Nix. (Den of Mercenaries Book 3) (29 page)

“Is there a reason you called?”

There was shuffling on the other end before Semyon came back on with a curse. “You told me to call you if anyone started looking into the lists of names you sent.”

“And?”

That was exactly what Kit had been trying to avoid. It wouldn’t do him any good if Uilleam found him before he could.

He was theatrical that way, and if he had always intended for Luna to find out about Uilleam’s involvement, he wouldn’t stop at just telling her—he would make sure there was no doubt remaining.

Kit couldn’t let that happen.

“I’ve been trying to track down the guy, but he hasn’t left much of a digital footprint over the last year. Nearly off-grid—but apparently I wasn’t looking in the right places.”

“Who’s the other party?”

“Couldn’t tell you. Their encryption software is pretty solid—I’m only able to get enough through a back channel to catch whatever she finds.”

“That’s not good enough, Kreshnik.”

He mumbled something unintelligible, before Semyon blew out a heavy breath. “They found him—Andrei, I mean—and whoever the fuck this is blocked me from accessing whatever they found, but my malware—”

“I don’t need to know the process,” Kit said, “I only need results.”

More silence, and then, “Sending you an address now. They have a head start, so if you’re trying to find this guy, get moving.”

Kit ended the call without saying anything more, his phone chiming as a text came in. He didn’t bother reading, instead sending it off to the one person he knew could see this done without leaving witnesses.

That was Fang’s specialty, after all.

* * *

“
W
hat happened
?”

Not once in the years since she had been an official part of the Den had Luna ever failed on an assignment. And though she knew she should have been focusing on what Z was saying beside her as they observed the police going in and out of the building, her mind was seized on thoughts of what Andrei had been telling her before someone silenced him.

“He knew who I was,” Luna said, dragging her gaze away from the scene before her and to the man at her side. “Not because of the Den though.”

But because of the warehouse.

There was only two that she had ever confided in about that place—Kit and Uilleam, and only the latter because he asked. She didn’t like to talk about it, or remember, and she preferred only allowing people to know about the
her
she had become once Calavera was her name.

And because of that, she never thought she would have to tell the story again.

Taking a breath, Luna gave him a rather condensed version of the truth before adding, “And he thought The Kingmaker sent me because of what he did at the warehouse, but I don’t know why he would think that.” Truthfully, she didn’t understand anything.

Zachariah frowned, narrowed eyes turning to Luna. “This warehouse, do you remember where it was, or anything familiar about it?”

“Not really. I think it was by water—I could always hear the waves crashing. I never saw much of it, not until someone set it on fire.”

And even then, all she could remember was the smoke and flames, and not much else.

Zachariah was silent, lost in his thoughts, but he looked troubled. “Something isn’t right here.”

No, it really wasn’t. “What do you want me to do?” Luna asked.

“Report to the client,” he said, straightened his hat and turned for the car. “Inform them of what’s happened. Your work is done.”

With no other choice but to nod, Luna walked in the opposite direction, maneuvering around the crowd to her bike. Thankfully, she’d had the foresight to park well away, so there was no trouble driving out of there without drawing attention to herself.

The penthouse was empty by the time she made it inside, but was secretly glad—the last thing she felt like doing was telling Kit about what happened. Of course she couldn’t get into specifics, but she still felt the urge to talk to him about it, if only because he could offer some clarity.

Luna was doubtful there was much he hadn’t seen over his long career as both assassin and facilitator, so it was possible that he had experienced a similar situation.

Tossing her keys on a nearby table, Luna headed straight for the bathroom to hop in the shower.

She wasted no time washing the blood away, scrubbing her skin clean until it was sensitive to the touch.

Her mind was on Andrei and the mystery behind the man when she heard the shower door open a moment before she felt Kit at her back, his hands sliding along her hips.

And almost instantaneously, she relaxed. There was always something comforting about having him near—the one person that could make her thoughts go silent, if only for a short while.

“You’re going to make me regret this decision, aren’t you?” he asked next to her ear, turning them so his back was to the raining water.

Smiling as she spun in his arms, she followed a few droplets of water with her fingers, dragging them across the flexing muscles of his abdomen. “What decision?”

