40. Rurik #2
“As real as it gets.” King hands the rest of us ours. He keeps a myriad of different documents at all times for the family. “I made sure they’ll clear us all quick too and made sure our flight plan wasn’t public. Not even Mikel should be able to see we left the country.”
“…why’d you have him get it?” Ash turns to me.
“You never know when you’re going to need to get away quick. Everyone I fuck with has emergency documents…” I trail off when Ash looks at me like I have two heads. “Don’t aristocrats do shit like this?” It can’t just be us…
“No. We don’t.”
“Maybe you should. Makes life so much easier.”
To my point, we breeze through control at the private terminal. Another benefit of taking our own plane and having identities to assume. Ash puts on a mask and a baseball cap to make sure he doesn’t get recognized or papped while we check into our hotel to lie low until nightfall.
“Where are we on the munitions?”
“Have faith, Rurik-chan.” Kiho does most of our weapons stuff as it’s his special interest and it doesn’t hurt that his family controls the largest weapons trafficking industry across the globe. There’s not a place on earth he can’t get a gun in his hand. Antarctica included.
“I’m trying, baby girl!” I don’t like not having a gun, even if it’s only for a few hours. It doesn’t feel right. And it’s made even worse by feeling protective over Ash.
“Rome wasn’t burned in a day. You need to trust.”
“We don’t have days. I am on a schedule.”
“What schedule?” Kiho laughs, checking his phone. He gets up and opens the door, speaking in Japanese too fast for me to keep up with before returning with a couple of pastry boxes.
“You ordered cake? At a time like this?”
He sets the boxes on the table in front of me and begins opening them. “What, you don’t like cake?”
I grab dishes from the kitchen in our suite and a knife. “I always want cake. I just want a gun more.”
“Good thing I have both.” Kiho lifts the top layer of cake off, revealing a gun and extra clips hidden beneath it.
“You beautiful bastard.” I grab his face and kiss his cheek. “Want cake, baby?”
“Yes, please,” Ash answers, and I can’t read his tone.
I bring him a piece and bend down to kiss him. “My behavior with Kiho doesn’t bother you, does it?”
Ash laughs. “Not at all. I know he’s your best friend. But you better not be kissing anyone else.”
I brush my lips over his again, lingering. “No?”
“If you think I won’t kill anyone who touches you…” Ash growls into my mouth, and I’ve never been so hard in my life.
“Are you getting possessive?”
“No one else touches what’s mine.”
“Fuuuuck. Come on. I need to see you alone.” I drag him to his feet.
“I’m eating my cake!”
“And I’m going to eat your cake.” I pick him up and carry him to the bedroom.
“I’m scared to ask what that means…” Ash doesn’t fight me, which makes me love him more.
“You sweet innocent baby boy. You’ll see.”
A few hours and lots of cake later, we’re ready to go in. It’s a long drive out into the countryside. Since the property is one of the King’s private working estates with tens of thousands of acres and not one of the palaces, security is way more lax.
“What is out here?” I ask Ash as we wind through dark roads with our lights off.
“My uncle’s country palace. He likes to come here to hunt.” He squeezes my hand. “It was one of my mother’s favorite places in the world as well. So we were here a lot as children.”
“What is hunted in the spring?” Not that I hunt, but I thought it was prime breeding time.
“Stags and boar. My uncle loves the danger of it.”
“No wonder all of you can fight so well.” Kiho side-eyes Ash and Viv.
Ash directs us to a quiet back entrance to the grounds.
About a hundred full-time employees and nearly as many part-time people work on the estate during the week, he told us.
So it’s the easiest access point and maybe not as secure as it should be.
We approach a large gate, and there is an SUV waiting on the other side.
A tall, lanky figure unlocks the gate and stands back to let us drive through before returning to the SUV to lead us to a massive outbuilding. Lots of farm-type vehicles are stored inside, and he directs us to park.
When we get out of the car, I drink in a man who I can only presume is Rainier.
I offer my hand. “I’m Rurik.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t sure what the protocol is for assassinations,” Ash mutters. “Rainier, this is Rurik.”
Rainier takes my hand in a firm shake, sizing me up. He’s a near spitting image of his brother, maybe an inch shorter, but with the same green eyes. The only major difference between them is Rain’s much lighter hair. It’s an auburn blond while Ash’s is more of a sandy blond.
