CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT #2
Any composed veneer I was donning melts away with my bewilderment as I flop onto a white cushioned daybed. “What? Why?”
“It was a warning. He leaked footage of the execution on the dark web, claimed responsibility—in an untraceable coded manner, of course—and issued an order of protection on you.”
My brain is a tornado of thoughts, whipping by me with utter destruction in their wake.
That’s where he and his brothers went.
“An order of protection?” I parrot, needing clarity. It’s not a foreign concept, but it’s not something I’ve heard much about, and it certainly doesn’t come into play very often in my work.
“Yes. Keller’s brutal death is the depiction of what anyone causing harm to a Noire employee will incur.”
A shiver racks through me. Brutal death?
“Then it’s not just me,” I argue, glaring at the turquoise water—the reflection of the cloudy sky and the opulence of the resort glimmering on the surface. “It’s any employee. The Noires have that fierce Mafia energy. Axel must want his enemies to know not to mess with what’s his.”
“It’s you. It was done to the man who’d—” He stops abruptly, his anger morphing into a wretched ogre, breathing down my neck through every silent beat.
But I’m still woefully behind in grasping this, so I block out his rage and carry on. “How does Keller’s death even make sense for an order of protection when the offense was ten years ago?”
“That’s exactly what the client asked.” The accusation in that sentence is unmistakable, but still, he elaborates. “They think you’ve turned.”
That I’ve turned. So, whatever reason they had for sending Shep to watch me was validated by Axel’s move.
Did he think this would protect me? Or is this all a ruse to cripple my ability to complete my mission and a subtle warning to anyone who might replace me?
He could be using lust and his family to string me along, to be paralyzing my objectives because I couldn’t resist him spackling over all my lonely cracks.
No. That can’t be it. He’s not that cruel.
He’s seen the way I look at him. And if he is that ruthless, then why not fuck me?
Why let me bond with his family and leave me alone with Mercy, Tessa, and Remy?
And that tenderness he exhibited with me, telling me I’m someone who should be cherished—that wasn’t a masquerade. That was all Axel. It has to be.
My father’s outrage isn’t dissipating, nor is his accusatory timbre. “How did Axel know about Keller?”
Because I was foolish and I confided in him. Because it’s worse than ten years ago. Because this man is in me somehow and I want to believe he’s mine.
I’m not foolish enough to share any of that, so instead, I turn it back on him. “You told me to be myself.”
“I instructed you to play yourself,” he chides.
“To answer authentically in order to gain his trust and make him believe you were there simply about your mother. To throw him off the scent of you spying for our client. That’s why you’re there.
For them. Not to give him personal information! Have you revealed our location or—”
“Of course not,” I sneer. “Contrary to how expendable some agents view others, I would never endanger you or Tripp or anyone from camp. I am not the enemy. At least, I wasn’t.
Are you mad about the order of protection because it calls my loyalty into question or because it thwarts your plans—or the client’s plans—to neutralize me? ”
My strong, invincible father replies with so much anguish tingeing his voice that it’s nearly unrecognizable, “I have no such plans. But, Zara, this … it’s done.”
“You’re pulling me?” I ask without a speck of emotion, but the prospect turns my stomach, even though I want to strangle Axel for what he did.
I’d rather be a prisoner caged with the Noire king than a free agent roaming the earth. Who knows whether that means I’ve won or lost?
“Not yet.” His silent strategizing has never been so loud, his tenor never more desperate, so it’s clear that it’s done means they’ve signed my death warrant.
While he can accept that as a warrior, he’s broken as a father, so he hopelessly devises a plan.
“Keep digging. Keep giving me everything you can find. The Prohibition Ball could be what we need. See if you can turn it around.”
“Inform them that I divulged something deeply personal to gain something from him. That I had to give him a verifiable story and the one about Keller affected no one other than me. I certainly did not expect this mess. But they should view it as a sign that I am succeeding. He’s attached.
I’ve been accepted into their inner circle, so much so that he’s willing to defend me publicly.
It’s only a matter of time until they start speaking freely about everything. ”
He’s quiet for the length of a weary breath, long enough that a bird lands near my feet, pecks at something on the creamy travertine, and flies off in a pompous display of freedom before he finally asks, “And the truth?”
“That is the only truth I have today. Is it enough for you, Dad?”
“Always, angel.” Another breath, another debate on how much encouragement to extend me, but ultimately, he says what he likely doesn’t believe. “Never say die.”
“Nikoly ne zdavaysya.” Never say die.
Once I end the call, I dash toward Axel’s office, texting him on the way. The sight of our meager thread stings. Maybe this is our truth—stilted communication that will never amount to more.
Me: Look at that. We haven’t texted since the GIF of me kicking your ass. Lucky for you, I’m in the mood for a repeat.
Axel: I bet you are, darling. But the offer isn’t on the table yet.
Me: Maybe I should share this GIF with the staff.
Axel: It will only hurt you, much like this bratty attitude.
He isn’t wrong. I’m not usually this untethered, so I do need to rein it in.
Me: Where are you? I need to talk. It can’t wait.
Axel: About a five-minute walk from your current location.
Me: You’re watching me?
Axel: Always. There is nothing more important or captivating than my spirited Thorn. Your gait seems angry.
Me: Are you trying to get under my skin right now?
Axel: Absolutely.
Me: Why?
Axel: It’s only fair when you’ve been under mine since you first arrived here.
Is that true? I can’t breathe. Can’t think.
I honestly don’t know what’s up and what’s down because my father practically admitted that I’m going to be neutralized.
A closer has already come for me. It’s unlikely that I’ll survive much past the Prohibition Ball.
I do think they’ll keep me alive for that, but then what?
I can’t escape this resort, unless I agree to be erased, which means I’ll be alone and looking over my shoulder for the rest of my days, however few they are.
Until someone claims that torment as a prize—my head on their platter.
But despite all that pandemonium, I am undone at the thought of this man truly wanting me.
Maybe he doesn’t. He could be playing me. I stop, my chest heaving, my heart hammering, my eyes burning. And as if he were privy to my madness, as if this damn bracelet provided a telepathic report, he texts an answer to my inner battle.
Axel: Believe it, Zara. You have occupied my every thought and owned my every breath since I spotted you on the security cameras. I am consumed by you.
One additional torturous second of insecurity before he reels me in.
Axel: I’m in the executive conference room with my brothers. Feel free to question me and find your truth.
Maybe he was listening, translating the Ukrainian. That notion revamps my ire. I resume my jaunt at a brisk late-for-a-meeting pace and not a stride faster, doing my best not to draw the scrutiny of the executives.
When I reach the conference room, I don’t knock. He can see me coming anyway.
Busting inside, I scan the faces of all the Noire brothers—the men who I’ve become attached to, but also the men who are complicit in whatever sick game this is—and shut the door with my foot.
“You killed him? Keller? You’d figured out who I was speaking about to you—in confidence—and you killed him? ”
His midnight-blue gaze hitches to mine without an ounce of remorse, and the huskiness of his voice is coated in ice. “Yes. In an achingly slow fashion.”
Even though I know he issued an order of protection, I need to hear him tell me the reason. “Why would you do that?”
“Because, my darling Thorn, unlike your kin, I do kill out of vengeance.”