“To allow you to take on these more dangerous jobs.”

Luna’s hands froze in their descent as she looked up at him, frowning. “What do you mean by
allow
?”

But she knew before he even opened his mouth, and worse, he didn’t express any guilt over what he had done.

“Did you get some kind of say of the assignments Z gave me?”

“Don’t be upset,” he said back rationally.

Rationally
, as though he had any right.

“You told me you wouldn’t interfere, promised me.”

“And I haven’t. I merely made a suggestion.”

She put a hand to the center of his chest as he attempted to draw her closer. “Do you really want to argue semantics? And how did you even know about what happened today?”

“After the unfortunate incident with my brother, I took precautions.”

Precautions? “Meaning, you’re having me followed?” Of course he was, it would be just like him to do something like that. “By who?”

“Does it truly matter?” he asked, allowing her to retreat, turning to duck his head beneath the water. “You’re already angry with me.”

“Should I not be?” Luna asked, eyes gone wide. “I’m not a child, you know.”

“And I’ve never alluded to otherwise. This is for your protection, after all.”

“Then why not tell me about it?”

“Because I knew this was how you would react.”

Ignoring that, she asked, “Who’d you send?”

“Luna, you’re being irrational.”

“It’s a simple question—one you’re avoiding.”

“Because the answer won’t change your mood, so I see no point in divulging.”

Growing more agitated with him by the second, Luna didn’t bother responding, merely stepped out of the shower and snatched a towel off the bar, drying off in a hurry as she heard him mutter a curse behind her.

With a quickness she had grown rather good at, she dried off, dressing in a pair of spandex shorts and a tank top. She had the towel clutched in her hands as she ran it over the length of her hair when Kit plucked it from her, tossing it aside.

But when she felt those fingers of his drifting beneath the fall of her hair, she quickly pulled away. He had always been rather good at easing her anger toward him, but for once she didn't want that.

She wanted to hold onto it.

“How’d your meeting go?” she asked, refusing to look at him as she crossed the floor to put more distance between them.

“Which one?”

“The one you were annoyed about.”

At first, it had been a bid to change the subject, to get her mind off of why she was annoyed with him, but as she remembered his odd behavior a few nights ago, she was genuinely curious as to his answer.

“Not as well as expected, but,”—he shrugged, striding naked off in front of her as he went to get dressed as well. — “I have it under control at the moment.”

That sounded rather … vague. “Was it anything interesting?”

Sometimes, the things that people came to him for boggled her mind. Once, there had been a request for a rare white tiger for a children’s birthday party, and another had been the kidnapping of seven wanted men— for crimes Luna didn’t like to think about—and taking them to a remote island where they played a real-life game of Survivor.

People’s imaginations were limitless.

Kit didn’t answer right away, quiet in the closet before he came back out wearing a pair of jeans that sat low on his waist. “It’s nothing to concern yourself with. What we
should
be worrying about is why your assignments have all resulted in someone getting killed.”

“I’m a mercenary, Kit. I would be more surprised if they didn’t end this way—which should have been a clue considering your part in this.”

“Don’t fault me for wanting to protect you, Luna—someone should have. While I can’t change the past, I can assure that you don’t suffer again like you had then.”

She wanted to hold onto her anger, but Kit had a way with words—a way that had her letting go of the momentary anger she felt toward him.

“I think I’ve told you before that I can take care of myself.”

“Undoubtedly, but you don’t always have to—that’s my job.”

How could she possibly argue with that?

“Now, are you going to tell me what happened, or should I find out from another source?”

“If I do,” Luna said chewing on her lip, “you have to drop the detail and actually keep your word that you’ll stay clear.”

Kit looked like he wanted to argue further, but didn’t. “Go on, then.”

She wouldn’t tell him everything, she decided, just the curious bits. “The guy I was looking for … he knew me.”

Kit shrugged. “I imagine many do.”

“He was
there
,” Luna rephrased. “At the warehouse where I was kept. I remembered his voice—he was one of the ones that got me out when the place went up in flames.”

“Did he tell you this?” When Luna nodded, he then asked, “What else did he say?”

