I can’t compel my heart to stop pounding or shattering, but I force a coldness into my tone, the caution of a warrior giving an opponent one more chance because that’s who my father will be to me in minutes—my adversary. “I have been doing my job, using every tool and weapon available to me, without much support. So, of course, there has been flirting, if that’s what you were implying. You know as well as I do that there are few methods that disarm men like this faster. And it’s paying off. I have been weeding through a vast group of people and supplying intel. I am mingling with the most nefarious criminals, obtaining their darkest secrets, so forgive my impatience with whatever this is, and tell me what you’re talking about.”
He doesn’t bristle at my chilling demeanor. If anything, he’s proud. Maybe less from a father’s perspective and more from the stance of a commander, but proud nonetheless.
Still, he matches the icy detachment of my delivery because he has his own agenda. “Axel Noire killed Keller.”
Any composed veneer I was donning melts away with my bewilderment as I flop onto a white cushioned daybed. “What? Why?”
“It was a warning. He leaked footage of the execution on the dark web, claimed responsibility—in an untraceable coded manner, of course—and issued an order of protection on you.”
My brain is a tornado of thoughts, whipping by me with utter destruction in their wake.
That’s where he and his brothers went.
“An order of protection?” I parrot, needing clarity. It’s not a foreign concept, but it’s not something I’ve heard much about, and it certainly doesn’t come into play very often in my work.
“Yes. Keller’s brutal death is the depiction of what anyone causing harm to a Noire employee will incur.”
A shiver racks through me.Brutal death?
“Then it’s not just me,” I argue, glaring at the turquoise water—the reflection of the cloudy sky and the opulence of the resort glimmering on the surface. “It’sanyemployee. The Noires have that fierce Mafia energy. Axel must want his enemies to know not to mess with what’s his.”
“It’s you. It was done to the man who’d—” He stops abruptly, his anger morphing into a wretched ogre, breathing down my neck through every silent beat.
But I’m still woefully behind in grasping this, so I block out his rage and carry on. “How does Keller’s death even make sense for an order of protection when the offense was ten years ago?”
“That’s exactly what the client asked.” The accusation in that sentence is unmistakable, but still, he elaborates. “They think you’ve turned.”
That I’ve turned. So, whatever reason they had for sending Shep to watch me was validated by Axel’s move. Did he think this would protect me? Or is this all a ruse to cripple my ability to complete my mission and a subtle warning to anyone who might replace me? He could be using lust and his family to string me along, to be paralyzing my objectives because I couldn’t resist him spackling over all my lonely cracks.
No. That can’t be it. He’s not that cruel. He’s seen the way I look at him. And if he is that ruthless, then why not fuck me? Why let me bond with his family and leave me alone with Mercy, Tessa, and Remy? And that tenderness he exhibited with me, telling me I’m someone who should be cherished—that wasn’t a masquerade. That was all Axel. It has to be.
My father’s outrage isn’t dissipating, nor is his accusatory timbre. “How did Axel know about Keller?”
Because I was foolish and I confided in him. Because it’s worse than ten years ago. Because this man is in me somehow and I want to believe he’s mine.
I’m not foolish enough to share any of that, so instead, I turn it back on him. “You told me to be myself.”
“I instructed you toplayyourself,” he chides. “To answer authentically in order to gain his trust and make him believe you were there simply about your mother. To throw him off the scent of you spying for our client. That’s why you’re there.For them. Not to give him personal information! Have you revealed our location or—”
“Of course not,” I sneer. “Contrary to how expendable some agents view others, I would never endanger you or Tripp or anyone from camp. I am not the enemy. At least, I wasn’t. Are you mad about the order of protection because it calls my loyalty into question or because it thwarts your plans—or the client’s plans—to neutralize me?”
My strong, invincible father replies with so much anguish tingeing his voice that it’s nearly unrecognizable, “I have no such plans. But, Zara, this … it’s done.”
“You’re pulling me?” I ask without a speck of emotion, but the prospect turns my stomach, even though I want to strangle Axel for what he did.
I’d rather be a prisoner caged with the Noire king than a free agent roaming the earth. Who knows whether that means I’ve won or lost?
“Not yet.” His silent strategizing has never been so loud, his tenor never more desperate, so it’s clear thatit’s donemeans they’ve signed my death warrant. While he can accept that as a warrior, he’s broken as a father, so he hopelessly devises a plan. “Keep digging. Keep giving me everything you can find. TheProhibition Ball could be what we need. See if you can turn it around.”
“Inform them that I divulged something deeply personal to gain something from him. That I had to give him a verifiable story and the one about Keller affected no one other than me. I certainly did not expect this mess. But they should view it as a sign that I am succeeding. He’s attached. I’ve been accepted into their inner circle, so much so that he’s willing to defend me publicly. It’s only a matter of time until they start speaking freely about everything.”
He’s quiet for the length of a weary breath, long enough that a bird lands near my feet, pecks at something on the creamy travertine, and flies off in a pompous display of freedom before he finally asks, “And the truth?”
“That is the only truth I have today. Is it enough for you, Dad?”
“Always, angel.” Another breath, another debate on how much encouragement to extend me, but ultimately, he says what he likely doesn’t believe. “Never say die.”
“Nikoly ne zdavaysya.”Never say die.
