Chapter 29 Cian
CIAN
Hawk.
He stands in the center of his guards like some kind of king and the mocking smirk on his face ignites a fury within me that I didn’t know existed. How the hell we ended up here is beyond me, but if I can reach the gun in my rucksack then I’ll wipe that fucking smirk off his face within seconds.
He’s destroyed my family.
Caused me more pain than I can fathom.
Yet he stands there utterly unfazed and I can’t make sense of it.
Faina’s hand lightly touches my back and she murmurs softly. “Don’t react, Cian. Take it slow.”
Easy for her to say.
As soon as I think about it, guilt worms in my gut. He’s caused her pain too and we still don’t know the fate of Anastasia. Hawk’s torn through our world like a fucking cyclone and there’s nothing stopping him from killing us right here.
But he doesn’t.
His stance remains casual as he watches us with his clothes moving lightly in the warm breeze that dances down the runway. None of the guards, while armed, have their guns focused on us. They’re all as relaxed as their boss which is equally confusing and irritating.
“You going to stand there all day?” Hawk finally speaks, and he greets us lightly as if we’re all friends. “Or are you going to come down?”
My mind races. We could take the other people on the plane hostage and force the pilot to take off but until we know how he got the plane to land here in the first place, there’s no guarantee that will work.
Plus, his work with heavy weapons doesn’t rule out the possibility that someone is armed with something that could shoot us right out of the sky.
Should I bargain? Let him take me while Faina goes free?
If anyone can fight their way out of this, it’s her, but Hawk is such a rat, there’s no guarantee either of us would be safe under a deal like that. The way he twists things, it would surely be a death sentence.
Slowly, I glance behind me to Faina and search her eyes for a solution, but she seems as pissed and confused as I am.
Her hand remains pressed against the small of my back as we turn back to Hawk who is finally moving.
He spreads his arms wide, causing the loose sleeves of his shirt to bunch up at his shoulders.
“Welcome to Australia! For tourists eager to see the place, you seem reluctant. Is it the thought of stepping foot in a foreign land? No, it can’t be that.
After all, you’ve been all around Europe and you’ve come from Africa.
” He slowly walks forward and each movement he makes sends a ripple through his guards.
They seem to mirror him in subtle ways, keeping him in their sight at all times, and while their grasp on their weapons seems relaxed, there’s no doubt in my mind that they would all shoot me before I reached my gun.
“Are you concerned about customs?” Hawk continues as if we’re casually chatting. “I know, it’s strict here. Don’t sweat. We’re only breaking a few hundred laws but we won’t be staying long.”
What the fuck does he mean by that?
Hawk stops a few feet away from the bottom of the step and finally lowers his arms. “Is it the plane?”
“If you’re trying to impress us by showing you have the leverage to divert an entire plane, then you really have no idea who you’re dealing with,” Faina remarks sharply from behind me.
Hawk laughs. “It’s not you I’m interested in impressing,” he remarks.
“But to satisfy your curiosity, you should know that it was actually super easy to do that because that plane is mine. Technically. Because the airline is mine, and when I tell them to bring me a plane, they really bring me a plane. And all the people inside?” He points toward the plane. “All my people.”
My stomach sinks with the daunting realization that I’ve grossly underestimated this man’s reach. He has access to money all over the world and while it’s fucking obscene, it’s not surprising that he owns an airline.
“Careful,” I say as I slowly start to walk down the stairs. “You wouldn’t want anyone to lose respect for your large ego.”
“Ahh, Cian. How nice it will be to finally talk to you face to face.” He smiles widely. “When I heard you were in Egypt, I knew you’d be looking for me. I wasn’t sure if you would be able to track me down given the crumbs I left, but I should have known your little friend would be on it.”
Little friend turns the anger inside me into white-hot rage. I want to launch myself down the steps and throw myself into him, beating him until I can’t feel my hands anymore. The only thing keeping me calm is Faina’s continued contact with my back while she walks behind me.
“You’re not that hard to find,” I reply tightly.
Hawk snorts. “Indeed. And when I saw you trying to get onto a plane to come here, then I knew exactly how to finally speak to you properly.”
