Page 57

Kai

Snow buries the world outside, pressing down on the hills and muffling everything. It sits thick on the tall pines, coating the rooftops of the neighboring chalets like confectioner's sugar.

The kitchen window displays stretches of untouched white. The valley below is frozen, a scene ripped straight from a postcard.

The only sound in the chalet is the slow drip of coffee into the carafe, the soft sizzle of pancakes browning in the pan. The fire in the main room flickers low, throwing golden light across the timber walls.

The twins left an hour ago with Jerome and Leona, bundled up in wool and furs, their laughter trailing behind them as they disappeared into the powder-dusted trails.

They’re adjusting. Slowly.

Only two nights ago, Lucas had stayed quiet at dinner, pushing food around his plate. Liam had been grumpier, asking if they were going to be allowed to visit their mom.

Nicole had rubbed his back, her voice soft, patient, but the answer had still been no.

They wouldn’t be seeing their mother. Not now. Not ever again.

I flip the pancake, watching the steam rise as the blueberries burst against the heat of the pan.

One week.

One week since the lake.

Since Lana’s been on life support. Since I transferred lasting power of attorney to Manny, got my nephews out and turned my back on Lana for good.

To think that if Barry hadn’t been immune. If he hadn’t been regularly taking his Medikinet . . . Lana would have utterly destroyed me.

And now the only reason my monster of a sister is still breathing—on a ventilator nonetheless—is because of her last victim.

Nicole.

A woman who still loves her despite everything. Nicole’s capacity to forgive is frightening . . . and humbling.

As if summoned by my thoughts, I hear the shuffle of small bare feet on the heated floor.

Arms wrap around my waist, her cheek warm against my back, her body soft as she molds herself to me and breathes me in.

Then, still half-dreamy, she accuses, "You’ve been in the pool."

The woman is obsessed with watching me swim. Better still, getting in the water with me.

I plate the last pancake and turn in her arms, leaning against the counter, my hands settling on her hips.

"It was a power ride. Not a leisure swim. I needed to blow off steam. A lot of steam.” I say meaningfully.

Nicole prefers CBT and all that flowery shit, which I’m positive she’ll drag me through at some point. Little does she know, the only thing my mind is conditioned to respond to is cold and exertion.

"Are you saying you don’t think I could keep up?” She purrs.

"I’m saying I know your limit. And yes, it would feel so much better to use you, you mean so much more to me than just an outlet."

Nicole swallows audibly, her eyes heavy-lidded with sleep and . . . desire. "What if I want to be used sometimes?” Her fingers slip beneath the hem of my shirt.

I lift her onto the counter, settling between her legs.

"Then I’d say we’d better start shopping for safe words for you.” I reach for the maple syrup, pulling the plate closer. "Eat."

She grins when I press a piece to her lips, and takes the bite, closing her eyes as the syrup drips onto her lower lip.

I chase it with my tongue, licking it clean.

She moans, curling her hands into my damp hair as I give her another bite, kissing and licking her between every taste of maple syrup and blueberries.

The phone rings.

I mutter a curse against her mouth but grab it, putting it on speaker so I don’t have to stop touching her.

"Kai,” Manny’s voice comes through, sober and measured.

Fuck. I already know what’s coming.

"She’s awake.” Manny states.

Nicole sags in relief, releasing out a breath she seems to have been holding all week.

Not about to stop what I’m doing, I press another bite of pancake to her lips.

Her eyes widen as she shakes her head, glancing at the phone as if to ask if I didn’t just hear what Manny said.

I eat the pancake she refused, chewing slowly.

"Kai?” Manny prompts.

"I heard you.” I keep my voice even.

There’s a pause. "Okay. Well, you know I’ve been thinking about returning to Auckland. I plan on taking her with me once she recovers . . . if she recovers enough to travel."

I figured that's the reason Manny's been talking about taking an early retirement. He knows if Lana survives, I'll never want to see her again. "Sweet."

