Page 101 of Restitution

He’s unhinged and completely off the rails when mad.

And he’s thinking.

With his state of mind and everything going on, I know that’s a really bad thing. Destruction ready to happen. He’s the son of Tobias Mitchell; it’s in his blood to rain havoc down on everyone.

If it wasn’t for his love for me and how much he cares about his family, I’d say all of the trauma and abuse had made him sociopathic.

I know his new therapist has spoken to Aria about dissociation, and the possibility of Kade compartmentalising certain emotions, keeping them on a shelf in his mind and making sure they stay there. He told his therapist that when the abuse took place, he would go elsewhere mentally, which is what may have caused the disorder.

Aria pulled me aside and told me that Kade was in a dangerous mindset, and that he had no idea how to pull away from it. The only thing that could help is if he gets revenge.

And he will. He’ll kill everyone to protect us. I’ve watched hundreds of videos of Kade brutally taking lives with his bare hands and with weapons. He’ll use those same hands to kill Bernadette and Archie. They killed his brother, and now possibly his father. He’ll not think of the consequences of his actions.

His gaze flickers to me, and my heart skips a beat at the look in his eyes. He’s dropping into the abyss, and he doesn’t want to stop himself.

“Stay with me,” I whisper to him, but he looks away.

A soft voice gets our attention. “Aria Miller. I’m Tobias Mitchell’s next of kin.”

I lower into one of the chairs and sit on my hands, in complete denial as Aria’s facial expression contorts into pure rage. I jump as she slams her palm down on the table. “Then put me through to someone who can fucking help me!”

It takes a lot for her to get angry. She did years and years of therapy after what happened with her and Tobias.

Now I see another side as the mask drops, and flickers of Kadeshine through. She grits her teeth as someone speaks, and angry tears slide down her cheeks.

She repeats, “Then put me through to someone who can help me.” Her tone is calm, yet she’s anything but.

Kade pushes from the desk and huffs as he jams in an earpiece and has a whispered conversation with someone on the other end. I hear him mention Archie, files and exposing something. He also asks them to get information about Bernadette’s current state and what hospital she’s in.

I furrow my brows at him as his eyes lift to me; it’s been just a few minutes since he had me bent over a desk and was inside me.

I can still feel him.

My neck hurts. He gripped me too hard, and I know I have marks on my skin. He’s staring at them, and as I press my palm to my throat, hiding them, he fists his hands and turns away from me.

There’s silence, and Aria starts pacing , her hand over her mouth again. Then her footsteps falter. “You’re putting me through to who? Why are you…?” Her eyes widen, and they land on Kade, who doesn’t pay her any attention as he starts muttering into his earpiece again. “Is Tobias really dead?”

Whatever they say as a response knocks Aria off her feet, and guards rush to grab her from the floor as she lets out a harrowing scream that shakes my bones, just like she did when Jason was shot in the head.

The sound cracks my chest open and painfully squeezes my heart, knowing that I’ll never see Tobias again or hear him call melittle one.

No. Tobias Mitchell cannot be dead.

I refuse to believe it. He took two doses of something thatshould’ve knocked him out cold, yet he still managed to push through and attack Bernadette. There’s not a chance in hell his end comes from crashing a damn car.

“Contact the Russians and tell them the deal is off. Demand their presence immediately,” Kade says, completely monotone, and an older man from his team leaves the room with his phone to his ear. “Barry, I need you to set up a live feed and get every single one of our team on foot. I wanteveryonecalled in over the next week.”

A lady in a suit nods and goes to a computer, typing rapidly into a coding system that sends out a signal to every member of Kade’s company.

Is it a company? A gang? An organisation? His own empire? I have no idea. All I know is that he has hundreds of bodies beneath him – they get paid a hefty amount for their work, and he’s the boss of them all.

If the Russians do get involved, I think this will be quite the battle, possibly a war. I know Base will do everything he possibly can to get them over here, or at least get Luciella to him.

Aria is still crying, and my nerves are shattered, because I’m either too numb to let tears fall, or I’m terrified about what Kade is going to do.

I want to grab his face and force him to look at me, to breathe through it, to focus on my voice and not the ones in his head. But when I stand up, he punches the desk with so much force, the wood cracks and a monitor falls on the ground.

Kade pushes from the broken desk, grabs his gun and marches out of the room. I try to follow, but he points at me and speaks to his tallest guard, who’s wearing a black suit. “Keep her in here.”