“He didn’t really get to say much else before someone shot him—apologized, a lot though.”

“If he did what he said, he
should
have apologized.”

Luna was inclined to agree … but it still didn’t make sense why he had thought Uilleam would send her after him—unless the Kingmaker knew something about her kidnapping that she didn’t.

Had he found the answer she had been looking for all these years?

Sure, she had moved past that time I her life, but she hadn’t moved on, not really. She pondered the truth constantly.

“I’m glad you weren’t hurt,” he whispered a moment before kissing her forehead.

She sighed, laying her head against his chest. “Someone else was looking for him too—I forgot to mention that to Z when I saw him. But I don’t think it really matters because according to him, my job is done.”

“Then perhaps now you’ll let me talk you into taking a vacation.”

She smiled. “We just got back from vacation.”

“I fail to see why that matters.”

Laughing, Luna said, “Maybe. But I have to finish this first, so our plans are on hold.”

“If you insist.”

As Kit finished getting dressed, and her attention was stolen by her chiming phone, something was bothering her, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what it was.

At least not at first.

Not until Kit was gone from the room with a whispered goodbye and she was left in silence.

It was the silence that put the pieces together.

When Uilleam was shot and she was with him, Kit had sent the Wild Bunch in to retrieve her and take her to a safe house, and she hadn’t even been the target of the assault.

Yet, he hadn’t seemed fazed at all by the events of the day.

And even if he had taken extra security measures to ensure that nothing happened to her, why hadn’t his security shown their face?

Something wasn’t adding up.

S
he was too curious
, his Luna.

Kit had seen it in the stubborn tilt of her jaw when she walked away from him. Sure, she was agreeing with him verbally, but she wasn’t going to let this go, not when she still had questions.

But it didn’t matter, not when Andrei had been the last loose string.

Kit had become a master at keeping secrets, what was one more?

Once he was dressed, Kit left his bedroom, only to come up short when Fang appeared in the hallway, a tight smile on his face as he nodded at whatever Aidra was saying to him as she walked in the opposite direction.

“My office,” Kit said without looking at him, already heading in that direction. He knew what the man had come to say, but he didn’t want their conversation to be overheard.

“I know you said no witnesses,” Fang said the moment they were closed away in the soundproof room. “But I figured you would make an exception.”

Kit didn’t laugh. “Did she see you?”

“I think you would know by now if she had,” Fang suggested, digging his hands into his pockets.

“Or anything of yours? You’ve turned her into a bit of a motorcycle enthusiast. I’m sure she would have noticed yours had you parked it around.”

“Found a truck.”

Meaning he
stole
a truck, but Kit didn’t care about that little detail. “In any case, I’ve told her that I had you following her for the time being, so should she ever mention it, that’s your story.”

“Understood.”

Kit’s gaze drifted to the monitor on his desk, depicting seven different video feeds of the grounds. Nothing was out of the ordinary, not until a fleet of black SUVs came into view.

“Are the others here as well?” Kit asked Fang, though not taking his gaze off the screen.

“Yeah, why?”

“It seems my brother has come to pay me a visit.”

Kit didn’t arm himself as he left his office—though he was partly glad that he’d decided to put on his vest before dressing. There was no telling what his brother would do now that he was here.

He was down the stairs and out the door in seconds, standing in front of the doors as Uilleam and his mercenaries unloaded—all of which had rifles aimed at Kit’s head.

Kit was unfazed.

“You’re asking for war, Kingmaker,” Kit said mockingly once he was looking down into the face of rage as he stared at his brother. “Don’t tempt me to actually kill you.”

“I invite you to try.”

“What did you expect, Uilleam?” Kit asked as he walked down the last few steps until they were within a foot of each other. “We wouldn’t be here had it not been—”

“I’ve never liked those that play at being a victim,” Uilleam said with a modest shake of his head. “Wolves in sheep’s clothing, I say. They have their minions that tell them they couldn’t possibly have done any wrong, yet we both know the truth, don’t we? Just a two-headed dog begging to be put down. Make no mistake, you only have yourself to blame.” The hollows of Uilleam’s cheeks stood out more—he’d lost weight. “Yet, you think to throw it in my face?”

