Page 7

Six

Killian

The car ride was surprisingly quiet. Reign wasn’t talking, instead she was just staring out the window which I’m glad for because I had no interest in talking at the moment.

I just want this mission over and done with. I’m not going to lie, it’s nice I have something or rather someone to occupy my time with and Reign seems like the perfect distraction to not think about the reality of everything going on.

“How do you know my address?” Reign asks as we enter her gated neighborhood.

Her house is the last one on the hill, surrounded by big gates and a bunch of security.

I shrug. “It wasn't hard to find.” I eventually pull up to her gated house. “Tell the guards to open the gate,” I demand as a guard walks up to my car.

“Does my Papa know you're coming?” she asks.

“No, now do it.” I roll down the window and Reign turns toward the guard.

The guard looks surprised seeing Reign in my car. “Hello, Ms. Pierce. Who’s this gentleman?” The guards ask, looking at me with a skeptical eye.

“He’s just a friend, Finley,” she says politely.

The guard looks away from Reign and rests his eyes on me, studying me.

I am two seconds away from running this stronzo over with my $5 million car and then crashing through the gates.

“Are you going to listen to her or are you going to keep eye fucking me?” The guard straightens his stance and walks back to the small booth. The gates open as I say, “Your men here suck.” I pull into her estate.

“They have trust issues. Papa always says to be careful who you're around because you never know what role they could play in your life.”

“And what role do you think I play?” I ask her, turning my eyes away from the driveway to look at her.

Reign studies my face intensely. Those blue eyes of hers make that thing in my chest beat a little too fast for my liking. It’s like she can easily read me without even doing anything.

Reign Pierce is just another girl who is innocent and knows nothing about what’s happening in the real world around her.

She is mindless and has no clue.

“Right now, you strike me as someone who will cause trouble in my life. Maybe the kind of trouble I need.”

“The trouble you need, huh?” I ask, a smile threatening to spread on my lips.

Reign blushes and looks out the window.

When I pull up to the front of her house, Malcom and two women are waiting on the porch.

Reign gets out of the car when I put it in park. I get out and close the door as Reign goes up to her dad and hugs him.

He holds her in his arms, making sure she’s alright while the two women surround them.

Her mom, Lia Pierce, brings her into her arms and hugs her tightly. “Oh, baby you’re okay!”

“No more missions, Reign,” Malcom speaks, fucking finally.

He doesn’t seem to notice me as I lean against my car and watch the small family make sure Reign’s okay.

“What?” Reign exclaims and gets out of her mom’s hold to turn towards her dad. “That’s not fair? Why?”

“I almost lost you. I heard about the fire and I’m not letting you go out on another mission. Something like this could easily happen again and I can’t risk losing you.”

“I was doing fine! Even before Killian-”

Malcom’s face morphs from a concerned dad to a fucking angry mob boss in seconds before he turns his head and looks at me. “Killian?”

“You. You saved my granddaughter?” Kyra Nikolova, Reign’s grandmom, says while pointing at me.

“You saved her?” Malcom asks, walking closer to me. I nod my head which makes him furrow his eyebrows. “Why?”

I rest my hands in my pockets and lean off the car. “My dad disowned me. I was going to your warehouse to speak to you regarding him but then I found your daughter with your warehouse up in flames. I’ve come to ask if-”

“No,” Malcom says instantly. “You really think I’m going to let an Italian join my family? You think I would help an Italian?”

“I don’t associate with them anymore,” I lie through my teeth smoothly. “You’re really not going to consider it because of my dad and who I am to him? You don’t even know exactly what I want yet.”

“Malcom, he has a point. You owe him Reign’s life,” Lia says, resting her hands on his arm.

“She’s not wrong. You’re all about loyalty and giving people chances,” Kyra agrees.

Malcom crosses his arms, looks me up and down, studying me. My eyes go to Reign, and I notice her staring at her dad, hope filling her eyes.

Malcom glares at me and bites the inside of his cheeks before saying, “Fine. We’ll see who you really are,” he says before turning around and walking back inside the house.

My eyes go back to Reign who has a smile on her face.

Why does she always feel the need to smile?