“Someone trustworthy.”
That wasn’t what she asked.
“Who, Alexander?”Kira repeated, her tone showing she was beginning to lose patience.
Alexander gritted his teeth.“Ryan.”
Kira blinked.Her mouth opened and closed several times.“Ryan’s involved?”
Please, no.Anyone but him.
“Yes,” Alexander ground out.
“Ryan doesn’t involve himself in low level things like this.”
If he ever let himself be known to the wider universe, he was what some would refer to as a king maker.His machinations so deep and convoluted that they had brought more than one government to its knees.Only to be replaced by puppets of his choosing.
Kira suspected he owned more than one Consortium conglomerate.Though she’d never been able to prove that.
Of all her siblings, she hated dealing with him the most.
“Who do you think arranged all this?It was Ryan.Be grateful.He offered this meet to save your ass.Others would have let you hang.”
Jin’s softly mumbled “oh shit” barely registered as Alexander and Kira’s stare down heated up.
“I don’t have to wonder which of those options you voted for.”Kira’s smile was hard.“If Ryan interfered, I can assure you it wasn’t to save me.It was to further his own agenda.”
Alexander could cast blame all he wanted, but she had Ryan’s measure.Anything he did was to service his goals and, by extension, the forty-threes’.If Kira benefited, that was a byproduct rather than the objective.
“All this time and you still don’t understand us,” Alexander swore.
Kira struggled against a wave of irritation.“Let’s fight about what I do or do not understand later.”
This bastard was as stubborn and hard headed as ever.
“I tire of this conversation.I’m hanging up now.”
“Just answer my question— did you speak to Ryan in person?”
“We spoke through messenger.But then, you already know that.It’s the same way he contacts you.”
Kira did know that.Ryan’s pawns had intercepted them on numerous occasions.Usually, to relay orders to cease and desist whatever they were up to.
Of course, Kira and Jin never listened.
Sometimes those messengers were members of the forty-three.Other times complete strangers that Ryan had either blackmailed or threatened into doing his bidding.
Ryan wouldn’t risk himself when he could convince someone else to do that for him.
Kira knew better than to say that to Alexander, however.
“You know him better than me,” she argued.“Would his representative ever be late?”
Ryan may have only been the wannabe leader of the forty-three, but he was a feared wannabe.
Kira hurried along the walkway back toward the stairs she’d used to reach this level.“You need to get out of there, Alexander.”
Rhett and Tinsley were powerful members of their House.Perfect targets for capture and interrogation.