“And what do you suspect you’re doing, Uilleam? You’re so blinded by your own ego that you can’t see your own flaws. When you’re not plotting one of your schemes, you’re acting like a petulant child. Grow
up
.”

Uilleam’s laugh was harsh. “That’s astonishing coming from the man that decides to get into business with the very people he condemns me for. Did you think I wouldn’t find out about your arrangement with Caesar Rivera? The man couldn’t wait to spread the good news. Do you care to know
why
? Because the last time I saw them, I told them they were both beneath me.”

“You think everyone is beneath you, Uilleam. That’s your problem.”

“I’ve never thought
you
were,” he said with so much venom, it made Kit blink.

No, Uilleam had
never
treated him as though he were less than him. He liked his games, sure, but he had always thought of Kit as a worthy opponent.

Until Kit had stopped wanting to play the game.

But it didn’t matter anymore, they were both bound by the choices they had made. And though this looked like another betrayal, Kit was sure, he couldn’t tell him otherwise.

Not just because of Luna, but because of Uilleam.

Despite it all, he was still Kit’s brother, and he didn’t want to see any harm come to him. Until he could see a way out of the hole, he had his part to play.

Even if he had to hurt everyone he loved.

“You were sloppy,” Kit said. “You were in over your head and this—
this
is the result. There’s no reason for you to be here anymore, is there? You’ve said they were beneath you, there’s no reason why you should be upset that I’ve taken them on. Don’t be a sore loser, brother. It’s unbecoming.”

For a moment, Kit thought he could actually see the younger version of Uilleam standing there, staring up at him with wide eyes filled with hurt.

Kit didn’t gloat.

Yet, here he stood making a mockery of the only family that had ever truly loved him.

“I’m going to make you bleed,” Uilleam said, eyes never straying. “I’m going to cut the heart out of you.”

“Don’t threaten me unless you’re ready for
war
.”

“You must have forgotten,” Uilleam said as he backed away, “I excel at wars.”

* * *

T
hey were acting weird
.

From the minute Luna arrived in the building, service was sluggish. It almost felt as though they were purposely taking their time. But Luna didn’t have time to wonder about their behavior, not when she was going over her explanation to Belladonna.

She couldn’t imagine the woman would be pleased with what she had to say, especially considering the fees the Den charged for finding someone. Undoubtedly, she wouldn’t like that her target was dead before she could get whatever she wanted from him, and worse, Luna still didn’t know who was responsible.

As she stepped out of the elevator, she had to double-check to make sure she was on the correct floor. Unlike the last time she had been there, the walls had changed colors, the receptionist’s desk had been moved, and if she wasn’t mistaken, half of the people she was seeing inside the office were new.

What the hell?

“I trust you’re here because you have news?” Belladonna asked, heels clicking as she came around the corner. The white of her outfit was nearly blinding against her tan skin. She gestured to her office and said, “Shall we?”

Belladonna’s offie seemed to be under construction as well, plastic wrap covering majority of the surfaces in the room save her desk and the flat screen hanging on the wall. Though the TV was on and turned to one of those celebrity gossip shows, it was muted.

With everything going on with Kit, Luna didn’t want to waste any time with excuses and preambles. “Andrei is dead.”

Luna expected surprise, or annoyance maybe, but she got neither. In fact, Belladonna hardly reacted to the news that the man she was hunting had been killed.

“Before or after you found him?”

“After—I saw it happen,” Luna explained further.

“How?”

“Sniper.”

Belladonna’s red painted lips curled up. “You know two of those, correct? Red, I believe he’s called, and Fang.”

It wasn’t Red’s name that made Luna’s eyes widen in surprise—he was well known in their world for what he could do with a rifle in his hands—but Fang …

As far as she could tell, the Wild Bunch lived like ghosts. Even the mercenaries, with the exception of Skorpion, didn’t know about them.

More curious was that she hadn’t known Fang even
was
a sniper. She knew he handled knives well, was far beyond efficient at hand-to-hand, but he had always seemed like the one that would be right in the middle of the action.

It was strange that no one had ever bothered to mention that.

“Did you get a chance to speak with Mr. Kanekov?” Belladonna asked while Luna was still lost in her thoughts.

