Chapter Six
Klarissa practicallyfloated into the Bat Cave, her lips still curved in a smile she couldn’t wipe away even if she wanted to.Every step reminded her of the night before—Rune’s strength, Kamon’s tenderness, the way they’d worshiped her body as though she was something precious.And that morning—slow kisses, tender touches, laughter tangled in sheets—it hadn’t been awkward, not even a little.Breakfast afterward had been easy, warm, like they’d been doing it all their lives.Rune had teased her about stealing the last piece of toast, Kamon had slid his coffee across the table when she made a face at hers, and she had batted back with a sarcastic jab about them being whipped already.Their laughter had wrapped around her like another blanket, cozy and safe.Just love.Just normal.
They’d had to slip away to an ESE online meeting, so Klarissa had made her way down here, eager to dive into work.Violet was already at her desk, typing with a speed that made her nails sound like gunfire on the keys.The second she looked up, her violet eyes narrowed and her mouth curled into a wicked grin.
“Well, well, look at you,” Violet drawled.“Glow like that?Yeah, no need to ask if you got some.From two alpha tigers, no less.Tell me, enquiring minds like mine and Dot’s want to know.Are you walking funny, and is everything on your hotties ...striped?”
Klarissa laughed, heat creeping into her cheeks.“You’re incorrigible.”
“Damn right,” Violet shot back.“And don’t even try to look offended.You’re practically sparkling!You look like a vampire fromTwilightwhich tells me it must have been one hell of a night.”
Klarissa arched a brow and leaned closer, her tone playful but sharp.“Jealous, Violet?Are your mates leaving you hanging high and dry so to speak?”
Violet barked out a laugh, swatting at the air as if batting Klarissa’s words away.“Oh, she’s got claws.I like you already.Careful though, sass like that earns you a front-row seat to my endless sarcasm.”
Klarissa tipped her head, feigning solemnity.“Please, I survived .I think I can handle your mouth.”
“Bold words, my friend,” Violet shot back with a grin.“We’ll see how long you last.”
Klarissa smirked, feeling lighter for giving as good as she got.“You’ll learn something about me real quick—I don’t scare easy.”
Violet stopped typing, her head dropping slightly, no sign of the earlier sarcasm in her tone.“From what I am learning about your dear old sperm donor of a father, you do not scare easily, and you certainly do not just sit there and take it.”Violet turned, tilted her head, and when she looked at her, Klarissa could have sworn her eyes glowed.“You were systematically taking out his business interests in the background, weren’t you?I mean, from what I am reading here, bestie, I would say that on some of the occasions that you were taken by that prick, it was on purpose so that you could be inside the inner sanctum of fucked-up craziness.”
Klarissa felt heat in her cheeks and shrugged.“Well, yeah.Sometimes, I needed actual samples of the shit his lab techs had concocted in order to neutralize them.And in terms of taking down his business and his money, a girl’s gotta eat, right?”
Violet grinned.“And that is why you, Dot, Josie, and I are BFFs for fucking life!That is exactly what I did to my own useless sperm donor.”
Klarissa blinked.“Really?Who was your dad?”
Violet’s voice softened, the bravado fading for just a moment as she admitted quietly, “Robert Santiago.That was my father.He was one of Caruso’s minions, thought he was clever enough to carve out his own empire here in Chicago on the side.He used me, hurt me, thought he could break me.So, I broke him instead.I stripped him down one account at a time, exposed his dealings, and gutted his support.When Caruso realized Santiago was more liability than asset, he cut him loose—permanently.My father died choking on the consequences of the life he’d built.Alpha Kitty ate him, and all that was missing was the popcorn.Taking away the power, status, and money he loved more than anything else in life?That was my way of hitting him back, even if no one else ever knew it was me.”
Klarissa felt heat in her cheeks and gave a small nod, a sharp pang of recognition in her chest.They were cut from the same cloth, really.Both of them had turned on their fathers and slowly, methodically pulled their empires apart.Different enemies, same fire.
Violet leaned back in her chair, eyes glinting.“See?We’re not just besties—we’re survivors who turned into executioners when it counted.My father, Santiago, thought he was untouchable.He found out otherwise.And you?You’ve been bleeding Caruso dry for years.No wonder fate dumped us together.”
Klarissa’s chest tightened, but for the first time she let the pride come through unshadowed.“Yeah,” she whispered.“Different fathers, but hopefully same ending.They underestimated us.”
Violet nodded, then turned back to her computer, as her fingers danced across the keyboard.“We’re building a case, and when the time comes, we’ll have a record of every rotten thing Caruso’s done.”
Klarissa slid into her chair, determination settling over her like armor.“Then I’ll focus on what might give us leverage now.”
She had been about to dive straight into Caruso’s stolen files when her thoughts snagged on Boonsri.Rune and Kamon’s sister deserved more than silence and shadows, and Klarissa wanted to give their family the closure they had been denied.So, she launched a search program to comb through enforcement databases in Bangkok, leaving it running in the background to flag anything tied to Boonsri’s disappearance and death.That would take time, and Klarissa pushed the weight of that aside for now.
Turning to the stolen files from Caruso’s servers, she settled into a rhythm, the Bat Cave filling with the steady clack of keys and the hum of servers.Piece by piece, she followed data trails—dates, invoices, laboratory shipments routed through shell companies, and names buried in innocuous footnotes of financial reports.
A few entries stood out more than others—a doctor who had once worked in Bangkok and left under suspicious circumstances, a technician who had disappeared from Prague five years ago, and a codename tied to an experimental toxin shipment.That last one made her freeze.It bore molecular markers almost identical to compounds she herself had once designed in a desperate attempt to save her mother’s life.Her work had never been meant as a weapon.Yet here it was, twisted and perverted in Caruso’s hands.
Her stomach knotted with guilt and fury.He hadn’t just stolen lives—he had stolen her past, her intent, and warped it into something monstrous.Klarissa forced herself to keep going, cataloguing compounds, sketching out countermeasures.Antidotes.Vaccines.Anything to neutralize what he had already unleashed.
She pushed through the ache in her chest, fingers flying faster.Anything to neutralize what he had already unleashed.Her concentration was so complete that she didn’t hear the door until Rune and Kamon stepped in.
Their faces were grim.
The smile slid from Klarissa’s lips.“What happened?”
