“Obviously,” Hawk replies.
“I don’t know. Guess you’re not good at finishing things.”
“I sent my catering team to your party. I’d planted explosives for weeks through my team. The caterers, the mechanic who came to fix Cormac’s car, the nannies being interviewed to help with the children, even the pizza guy. Bit by bit, I rigged that place to be obliterated and still you survived. An amazing feat for a family that’s been a thorn in my side for too long.”
I grit my teeth until my jaw throbs. “What did you expect, given the disgusting shit you’re up to?”
“You and the Russians are both… criminals with morals. Who knew that was even a thing? Since when did breaking the law come with rules? The entire point of being a criminal is to break the law, and yet you two with your reformed families suddenly grew a moral backbone, and that affected my business.”
“People aren’tstock,” Faina snarls. “You signed up for failure the second you sold your first slave.”
“And yet that was so many years ago.” Hawk sighs wistfully. “Your family’s hands are as filthy as mine.”
“We’ve changed.”
“Hmm. Yes. Your attempts to track down people we sold and save them as if there’s anything left to save. You should havekept your nose clean. Both of you.” Hawk shakes his head. “Maybe then your sister would still be alive, Cian. Hmm?”
“You bastard!” I surge forward with murder in mind and rage in my blood but I’m quickly restrained. “I’ll kill you, motherfucker. You hear me? I’ll kill you!”
“No, you won’t.” Hawk regards me coolly as the limo finally comes to a stop. “Not when you’ve heard everything I have to say. You’re going to see we’re not so different, Cian. Trust me.”
There’s something snakelike in the way he smiles. He climbs out of the limo. Faina and I are dragged out moments later back into the scorching Australian heat. I manage to catch her gaze for a second, so I pour everything into it. Then we’re dragged around the limo and our destination suddenly becomes clear.
At the end of the road is a helipad holding a sleek black helicopter.
Beyond that, the Serenity super-yacht lies anchored just offshore.
30
FAINA
“Cian! Cian!”
“Faina!”
“Don’t take him away! You don’t understand! Get your hands off me, you son of a bitch! If you hurt him, I swear I’ll skin you alive! Cian!”
“Faina!”
The last I see of him is his alarmed, panicked face as three of Hawk’s guards drag him around the corner of the corridor and out of sight. Gritting my teeth, I fight with everything I have to break free of the iron-like grasp these men have on my arms. I kick one hard in the gut and he doubles over with a grunt, scrambling to catch his breath. My elbow collides with the ribs of another and I fight until I’m wrestled through a narrow door and thrown face down onto the bed. Both my captors flee the room by the time I get back onto my feet.
“Hey!” Yelling at the top of my lungs, I charge at the door and kick it but after spending a few minutes wrestling with the handle, I accept that I’m locked in.
They’ve tossed me into a guest bedroom with two small windows looking out to the ocean, a large bed in the middle, and a built-in closet that’s half open. Aside from a table lamp and a coat hanger, there’s nothing I can use as a weapon, which leads me to sit on the end of the bed and flex my aching knuckles.
Where have they taken Cian? He didn’t do well at all when we were held by Interpol and they at least had regulations to ensure Cian was safe. Hawk has no such obligation. Although he did seem oddly interested in Cian. It reminds me of back during the hotel explosion. He was surprised to learn Cian was alive and promptly fled rather than fighting. Even now, he’s brought us on board his yacht rather than killing us the second we stepped off the plane.
What the hell is going on?
Moving to the window, I peer out, trying to get a lay of the land. Even if I broke them, they’re too small for me to squeeze through. The water twinkles under the sun and in any other situation, it would be beautiful. Not this one. Trying to find a solution is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I survey the room, pull the sheets off the bed, check the walls and the skirting, even all around the door frame, but there’s nothing to help me.
I’m locked up and can’t do a thing until someone comes to get me.
Then there’s a sudden loud rumble and the floor shifts beneath me as the yacht starts up and we pull away from where Hawkhad us resting. My hand shoots out to the wall to catch my balance and I stare out the window, watching the strip of land with the plane gradually get smaller and smaller.
We could not be any more fucked.
Alone on a yacht with Hawk and his goons.