The pause on the other end is longer this time. Then Manny sighs. "Lana was broken. But I was always more worried about the darkness inside you, Kai. Good thing you’re finding your moral compass at last. Don’t lose her."

The call disconnects.

When I look at Nicole, she’s watching me with something wounded in her gaze.

I exhale slowly. "What is it?"

"Really, Kai?” she whispers.

"You begged me and I let her live. Now what? You want me to forgive her? Bring her here to live with us as one big happy family?"

"No. I know you can’t forgive her. Just tell me . . . tell me you’ll find it in you to care at some point."

I scoff, "Nic—"

"You owe it to her children, Kai.” She interrupts. “How can you love and raise her kids if you loathe their mom? Just promise me you’ll get there, okay?"

"Fine, I'll get there."

I don’t give her time to overthink my quick capitulation, instead, I kiss her again, sliding my hands beneath her shirt, my fingertips tracing slow, deliberate lines down her ribs.

Nicole melts as I lift the fabric higher and press kisses down her collarbone, my tongue flicking out to taste her pulse.

I’m about to drop to my knees when my phone rings again.

“For fuck’s sake!” I pull back, breathing hard.

It’s not Manny, though. It’s Vin. My ardor cools instantly. "Give me a minute. Don’t move,” I brush a final kiss over Nicole's lips and head to the library.

This is one call I cannot take in front of Nicole. She’ll kill me if she knows what it's about.

Vin’s cluttered Chinatown office flickers on my laptop screen, his webcam angled slightly off-center, a mess of files and half-empty takeout boxes stacked behind him.

He’s screen sharing warehouse footage from Aldridge Orchards—night vision, grainy, the cold green tint making everything look sharper, more illicit.

Three men move in practiced silence, loading citric acid crystals—instead of CX3—into a truck under the foreman’s watchful eye.

"Those are the foreman’s cousins who are handling the switch. Three million worth of shipment. The Bratva have been known to wipe out a generation for much less,” Vin drawls around a cigarette.

I link the video to my laptop, watching the numbers overlay onto the feed.

"Maxim—the Aldridge’s foreman—will leak the plan to Nikolai Koslov tonight. Nikolai isn’t known for showing mercy but Maxim thinks he can negotiate to spare the Aldridge boy."

I arch a brow. "And you can vouch for this foreman?"

Vin scoffs. "Maxim is my boy. He’s desperate to strike a deal with Nicolai Koslov. Betraying Jack and Lilith won’t be an issue—he hasn’t been paid in four months. Has a baby on the way too, and a wife who can’t work."

I shut my eyes, a bitter burn in my throat. Four decades ago, this was my father. He fought back, only he chose the wrong weapon—going through the union—and lost his life.

He also ended up with a wife who walked out, and two screwed up kids for his trouble.

Maxim? Now that’s a smarter fighter. Because of him, generations of screwing over foreign workers ends tonight.

"Good work, Vin. Just keep me out of it,” I say. "I’m not looking for new Bratva friends."

Vin chuckles. "You’ve always been a snob, Kai."

I smirk. "I’m Chase Mitchell, after all. America’s golden boy. How dirty can I afford to get?"

Vin snorts. "Speaking of golden boys, what happens to Valencia’s golden boy?"

I pause.

If I were a jealous man—the asshole Vin thinks I am— this would be the moment I order Theo Aldridge executed for ever touching what’s mine.

For hurting and humiliating her. For thinking he could keep her.

But I’m not a complete monster.

And Nicole—somehow, incomprehensibly—still gives a fuck about the boy.

I like to sound out my men’s thought process from time to time—not just bark orders, so I ask Vin, "What about him?"

Vin shrugs. "He seems a bit of a mama’s boy to me. Not the type to survive as an orphan."

I huff out a laugh. "He’s almost twenty-five years old. About to become a business school graduate."

