Chapter 49
Chapter
Forty-Nine
Thomas circled Yagi on the mats in his private gym, on a lower floor in The Havens. He was wearing his suit, while Yagi was in his training uniform of black sweatpants and a white T-shirt, barefoot. They both held wooden knives.
“Keep in mind: you’ve got to kill him with the knife. He can shoot you,” Yagi said. “I will do what I can to protect you from outsiders interfering, but when it comes down to it, you must kill him yourself. That is crucial.”
“I know,” Thomas muttered, forcing himself to focus. Which would have been easier if he could just stop picturing Kate’s wounded expression from this morning.
You really could have handled that whole thing better.
It had been a while since he’d had sex, admittedly.
As crazy as his life had been, especially since Elizabeth’s death—and thinking of Elizabeth brought on a whole new round of guilt, not surprisingly, especially when chained to Ginny’s fresh suicide—he just hadn’t pursued women.
He couldn’t trust anyone, for one thing.
A combination of vengeance and need, plus being married to his businesses, had frankly made sex a low priority.
That said, last night had been really damned good. He knew that. It actually freaked him out a little, how good it felt to be with Kate.
Suddenly, Thomas found himself flat on his back, Yagi looming over him.
“That,” Yagi said, in his usual calm voice, “is going to get you killed. Do you need to meditate?”
“No, I do not need to fucking meditate!” Thomas growled, getting up off the mat, embarrassed.
“Because saying you lack focus is a gross understatement.” Yagi’s eyebrow raised. “Is this about Ginny?”
“No.”
“Kate, then.”
Thomas didn’t respond.
Yagi took a step away. “I have to ask again. Are you serious about getting your soul back?”
“I am serious about killing Cyril Roman.”
“It isn’t precisely the same thing.” Yagi frowned a little. “He has not survived all these years on luck. He is cunning, and cruel. He will do what you don’t have the stomach for without blinking. That is how he wins. To beat him, you also must do the thing you don’t have the stomach for.”
“You keep saying that. How else can I prove it? Is this about using Kate to trap Victor?” Just the words turned his stomach into a knot of ice, but he didn’t let it show. “I agreed to that.”
“Then we need to set it up, and quickly,” Yagi said. “Before you—”
The house phone rang, surprising them both. Thomas frowned, getting up off the mat and heading for the phone. “Hello?”
“Thomas, my boy. Good to hear your voice. I trust I’m not interrupting anything?”
For a blink, Thomas froze. “How did you get this number?”
“Please,” Cyril said, sounding amused. “I know you feel awfully confident, what with your special consultants and top notch security, but do you really think that you can keep me out of something I really want to get into?”
Thomas looked at Yagi, who already had his phone out and was tapping away quickly.
“Tell your friend he doesn’t have to trace. I’m calling from my house. And we both know you can’t touch me.”
“Not until I get the others,” Thomas pointed out, keeping his voice calm, almost bored.
“That hasn’t really worked out, has it?” Cyril said. “I heard how badly you botched your first little foray into the big leagues. Embarrassing. Victor’s not even one of my A-list signatories.”
Thomas felt rage burn him. “I’ve still got a year.”
Now Cyril sighed. “I mishandled you,” he said, his drawl a mockery of Thomas’s own.
“I pushed too hard, and I got a little hot tempered. Totally uncalled for. But don’t you think you’ve postured enough?
You proved you’re a big boy, that you can stand up to me, blah blah blah.
Let’s patch this up, hug it out, do whatever men do these days.
Move forward. I’ve got my own big plans. ”
“I told you, I’m not submitting,” Thomas said. “I won’t be your creature.”
“I prefer the term associate.”
“Creature,” Thomas repeated. “You don’t have any leverage on me anymore.”
“Not since you drove your fiancée to her death, right,” Cyril agreed. “There’s strong, and there’s stubborn. But ultimately, you’ll see the truth. There is no way you win this, and you’ll have sacrificed all this time, all these resources, all these people… for nothing.”
With that parting shot, the call went dead.
Thomas growled at the phone, then threw it, watching it shatter against the wall.
Yagi’s eyes glinted like obsidian. “I’m surprised he hasn’t tried that sooner. He must finally be taking you seriously if he’s trying to charm you or needle you.”
“He’d better fucking be nervous,” Thomas snarled.
Yagi crossed his arms. “If persuasion won’t work, he’s going to want to coerce you into cooperating.
Barring that, I imagine capture will be the next best option, simply so you will stop your pursuit.
I don’t think he’d torture you, for fear of killing you before the vesting period is completed or before you renegotiate the contract in his favor.
On the other hand, I don’t think he’s ever had any signatory as intent on killing him as you are. ”
“Intent is an understatement,” Thomas said, forcing himself to breathe deeply—to calm down. He wouldn’t give that sonofabitch the satisfaction of working him up. “And I’m not afraid of him.”
“His best chance of capturing you is when you are trying to kill his signatories.” Yagi looked pensive.
“Which explains Victor’s call. It’s not meant to trap him.
It’s meant to draw you out. Cyril doesn’t care about Kate, even if Victor does.
Cyril wants to get you, and he’s probably instructed Victor to help him do it. ”
“Yagi?” Thomas said, at the end of his rope. “At least do me the courtesy of acting like you believe I’m not completely obtuse.”
“Then stop acting like it. Getting involved with Kate O’Hara gives him the best bargaining chip in the world,” Yagi snapped.
“If he gets any sense that she is more to you than simply an employee, she’s going to have a target on her forehead.
You might be able to stand up to torture, but you couldn’t even leave her to die when she was just a liability.
You could have gotten Victor if you’d just left her behind.
And that was before you slept with her!”
Thomas sprang, pinning Yagi against the wall, the wooden knife against his throat. “I. Can. Handle this.”
Yagi’s eyes shone, for a split-second shifting from black to a brilliant, animal-like yellow. Then he shoved Thomas back. Thomas barely managed to stay on his feet.
“Be sure,” Yagi said, in a low rasp. “Because if this goes the way I think it will, there will be a choice. Her or you. You can’t be a hero and save your own life.”
“I’m not trying to be a hero.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Yagi replied. “In the meantime, meditate. And for God’s sake, get the woman into that trap and out of your head.”