Ash introduces the rest of us, except for Viv, who he already knows. When he’s done, Rain wraps Ash up in a hug, pressing their foreheads together.
“You do not know how I’ve missed you,” Rainier whispers.
“And I you. It’s almost unbearable.”
“Not more unbearable than what you’ve endured. I’m so sorry I didn’t know. I’m so fucking sorry I didn’t put it together—” Rain barely holds back his emotions.
Ash cuts him off. “Stop. You are not allowed to feel guilty for anyone else’s sins. I won’t allow it. I didn’t put it together, and it was happening to me.”
“But father did it for me.”
“It doesn’t matter. You didn’t know.’
Rainier nods, closing his eyes. “Okay. I will try.”
They release each other, and we all stand around awkwardly for a moment, reeling from the weight of it all.
“You said this place has a place I can hook up to the ethernet?” King asks, holding up his laptop.
“Right, yes. The office has a camera…”
“I’ll wipe it once I’m in. It’s fine. If you can just plug this into the wall, I can get you off them all too. Then if anyone is live monitoring, they’ll only see you.” King hands him a little plug.
“Great. Wait in the Range Rover. My apologies, it only seats seven. One of you might need to take the trunk…”
“You can sit on my lap.” I grab Ash and drag him into the back.
King opens his computer once he’s seated in the middle. “I’m in.”
Rainier returns a few minutes later, and we head towards the palace. “What’s the plan?”
“Well, it depends on whether you want to tell Uncle Frederik before or after. Or not at all,” Ash asks, like he’s following up with a conversation they had on the phone.
“Before. You know he has no love for our father. He only tolerates him because of his love for us and our mother.” Rainier looks at him in the rearview mirror, flicking a brow up at our closeness, making me wonder if Ash has told him we are boyfriends.
He’s not acting like we aren’t, but he’s not acting like we are either. But I guess, how boyfriend do you act when on a murder expedition?
“Uncle is probably in his study. Let’s go there first, then.” Rainier says after we park.
“Won’t your father, like, see us?” This feels too blasé even for me.
Rainier laughs softly. “The palace is twenty-seven thousand square feet. It has twelve bedrooms and fifteen bathrooms, two full libraries, and an assortment of other rooms, and a full staff. Even if dad was in the main building, it would be unlikely, and considering he and my uncle are not the best of friends, he stays at one of the cottages on the property, nearer the shore.”
“Ohhhh.”
“His brain is probably set to New York size apartments. It’s quite a difference.” Ash leans into me a little.
When we get inside, Rainier leads us to a room in one of the towers, pushing open the solid oak door to reveal a maximalist study, with wall-to-wall bookcases and trinkets of all kinds dotting them.
There’s a weird mixture of textures and wood grains and unusual art, but it works.
A large fire burns in the hearth, and next to it sits a very eccentric-looking older man.
“Uncle,” Rainer says after clearing his throat. “I have some visitors…”
“Rainier, you didn’t tell me you were having guests. I’m sorry, I’d have made myself much more respectable… Astor…? What are you doing home?” Frederik looks at us all again. “Viv, you too? What do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
Ash introduces us, and while King, Nik, and I awkwardly bow, Kiho acts like he was made to meet kings, coming in with a large sweeping bow outdoing the rest of us.
“Show off,” I mutter under my breath.
Kiho winks as he steps back. “Amateur.”
“Can I get any of you a drink?”
“We might all need drinks.” Ash glances over at me like he wants me to take control of the conversation, maybe?
I can’t read your mind, baby, I think at him.
He obviously hasn’t been working on our mind speech connection because he helps his uncle with drinks and doesn’t reply.
I know it’s a long shot, but he could at least try to be open to a deeper connection with me. I’ll have to bring it up in our first couples therapy session.
“What brings you all to my humble home?” Frederik asks when we all have some alcohol.
“I regret to inform you that I’ll be murdering Gustav,” I announce because it feels right.
Ash scrubs a hand over his face. “You don’t ease into anything, do you?”
“I hate small talk.” I sip my Scotch. “Mmmm tasty.”
“I’m sensing this isn’t a prank… Rain, Astor, do one of you want to tell me what’s going on?” Frederik is way calmer than I expected him to be which makes me like him immediately.
Ash lets out a breath. “It’s a long story.”
“Go on then.”