Vin grins. "Exactly. He’s fucked.”

We both laugh, knowing Theo won’t survive without his parents.

I lean back in my chair, tapping a finger against my glass, unable to believe I’m planning out a life for Theo Aldridge.

"Fine. Lilith has some distant wealthy relatives in Oregon. He can go there if he wants.” I pause. "Or better still, he can work for Maxim as his foreman."

Vin smirks, giving a mock bow. "Merciful, as ever, Kai."

"What can I say, I live to serve—"

And then I feel it–the shift in the air. I turn—and freeze.

Nicole stands in the doorway, her face a pale mask of disbelief, her hands curled into fists at her sides.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me, Kai Keoni."

I end the call, then steeple my fingers together, watching her. Wearing nothing but my T-shirt, her hair loose around her shoulders, skin glowing, her scars exposed to me—fuck, she’s breathtaking.

And livid.

"What, you’re eavesdropping on me now?” I ask.

"And you’re keeping secrets from me now?” she retorts.

I smirk, more amused than irritated, flicking my gaze back to the screen. "Privacy, not secrets. There’s a difference."

"No. You kept this a secret. You’ve been planning this for months, if not years—long before we met.” She steps forward, slow, measured, like she’s walking into battle. "Tell me I’m lying."

I remain silent.

She continues, "You could have said something at the park that night you told me about your father working for the Aldridges. How about when I told you about CX3 and the Bratva? No. You used the information I gave you and said nothing of your plan."

Her voice lowers. "You know why? Because a part of you knows what you’re doing is sick."

I meet her gaze. "A little payback isn’t sick."

“I see. Okay, then. Ask me to trust you. Tell me you won’t hurt me."

I can’t. Because this will hurt her, which was why I hid it.

She steps closer, emboldened by my silence. "Kai. Listen to yourself. You’re framing Jack and Lilith into double-crossing the Bratva, guaranteeing they get killed. You’re handing over their business to their foreman. Then you’re going to force their clueless son to work for some Russian enforcer or—what? Exile him to fucking Oregon?"

The corner of my mouth twitches. At least she knows he’s clueless .

"How sick is that, Kai?"

"They’ve got it coming,” I reply.

Nicole shakes her head as if she’s done reasoning with me. "Well, I don’t care. You can’t hurt them. They’re my family."

Family. The word lands, and for the first time, something in me flares white-hot inside me.

I shut the laptop with a measured click, then stand slowly. Stepping forward, I raise a hand to tuck a tendril of blonde hair behind her ear, exposing the delicate line of her jaw.

"That family abused you. Jack hurt you. Lilith manipulated you. Theo neglected and humiliated you. And you’re standing here, asking me not to pay them back?"

Nicole lifts her chin."That’s right."

“Well, here’s what they did to me. They turned me into a beggar at nine. Forced me out of my home into a brutal torture chamber of a school. Burned my father alive. Turned my sister into a monstrous killer. . ."

My jaw tightens.

"And they hurt the woman I love."

Nicole whispers. “I forgive them."

Something in my chest tightens. I bend, lips grazing her temple, voice low and sure. "Well, I don’t."

Nicole puts a hand on my waist, her palm pressing against my shirt like she’s holding me in place.

"Kai, please. I’m asking—begging you to love me more than you hate them."

My teeth grind against the warmth blooming in my chest. "I’m already feeling remarkably charitable for letting their little whelp live. Take that and leave the rest, Nicole. It's done."

Her head falls into my chest and she takes a few shuddering breaths, as if soaking in my scent. And that—that fucking simple gesture—rips me apart more than any fight could.

I close my eyes, one hand curling into a fist at my side.

After a few beats, she looks up at me and gives me a small, brave, shattered smile.

And in those blue depths, I see it: the haunted look. The one that tells me she won’t push. That she’ll love me even through this.

And that’s what twists my gut and rips it out.

Then softly, she murmurs, "Alright. I understand. And I love you. Thanks for sparing Theo."

