leans back. “I had a feeling there was something else there. He always seemed so protective. But not in a creepy way, or the way a guard would protect a princess.”
I stroke her bare knee, eyes locked on hers. “What did your mother tell you about your father?”
“My whole life, she said my father was a guy she met on vacation, but he wanted nothing to do with me when he found out she was pregnant.” She scoffs, “Turns out, she was telling the truth in a way. But she spun it to make me think she had no idea who he really was. Her letter clarified this and—”
“What, Venom?”
“She never named him in the letter or on my birth certificate.” She draws a tight fist against her mouth.
“Maybe she didn’t know his name. Or he gave her a fake one,” I explain.
Raina takes that in. “Why would Valdrin lie to me and tell me Levin was my father? Were Levin and Valdrin close? It was hard to tell by the way Valdrin talked about the previous kyre. ”
“We don’t know much more than that. Levin Berisha was a cruel animal. But if they all grew up together, I suspect Valdrin had no choice but to work for Levin. You don’t walk away from those brotherhoods.”
Raina’s eyes flick to mine. “You and your brothers are different. I can see plainly how your family is not just built on blood and loyalty but on love. You’re one.”
She repeats our motto and the way she says it, fucks with me. In a good way. Then she stares at me, suggesting it’s the right time for what else I need to do.
“ We’re one. Come with me.” Fingers tangled, we walk into the bedroom.
“We have to spend more time in places other than your bed.”
“Tired of grabbing the headboard?” I pick through my jewelry box. “The floor, perhaps? The kitchen counter? My truck bed under the stars?”
“I would love all those, especially that last one. What is that?” She points to my hand.
In my fist is the only shame in my life. The only thing I feel guilty about. “Tonight, Sabine talked about my sister Norah when you mentioned her ring, and she told you that we all wear her jewelry.”
“Uh-huh,” Raina says nervously, staring at my hand.
“This is the earring that I can’t wear.” I open my fingers to show her Norah’s favorite sapphire stud set in rounded platinum. “She’d lost the other one and guarded this one with her life.”
“That is so beautiful.” Raina looks down.
“The blue matched her eyes.”
“Your eyes.” Raina picks it from my hands and steps to the mirror.
Without my awkward speech and waiting to hear her excuses, she pops out a silver hoop from her second hole. One second later, Norah’s earring is on Raina’s lobe.
When she turns to me, her jaw tightens and her skin pales. “Oh, shoot. Did you not want me to—”
I stop her with my mouth. “This is exactly what I wanted. I was afraid I’d break down asking you and then completely fall apart when you said no.”
With sad eyes, she fists my shirt. “I’m honored. And so impressed how you have all handled losing someone who meant so much to you.”
“Your mother—”
“It’s something she wrote in her letter. Mom said she didn’t think she could handle losing me.” Raina shakes her head. “My mother wasn’t strong like yours. Like your sister and the rest of you who’s dealt with Norah’s death with grace and dignity. If my mother were alive, you wouldn’t like her.”
“Don’t say that.” I crush her against my chest. “She brought you into this world. She’s the reason I have you and that I’m complete.”
“Connor,” she whines.
I nod. “I can’t bring your mother back. And I can’t give you my father. But I can give you your father. I need you to set up a meeting with Valdrin. You need to get his DNA.”
Nodding, she says, “Where?”
“My team will figure that out. It will be somewhere safe. Somewhere public.” I crouch in front of her. “Wherever it is, you won’t be alone.”
“He won’t hurt me. He’s had every opportunity.”
“I’m almost positive he won’t hurt you either.”
She paces again. “Right. Pick a diner. I’ll get his DNA somehow.”
“Anything he touches, just seal it in a bag.”
Then Raina sits, the gravity of it all weighing her down. “What happens if Valdrin Sokolov is my father?”
I will have one of the most dangerous men on the planet as a father-in-law.
A slow smile tugs at the corner of my mouth. “We abduct him.”