Chapter 20
TWENTY
FINCH
I still hadn’t moved from my spot, my mind spinning. Kaos had managed to smash one of our chairs, and now he was methodically pacing between his room and the kitchen.
I pulled out a notebook, trying to calm myself.
The plan. Don’t think about Ocean, think about the plan.
The plan would have to be redone, and I would be the infiltrator, which meant creating a persona and backstory. I swear I’d had some notes here of a potential persona that I’d thought of before. The squiggles of my neat Hangul swam in front of my face as I tried to read them.
This would ruin the mission.
The pencil snapped in my hand. I went to pick up a new one but stopped when I saw my hands were shaking. “Dammit!” I hissed, standing up and raking my fingers through my hair.
I roared, grabbing the broken chair and throwing it across the room. It crashed into my shelves as I sank to my knees.
I needed to take Thaddeus down for my own peace of mind. For the pack’s future.
But there wasn’t a future without Ocean.
“I can have both,” I muttered, grabbing my notebook from the table and scattering papers everywhere.
Free Ocean without compromising our mission.
I could do this. I had to.
I was interrupted from my thoughts by a door slamming open somewhere in the house. I exited my room to find Kaos snatching up his jacket from the back of the chair. He’d already shouldered his tool bag, though goodness knows what he was planning to use it for.
“Got her,” he snarled. “She lives in the Starlight villa.”
He started toward the exit.
“What?” I said, darting in front of the door. “Where are you going?”
“To fucking find her,” he said. He was a mess, a flickering live wire in the bond.
With a sudden, dawning panic, I realized it was just me and him right now.
He was more unstable than I’d felt in years, and I didn’t know how to handle him. I didn’t know how to calm him down or what to say. So, I just grabbed my stuff and followed him out the door.
She lived deep in the lion’s den, but it didn’t seem to matter.
I’d never thought I’d see Kaos enter the Crimson Palace again, but here he was, striding through the door with single-minded focus. I followed, trying to keep close and paranoid that he’d be recognized.
I tried to remind myself the chances were extremely slim.
When he’d left the Blood Well, he still had the bulk of a fighter in his prime, muscles that had long since wasted away to leave him with his current skeletal frame.
His hair had grown long now, almost to his waist, and he’d dyed it a light blue.
People barely gave us a second look as we walked past the nightclub.
Kaos had prepared before we left, setting a thirty-minute blackout on the first floor camera.
We didn’t have much time left. He was erratic, his hands clenching and releasing, muttering under his breath.
His eyes were darting back and forth, and I was hoping whatever he planned to do would calm him again.
Ocean was the one who could bring him back from these moods, and I’d never paid much attention to how.
I didn’t think I’d have to.
We walked through the lobby, and I pulled out the VIP key card we’d swiped a few months back, using it to access the private path that led to the luxury villas. Kaos practically vibrated as we walked.
I was almost sick with relief that no one was there as we wound through the garden paths.
Kaos glanced at the black and gold signs we passed.
We passed Sunset, Twilight, and Midnight, and he stopped abruptly at the next one.
Starlight.
Thick hedges rose above us, and Kaos unlatched the metal gate and strode down the paved path.
I closed the gate behind us, heart pounding.
There was a garden, with a birdbath on the lawn, and I followed Kaos up the steps to a small veranda.
I glanced at the windows facing us; no lights were on. Was she still out, then?
The wood creaked under our feet, and Kaos impatiently snatched the key card and swiped it. To my surprise, the light flashed green, and Kaos yanked the door open with a snarl.
Her scent stopped us both in our tracks as soon as we stepped inside. The scent present on the blindfold had been stale, but here in her place, the scent was alive. The scent of roses was vibrant, slightly spicy and earthy, and the vanilla notes were sharp like spun sugar crackling in the air.
It was so beautiful that I wanted to find the source of it and surround myself with it until it was the only thing I could smell. I felt my shoulders loosen as I breathed it in.
A black cat suddenly shot away down the corridor, breaking me out of the spell.
Kaos was unresponsive, the only movement his nostrils flaring.
His anger had been overwhelmed by the emotional equivalent of TV static.
I took another breath and started to take note of our surroundings.
The villa was nicely built, the landing opening to a kitchen with a large island in the center.
To the left was a sunken living room. Perhaps it was supposed to be dark and cozy, but it just reminded me of the pictures I’d seen of the Sink.
Beyond that was an arched alcove, holding a desk.
Two large, Gothic arched doors led to a back patio.
It was exceptionally clean and bland for a home. The counters were spotless, the cushions were fluffed, and there were even a couple of generic household magazines piled artfully on the coffee table.
I needed to make sure the house was clear and we were safe. I pushed away the twinge of guilt as I left Kaos standing in the entryway.
I strode past the kitchen island to check out the rest of the rooms. The corridor led to a bathroom, a closet, and an empty, cold bedroom, all equally neat and devoid of anything that looked personal.
“She’ll come.”
Kaos’s mutter made me jump. He’d joined me as we faced the last closed door together.
I opened it, expecting to find a picture-perfect guest room or office.
I flicked on the light and stopped, taken aback by what I found.
Kaos looked over my shoulder at the proof that the Crimson Duchess did, in fact, have a personality.
The faint smell of solder hung in the air here, and Kaos walked past me to the desk.
He trailed his fingers along the anti-static mat littered with wires and burn marks.
A heavy magnifying glass was positioned over a partially assembled circuit board.
There was a tidy row of hooks and shelves around the desk, all neatly labelled.
Opposite the workbench was a sewing station, a sewing kit open next to a jacket with the seam ripped on one side. Crammed into the corner was a computer station, a monitor with docking cables and headphones unplugged while they waited for the return of their laptop.
This was…not what I was expecting.
Kaos sat in the office chair, putting his bag down on the floor and flicking on the light at the workstation. He peered at the circuit board and frowned.
“What is it?”
“Listening wires,” he said, spinning so he was at the sewing station. He ran his fingers down the open seam and lifted it up to reveal a wire half-sewn in place. “Huh,” he mused, sounding a little impressed. “Seems she has a habit of recording people.”
I saw his eyes flick to the empty space where the laptop would go, his hand twitching.
“Probably on her dad’s orders,” I said, but that didn’t quite make sense. He really had his daughter make and sew her own wires from scratch?
Kaos started pulling out his tools, fiddling with some stuff on the desk. I put a hand on his shoulder before he got too engrossed.
“Kaos. She’s not here. The cameras will reset in minutes. We should go.”
“We’ll wait,” was all he said, turning back to the circuit board.
Great.
That’s what I’d been concerned about.
Now I had to figure out how we were going to confront her in her own home and get out of here alive.
I didn’t even need my notebook for this plan. I only had one idea.
It was crazy.
Repulsive, even.
Something I’d never even considered doing before this moment. But then, I’d never met anyone who deserved it more.
When we caught her, I’d secure my spot in hell.