Reaching between our wedged hips, he yanked out one end of my seatbelt. “Now, buckle up, Nila. You can never be too safe.”
“I’ll never be safe as long as you’re alive.”
I will kill you.
I’ll find a way.
His eyes darkened. “Careful.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Cut smiled, looking the perfect distinguished gentleman travelling on business. “Because William Hawk smuggled his wealth numerous times. He completed his grandmother’s legacy, but despite his hard work and terrible history, the king wasn’t satisfied with taking half of his profits, he wanted it all.”
Cut gathered tension around him, suffocating me. “So William went one step further. He gave the king his dues, he paid taxes, indulged in bribery, and ensconced himself in the good graces of the court, but he managed to keep the exact location of our family’s mine a secret.
“And the stones, well, he used extra ships he purchased to smuggle quantities the king could never contemplate. He sacrificed millions in order to cement his place, but he also saved untold wealth by being smarter than the pompous arse on the throne.”
Another flush of agony washed over me from my arm. I hugged the cast, slipping it free from the sling to rub the gauze, wishing I could rub the pounding break beneath. “I don’t care what you think. I don’t care how much money or power you have. One day, karma will catch up and make you pay.”
Cut ran his hands through his hair, smoothing the white strands into snow perfection. “You can make empty threats all you want, Ms. Weaver, but the truth will forever stand.”
“What truth?”
“The truth you can’t make someone pay when they’re completely untouchable.”
I tore my eyes from his, glaring out the window.
Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong.
Your son was a prince to your empire, untouchable, unkillable—a Hawk.
Yet, I touched him.
I killed him.
I murdered him.
And I’ll murder you, too.
* * * * *
One hour into the flight.
I groaned in agony as the pressure of the cabin swelled my broken arm.
* * *
Two hours into the flight.
Food was served. Some overly microwaved rubbery concoction with salad and a slimy strawberry cheesecake. I devoured the entire tray, even the hard-as-a-brick bread roll. Food helped replace a small piece of the emptiness inside me.
* * *
Three hours.
I squirmed beside Cut dying for pain-killers. He barricaded me in, sitting in his aisle seat like my jailer. My bladder protested and my thoughts swam withJethro.
* * *
