No wonder they’re so powerful. With Axel’s contribution of hospitality and underworld connections, they’ve got their hands in everything.
My heart thrashes against my sternum, as if it were trying to mimic those phantom chants from the spirits I sensed on our arrival. Deciding it’s best to keep my responses respectful but concise, I extend a simple, “It’s nice to meet you. And, yes, I’ve been busy.”
“Axel shared much of what you’d found, but if you could give us a quick overview, we’d appreciate it.”
With my father here, I second-guess everything I should share, wondering how it will affect him. Axel wanted me to trust that he’d handle this, but neither of us anticipated my father’s presence. This is so fucked.
It takes a beat to find my typical poise. When I do, I bypass anything about the hit on Gage and Leigh—since my father ordered it on behalf of the client. Gage probably informed Wells and Ivy, but I’m not ready to guide us in the direction of my father’s culpability.
Did they bring him here to execute him in front of me? That would be one hell of a way to warn me to comply. And a knock on death’s door for them.
Playing it safe, I jump into what I learned about Kratos, mostly about how they operate—the web of contacts, the identities I uncovered, the picture I took of the man with Claudia. I also tell them about the Mafia foot soldiers I neutralized and used to set up some of Kratos’ men, as well as the dead end we reached due to the shredding app on the last two men’s phones. Axel pipes up with their names since they were his members, so that should give them something to work from. I also share the locations of two trafficking cells I’m hoping they can shut down.
After all that, the whole room waits for me to continue, and I haven’t forgotten that Jax told me not to react, but I’m too distracted. I need to understand what I’m up against.
“Would you mind if we address why my father is here?”
Payne bobs his head, pleased possibly. “I’m impressed you lasted that long without asking about your dad, Zara. Thank you for your deep dive into Kratos. That work will go a long way. Do you know who hired you to infiltrate La Lune Noire?”
My chest tightens, but I suck in a deep breath and refuse to show any defeat. “That information is rarely relayed to assassins.”
“But did you figure it out?” he presses.
That leads me to believe they know it was Kratos. And since my past work with KORT was as a proxy for Keller, who had come to them as a double agent, they likely assume that despite the intel I gathered, I’ll never be trustworthy. How the hell do I get myself and my father out of this?
I start with honesty. “I did not. Frankly, numerous things did not add up. It’s feasible that someone tampered with my mission. I’m sure that sounds convenient, and it probably seems as though I was hired by Kratos, but my father and I would never willingly do business with an organization involved in human trafficking. That’s always been a hard line. It’s why I went off on my own after the honeymoon. I needed to investigate what was going on.”
“Were you given an order that spurred that?” Jared asks.
Axel’s hand brushes the back of my neck, encouraging me to be forthright.
“I’m guessing you’re aware that I was ordered to neutralize Gage and Leigh Porter. Knowing they were important to Axel, I was unwilling to carry it out. But even if Axel hadn’t been a factor, I would’ve questioned that order. This is where I believe I can point to something being amiss. I was asked to find intel on a media conglomerate, to scrutinize anyone with access to La Lune Noire, which I did. Nowhere in those reports were Gage and Leigh Porter because I hadn’t met them or even heard of them.”
Wells’s focus shifts briefly between my father and me as he says, “Exactly.”
No idea what that means.
Axel steps beside me, hand still gripping my neck. “I think we can all agree this supersedes any need for a loyalty test.”
I completely forgot about that, and frankly, I don’t give a fuck.
Ivy grins—it’s the devilish smirk of a spunky redhead with the world’s secrets. “Zara has already been loyalty tested.”
“Oh?” Axel seems genuinely shocked, though there’s a warning lilt to his follow-up statement. “She passed then.”
“Shedid,” Jared replies, with something reproachful laced into it.
Jax and Axel exchange a brief glance, one I doubt most of the others pick up on, but it sends a shiver of unease straight to my bones.
As covertly as I can manage, I peer at my father, but he won’t meet my eyes, which I can’t make sense of. No way would he resign himself to death here. That’s not who he is. And yet he’s watching this unfold in silence.
“When was she tested?” Axel pushes, something akin to ire in his voice now.
Anxiety crackles throughout the drafty cathedral.
What the hell is going on?
Wells sighs, and it is nothing short of remorseful. “We gave Zara the order to neutralize Gage and Leigh as her test.”