She rises on tiptoes, presses a kiss to my jaw, then turns and walks away.

The fire in my study has burned low. Only embers now, smoldering, waiting.

I don’t bother stoking it or turning on the central heating.

My fingers tap against the desk, my pulse a slow, steady drumbeat of violence.

Two hours. And I can still feel her—the heat of her body, the way her breath shuddered when she pressed her face into my chest.

She didn’t fight me. She just kissed me and walked away.

And that’s what’s killing me.

I should feel satisfied. I won. I get my revenge. In another half hour, a forty-year-old grudge would be settled.

So why the fuck does it feel like I lost?

As the clock ticks, my muscles coil so tightly I think I’ll snap.

“Fuck!” I hear myself roar, and then I’m dialing Vin.

He picks up on the first ring. “Yeah?”

"Change of plans,” I say without preamble.

A beat of silence.

"What?"

"Jack and Lilith live.” I grind out.

Another pause. Then Vin’s voice, sharp and incredulous, almost pierces my eardrum. "Excuse me? Maxim’s already on his way to see Nikolai. What is he supposed to say when he gets—"

"I don’t give a fuck!” I press my thumb and forefingers fingers into my eyes. "Find him something else to say. Ask for directions to his own grave. Wish the man a happy fucking birthday. Just not anything to get the Aldridges killed."

Silence. Then a string of curses that make me wince. "For fuck’s sake, Kai, this isn’t a game!"

I drag a hand through my hair, jaw tightening, stomach twisting. “Tell that to my stupid fucking heart."

A long sigh. “Jesus Christ! How did you even let her hear you. . . You're—”

Vin cuts himself off. Then— "I’m just going to put this out there. If I ever fall in love, blow my fucking brains out."

"Gladly.” I smirk, then hang up.

It’s undone now. Years of wanting to wipe out the people responsible for my father’s death.

Because I love her.

Emotions clash inside me, vicious and unrelenting. Blind rage. Overwhelming love. Need for vengeance.

I need an outlet. Now.

A swim—a cold, brutal one. Two hundred and fifty laps should make me collapse into oblivion after. I stand, already stripping off my shirt as I head toward the bedroom.

And then—Fuck me.

Nicole. Fresh from a bath, sitting at the new dresser I had made for her, bent over brushing her hair, the red silk and lace of her robe clinging to her curves like a giant fucking trigger.

Her back is to me, but she knows I’m here because the brushing stops. She sits back up and her eyes meet mine in the mirror.

And all my blood rushes south so fast I go dizzy.

Whoa.

I force my body into control as Nicole sets the brush down, and practically floats toward me. "Daddy,” she breathes.

And my cock fucking pulses. "What?” I snap.

She moves closer.

I take a step back. "Not now, love."

She flinches.

Shit. I catch her wrist before she steps away. "Just . . . Wait. Let me settle first."

Nicole tilts her head, studying me. "Why do you need to settle?"

I take a slow, steadying breath. "Because you’re topping me from the bottom, that’s why. I gave up a forty year grudge because you made eyes at me."

Her lips part slightly as understanding flickers in her eyes. "You—you called off the manhunt on them?” Her voice is quiet, careful.

I shrug, rolling my shoulders. "I’ll find another plan to take the Orchard and CX3 off them, but yes. They’ll live. Which is why I need to—"

"Yes, you need to settle. I heard you."

She returns to the dresser and reaches for something, then tosses it on the bed. It lands with a soft thud.

A bottle of lube.

Fuck.

I clench my fists, my control slipping. But she’s not done. She shrugs off her robe and drops to her knees, naked, her hands resting on her thighs. But she doesn’t bow her head. Her eyes are scorching as she gazes at me through her lashes.

A silent offering.

A challenge.

A surrender.

I stare back, my pulse pounding between my ribs, and between my legs.

"Take me, Daddy. Use me."