25. Killian
Killian
Before
Grace seemed nice enough when we met at the restaurant, but I’m not sorry for planning her abduction.
And to be fair, abducting is too strong a word.
I’m just luring her away from the party at the Moncrief estate for a wee while.
It’s only right that I share in Kitty’s birthday celebrations, and Grace is my entry ticket. I just hope Duke sees it that way.
I’m all dressed up in a tux and Patrick is being his usual irritating self on top of my head while I loiter around a quiet industrial estate.
I’ve chosen a location only a few minutes’ drive from the party I haven’t been invited to.
It’s a small comfort that the Griffins haven’t been invited either.
Vasili’s enemies aren’t welcome even though the pakhan himself is staying in Russia for his niece’s weekend of celebrations.
It’s as if he thinks someone would try to kill him. That would definitely be me.
The longer I wait for Grace to show, the more time I have to question my sanity.
My family think I’m enjoying a little road trip, but it’s Shelley who’s driving the car they’re tracking, and it’s her scenic photos I’ve been uploading to the McConkey group chat.
If my heart is pulling me home, it’s not to Las Vegas.
Any second thoughts I might have are swept away by a Mini Cooper’s headlights.
Not wanting to alarm Grace, I rest against a wall, casually holding a large cake box.
The cake is the minor crisis I’ve engineered to draw my victim away from the tight ring of security around the estate.
The top tier of Katarina’s birthday cake mysteriously went missing in transit, and Katarina has sent Grace to fetch a replacement.
It’s the only part of my plan I’ve shared with my princess, which was by text because she’s intent on our conversation at the restaurant being our last farewell. As far as she knows, the ruse is to collect my birthday gift. Little does she know the gift is me.
I’m hoping Grace won’t recognize me from the restaurant and take fright, but almost as soon as she pulls up, she’s shifting the Mini into reverse. Fortunately, I’m too quick and she’s too panicked to select the right gear.
I pull open a door and fold myself into the passenger seat, setting the cake box and gift bag on my lap. “Don’t rush on my account,” I say but, despite my best roguish smile, she recoils. “Do you not want the cake, Gracie?”
She swallows back a gulp of horror. “It’s you again. Katarina’s hairdresser.”
“To be honest with you, I tend to mess up her hair more than I do style it, but yeah, that’d be me.”
“Why are you…?”
I swear I see the moment her soul leaves her body. I’m not disguising my Irish accent tonight. I don’t know how much an interior designer knows about the criminal underworld, but even if she doesn’t know who I am, she knows what I am.
Grace trembles so much I’m worried she won’t be able to drive. “What do you want?”
“A ride to the party would be grand.” I tip my head to the road. “We need to get going. We don’t want to miss the celebrations.”
I’m mildly impressed when she puts the car in park. “No.”
I can see why Duke likes her. She’s not Katarina’s level of gorgeousness, but she’s pretty, and her black crocheted dress shimmers with gold thread in the moonlight. Plus she’s got grit.
“You’re not on the guest list and you won’t be allowed in,” she adds, continuing to resist despite the quake in her voice. “Please, get out.”
My lips thin. Grace needs to know this isn’t up for negotiation. “Please don’t make me do this.”
Her expression falls. “Do what?”
Grace flinches when I slip my hand inside my jacket, but I shoot her another of my devastating smiles before pulling out my cell phone. “Let’s talk to Kitty.”
I make a concerted effort to relax my jaw. I’m far from confident Katarina’s going to answer my call, but my valiant efforts to get my gift to her have paid off because her voice is softened with a mixture of need and regret when she answers.
“Hey, Shorty. Did you see Grace?”
“I’m looking at her right now.” I wink at Grace. “We’re on speakerphone, so no dirty talk.”
“You should be so lucky,” she huffs, but there’s a catch in her voice. “Hi, Grace. Sorry for the surprise. Shorty’s insisting on giving me a birthday gift and you’re the only one I’d trust to pick it up. We won’t get another chance.”
Grace has brought her tremors under control now that Katarina has entered the conversation, and she even manages a little attitude. “Shorty here wants me to–”
I cough. Loudly. “Two things, Gracie. Firstly, only Katarina gets to call me Shorty. You can call me Kill, Killi or Killian.”
“And your second thing?” Katarina jumps in. “What the hell are you up to, Killian?”
“Since I’m all dressed up with nowhere to go, Gracie’s kindly offered to give me a ride. I thought I’d give you your gift in person.”