How was she meant to answer that question?

Belladonna had never mentioned what she wanted Luna to do once she
did
in fact find Andrei, only that she wanted him found. As far as her talk with the man went, she didn’t see how the gibberish Andrei had spoken would mean anything to her.

“No,” Luna settled on saying. It was the closest thing to the truth.

“That’s unfortunate,” Belladonna said with a sigh and a shake of her head.

In her movement, Luna’s gaze was drawn to the television behind her. It was still showing the same episode from the time she walked into the room, but now it grabbed and held her attention.

Because the man they had caught on camera was Kit.

Her husband was anything but a celebrity—rather a man that prided himself on his anonymity—yet there he sat, looking particularly cozy with a woman that had dark hair and …

Luna leaned forward so fast she was almost out of her chair, trying to make sure she was seeing clearly. Even as her brain tried to process what she was seeing, it still wasn’t making sense. It just wasn’t
possible
.

The girl who had been snapped with Kit wasn’t just anyone, it was Ariana.

Her sister.

Someone she hadn’t seen for
years
, yet one look at her felt like no time had passed at all. She still had the same hair, though a touch longer, same flawless skin, and her somewhat mischievous grin was the same. There was no denying who she was seeing—Luna doubted she would ever
not
recognize her own family.

Realizing that the television had stolen Luna’s attention, Belladonna didn’t demand she focus on her, but rather grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

“
Celebrity jewelry designer, and daughter of the renowned human activist, Carmen Santiago, was spotted having a late lunch with a mysterious new man. This news comes only months after Ariana announced her engagement to a wealthy businessman from …”

Luna tried to listen, or rather make sense, of what the woman was talking about, but it was too crazy to believe.

Though, was it?

Ariana had always had an interest in fashion, and if she had managed to make a career of it, that was amazing. But Luna didn’t understand how she knew Kit …

And why Kit had never mentioned that he was having lunch with her.

Just as Luna thought what she was seeing couldn’t get any stranger, there was another show of not just the pair of them, but Luna’s mother as well, and a man she didn’t immediately recognize.

“Oh dear,” Belladonna said, watching along with her. “I wonder what on earth Caesar and Nix have to talk about? Perhaps one of his infamous deals?”

Luna had always heard the saying, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ but as she stared at the video footage, she couldn’t find
anything
to say that described the confusion she felt.

And in the rapidly spoken words of the reporter, one stuck out.

California.

Was that what business Kit had out there? Was that why he was so secretive about that meeting?

She understood that she couldn’t see them—or at least had until now—but what confused her was why he had never bothered to mention it.

Was it really innocent though
?

Just now, Belladonna had hinted that it may have been a business deal, and Kit had already told that it was for that reason that he was even going to California.

She didn’t think her heartbeat had ever sounded so loud in her own ears.

“I want to tell you a story,” Belladonna said, though Luna had yet to take her gaze from the television. “About a girl who life was not her own.”

It didn’t make sense.

Kit told her everything, even things she didn’t particularly enjoy. That was just who he was, honest to a fault, but why hide this?

What was there even to hide?

“Now this girl,” Belladonna went on as she twisted the gold Cartier bracelet on her wrist, “beautiful girl, she was, had become a pawn in a game she didn’t know she was playing.”

Squeezing her eyes shut to try and get her bearings, knowing she needed to focus on the present, Luna forced her gaze away from the TV. “What? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about a martyr—about a girl whose life was taken to give another power.”

She was speaking in riddles, Luna thought with an inward shake of her head. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought she was talking to Uilleam.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I need to—”

“One question before you go,” Belladonna said raising a perfectly manicured finger. “Did you ever wonder why you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“At some point over the last—how many years has it been?—you had to have asked yourself why the Kingmaker wanted you as badly as he did.”

Luna had wondered that very question since the second Uilleam offered to buy her. It wasn’t as though he knew her, or cared about the horrors she faced. Over the years, she’d had an up close and personal view of how callous he could be.

And because that was what he did, Luna thought, but didn’t voice it aloud. It wasn’t as though she were the first mercenary Uilleam recruited, and she knew she wouldn’t be the last.