“If you wanted to do that, then why run?”
“You think I’m running?” He glances back at his guards as if looking for approval that my words are ridiculous. “Cian, I’m a busy man. I can’t always drop everything to come and speak with someone. I wait for them to come to me. Simple, really.”
“And what’s to stop me from killing you right here and now?” At the bottom of the steps, we’re face to face and he’s close enough that the wind brings me the spice of his aftershave.
“Nothing but curiosity,” Hawk replies, but his smile instantly turns cold.
“Go on. Take a shot. Do you think you can move faster than my men? It’s been a while since they’ve been challenged and the two of you, I bet could give them a run for their money.
In another life, I would have loved to have you by my side. ” His eyes slide past me to Faina.
“As what?” She snorts softly. “A pet?”
“My head of security. A woman with your talents is rare.”
“You don’t know enough women.”
“Ooh.” Hawk pouts slightly with narrowed eyes. “The cat’s got claws.”
“This cat’s going to kill you,” she snaps.
I move between them as if I can protect her and glare at Hawk. “We’re here. You went to all this trouble to get us here, so now what? If your plan is to bore us to death, then maybe it’s working.”
“Indeed.” Hawk snaps his fingers and his guards suddenly surge forward. Within thirty seconds, my hands are locked and secured behind my back.
Faina and I are half-dragged, half-shoved toward the limo parked at the end of the line of cars and quickly shoved inside. Faina lands next to me, and I try to reach out to her, but we’re kept apart by two guards while Hawk joins us and sits at the back of the limo near the door.
“Restraints, really?” I scoff, trying to antagonize him. “You’re that scared of us?”
“It’s merely protocol.” Hawk shrugs. “I’m not afraid.”
“You should be,” Faina snarls, wrestling against the man keeping her back against the seat.
“Ooh.” Hawk chuckles. “You know, the two of you are perfect representations of everything I hated about America. You’re like cockroaches.
Even though I wanted to speak to you, part of me was hoping this world would stamp you out.
It would be one less thing on my plate, you understand.
But I should have known.” His gaze lands on me.
“How did you survive the mansion explosion?”
My heart begins to pound so hard my tongue vibrates. “You mean when you slaughtered my fucking family?”
“Obviously,” Hawk replies.
“I don’t know. Guess you’re not good at finishing things.”
“I sent my catering team to your party. I’d planted explosives for weeks through my team.
The caterers, the mechanic who came to fix Cormac’s car, the nannies being interviewed to help with the children, even the pizza guy.
Bit by bit, I rigged that place to be obliterated and still you survived.
An amazing feat for a family that’s been a thorn in my side for too long. ”
I grit my teeth until my jaw throbs. “What did you expect, given the disgusting shit you’re up to?”
“You and the Russians are both… criminals with morals. Who knew that was even a thing? Since when did breaking the law come with rules? The entire point of being a criminal is to break the law, and yet you two with your reformed families suddenly grew a moral backbone, and that affected my business.”
“People aren’t stock,” Faina snarls. “You signed up for failure the second you sold your first slave.”
“And yet that was so many years ago.” Hawk sighs wistfully. “Your family’s hands are as filthy as mine.”
“We’ve changed.”
“Hmm. Yes. Your attempts to track down people we sold and save them as if there’s anything left to save. You should have kept your nose clean. Both of you.” Hawk shakes his head. “Maybe then your sister would still be alive, Cian. Hmm?”
“You bastard!” I surge forward with murder in mind and rage in my blood but I’m quickly restrained. “I’ll kill you, motherfucker. You hear me? I’ll kill you!”
“No, you won’t.” Hawk regards me coolly as the limo finally comes to a stop. “Not when you’ve heard everything I have to say. You’re going to see we’re not so different, Cian. Trust me.”
There’s something snakelike in the way he smiles.
He climbs out of the limo. Faina and I are dragged out moments later back into the scorching Australian heat.
I manage to catch her gaze for a second, so I pour everything into it.
Then we’re dragged around the limo and our destination suddenly becomes clear.
At the end of the road is a helipad holding a sleek black helicopter.
Beyond that, the Serenity super-yacht lies anchored just offshore.