“I didn’t offer,” interjects Grace.
There’s silence on the other end of the line.
“Listen to me, Kitty. I’ve got my wig and a pair of sunglasses,” I tell her. “And with Gracie vouching for me, security won’t look at me twice. I promise I won’t speak to anyone else. I just want to see you.” When I still get nothing, I add, “And I intend to see all of you. Tonight.”
“It’s too risky. You can’t…”
“I can. And I will.”
“You can’t and you won’t,” Grace pipes up. I’d forgotten she was in car. “Not if I don’t agree. I’d rather stay out here all night than smuggle you into the party so you can sabotage all our plans. Duke needs to get his brother home.”
I hold up my hands. Katarina has managed to get her uncle to release Fitz tonight, and with the threat to the Moncriefs about to be removed, it’s practically gifting us a chance to rewrite our ending.
“I won’t be doing anything to jeopardize your plans,” I promise Grace. “You have my word.”
“Please, don’t do this, Killian.” Katarina’s plea is wet with tears. “We’ve said our goodbyes. Let me go. Maybe one day, when it’s safe and your family doesn’t hate my family so much, we can pick up where we left off.”
I’m pushing Katarina to reveal feelings she doesn’t want to feel, but that’s what we do. We push each other to do the craziest shit and tonight might be the craziest. “I won’t let you leave on a maybe.”
“You have to. It’s all I can offer. Goodbye, Shorty.”
“Kitty!”
It’s too late. She’s cut the call.
It was a long shot getting Katarina to convince Grace to sneak me in, so Plan B it is. I return my cell phone to my pocket and take out my Glock.
“Sorry, Gracie. I am going to the party and you’re going to get me in there. And the quieter and calmer you are, the less chance there is of things kicking off before your boyfriend’s brother can be returned.”
Despite having a gun pointed at her, Grace continues to plead with me to reconsider, but I don’t have a choice, I really don’t. Only death could separate me from Katarina now.
“My soul is black enough,” I tell her. “I really don’t want to kill you.”
The Moncrief mansion is straight out of a gothic horror novel. All that’s missing is a windswept Scottish landscape, swirling mist and tension-inducing background music. Instead, there are fairy lights and a Taylor Swift song playing as we’re waved through security without a hitch.
“If I can trust you to follow my orders, I’ll get you your time alone with her,” Grace says as she stops the car in front of a valet.
“Sure.” Just as long as her orders align with mine.
Grace takes the cake, and it’s quite sweet that she thinks she’s taking charge of me too as she marches towards a marquee as big as a circus tent with my gun pressed to the small of her back.
The house itself is a no-go area for party-goers, but lights spill out onto the stone terrace at the rear of the property.
I’ve stood on it once or twice to welcome in the New Year with Ash and Rory.
Tonight, there are four figures silhouetted against the light.
Three Moncriefs and one Barkov, and I know they’re watching me.
It was inevitable that I’d be spotted, but I’m here now, and I can’t be ejected without causing a scene.
When I check my phone, there are no messages from Katarina.
She’s keeping her powder dry until she can scream at me in person, so I send her a little reminder of what’s to come.
Opening our little app, I gift her a delightful buzz.
I’m too far away to see her expression, but I swear her stance shifts ever so slightly. She’s wearing my last gift.
Grace finds Duke’s PA just outside the main marquee and gets him to relay a request for Duke to meet us in the nearby catering tent. Duke’s the man to get me a private audience with Katarina. He can’t really say no, there isn’t time. Fitz is due to be returned within the next hour.
As I follow Grace into the marquee, I feel a tug to my heart.
This is the first party anyone’s ever thrown for Katarina and it’s going to be a blast. The guests are all connected to the Moncriefs, but it’s Katarina’s twenty-first birthday they’ve come to celebrate.
There’s a trapeze artist keeping everyone entertained, but my attention is drawn to the large ice sculpture of a Russian bear guarding a gigantic six-tier birthday cake covered in pink butter cream.
Grace keeps hold of the final tier as she guides me through a tunnel to the catering tent.
It's impressive when she orders all of the staff out and they obey. There’s a fuck load of food to be prepared, but knives are set down and burners are switched off as they file out.
Duke’s bodyguard is the first to show up.
Max doesn’t say much as he splits his attention between the rear exit and me.
He can’t quite decide where the greatest threat lies.