There were a billion ways Kazimir could have handled the situation last night, but Nate could have done better as well. None of that meant he needed to forgive Kaz, or that he was going to, but it opened his eyes to the way he’d been living. How he’d allowed his fears of upsetting or bothering other people to turn him into the type of person who hid from any sort of conflict.
He was good at putting up a front, at smiling through the inner pain, but that was all an act. He’d always known that part, and yet, it’d somehow eluded him just how deeply that went.
The doorbell rang then, pulling him out of his revelation, and he startled. A seed of hope had already taken root in his chest when, a second later, his multi-slate dinged with an alert he was getting another call.
When he saw the name Hotshot across the screen, he started for the door.
“I have to go,” he said to Silver and his brother hurriedly. “Thanks!”
He ended the call without giving them a chance to respond and then hit accept for Kaz.
“Nate?” Kaz’s voice trickled through. “I didn’t think you’d pick up.”
“That’s you outside, right?” He was already in front of the door by the time he asked, hand reaching for the handle. “Look, I’m not saying I forgive you, but we should talk.”
“Yes, we should,” Kaz agreed, then added, “But what do you mean? I’m at the hotel still. Yuze literally just cut me out of the cuffs, and I called you right away.”
Nate had the door partially opened and paused. “What? If that’s not you, who is it?”
A hand slammed on the wooden frame, shoving him back so that he tripped over his own feet and hit the ground hard. His multi-slate dropped and skittered across the floor, sliding beneath the couch far out of reach.
“He doesn’t look like he’s capable of taking out Fry?” a deep voice stated, and when Nate glanced up, it was to find a giant-like man standing in his doorway.
“The trace wasn’t mistaken. This was Fry’s last known location,” another, more clipped tone, stated over the guy's shoulder. “Just grab him and let’s go. We’ll get answers soon enough.”
“Who are you?” Nate managed to ask, just before he was hauled onto his feet and dragged out of his home.
Chapter 28:
Kaz had spent the entire night and most of the day stuck to the bed. He would have still been there, if not for the fact the others had gotten worried by his lack of replies all day and sent Yuze to come find him.
Just in time for him to call Nate and hear him get kidnapped.
“Whoa,” Yuze grabbed onto the door handle of the hovercar, “slow down!”
Instead of listening, Kaz sped up. “Tell me again.”
“We got news the men who stayed behind are looking for the person responsible for their colleague’s death,” Yuze said.
“But we don’t know where they’re hiding?”
“No, but the others are on it as we speak. They’ll find out—” His sentence ended with a swear as Kaz took a sharp turn.
The Void mansion was just up ahead, a sprawling black iron and glass building that Kaz had mapped and memorized since he’d been a child. He’d spent more time there than he had his own home; after all, he was often hoisted off onto the Voids whenever his nanny or trainers weren’t scheduled to deal with him, and his father had better things to do.
He brought the car to the front entrance and then cut the jets, dropping it the two inches it’d been hovering straight to the ground with little care. Kaz didn’t even close the door behindhim, leaping out of the driver’s side and rounding the car to take the steps two at a time.
The door scanned his thumbprint the second he touched the handle, and he tossed it open, not waiting to see if Yuze was following, searching for signs of his cousin. The mansion itself was massive, but this time of afternoon, if Baikal was home, he was typically in the study or lounge area with his fiancé Rabbit.
Kaz took a guess in the dark and went left, but there was no relief when he entered the room and found his cousin in the process of handing a seated Rabbit a steaming cup of something. They both looked up when he stormed in, but he went straight for his cousin.
“Have they located Pious’s people yet?” he demanded to know.
Baikal straightened and propped an arm against the back of the leather chair Rabbit was sitting in. “Not yet.”
“They need to find them. Now.”
“What’s going on?”
