Ruin (Rhodes #1) - Rina Kent Page 0,17

vault, I re-enter the code, locking us both between metallic walls of multiple firearms.

Kane stands in front of the rifles’ wall, seeming unaffected.

I stroll to the semiautomatic section. I pick a random 1911, remove the magazine, and load the bullets. One after the other. No hurry whatsoever. “Tell me, Kane. Do you know why I don’t prefer guns?” I push the magazine back in its stash. With my right hand, I pull back the slide and release it. At the sound of a bullet clicking into the chamber, I aim the 1911 at Kane’s head.

He doesn’t flinch. His loyalty and professionalism are unquestionable. According to the Rhodes’ custom, each family member has a team solely assigned to them. Their ancestors served mine, and therefore, they’re loyal to the bone. They live and train in the estate’s southern wing for multiple generations. Their official title is guards, but they serve us in any way we want.

“Guns are easy and don’t provide you with a challenge,” Kane says in his gruff voice.

I smile. “Correct.”

“Also.” His dull blue eyes meet mine. “You like it up close and personal.”

I lower the gun and stalk around until I’m toe-to-toe with him. “Are you loyal to my family, Tristan, or me?”

“Is this a test?” My team’s chief’s gaze remains unfazed. “You won’t believe me even if I answer you.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Now, why do you assume that?”

“You don’t trust people, Sir.”

“I trust their fears.”

“I won’t dare betray you, Sir.” Kane straightens further. “Unlike you, I have people to care for.”

“Lovely. Now that we’ve established that.” I put the gun back, reach into my pocket, and fetch a picture of Mae. She was laughing with her friends. Her light giggle had me click the shutter of my phone’s camera without prior thought. I hand it to Kane.

“Her name is Mae Wilson. I want a complete file about her. From primary school pictures to medical records.” I pause. “Everything.”

His eyes narrow, but he soon masks it. “The guest you brought earlier.”

Only she’s not a guest. Neither a target. Which should make her off the estate’s ground.

I edge closer. “Needless to say, no one but you knows about this or else, I won’t be funding your revenge anymore.”

“Noted.” Muscles flex in his bulky posture. “Are you... going to hurt her, Sir?”

“No.” At least not now. But Kane doesn’t need to know that. He can be sentimental as hell.

He turns to leave but, before he reaches the door, faces me again. “My team isn’t the only one monitoring your activities. Tristan and Dylan aren’t stupid.”

“Neither am I.” I point at him. “Or you for that matter. You better not screw this up, Kane.”

“I won’t, Sir.”

One thing’s settled.

When I return to my quarters, instead of ascending the stairs back to Knight, my feet lead me through the narrow sub-terrain corridors to my captive.

My mind wraps around the new concept. I don’t take captives. Unless abducting, torturing, then killing my targets counts.

Inviting a dilemma who can jeopardise my agreement with Tristan is a huge mishap.

The thing is, I didn’t plan to take Mae. I only meant to observe her up close. But that led to an uproar of the voices residing in my head.

‘Take her.’

‘Do it.’

‘Now.’

Monsters kept chanting every second of the minute, pounding on my resolve as if dragging nails over a chalkboard. Then there was the thing with Celeste. My mind was busy analysing perspectives when Mae slipped and fell unconscious at my feet. As if offering herself on a golden platter. All conditions set out too perfectly for me not to indulge.

One minute she was there, dancing and drinking with her friends. And the next, poof. Gone. Just like that. No one saw a thing. No one heard her desperate calls for help. No one could’ve saved her from my clutches.

Mae wouldn’t have fallen in my grasp if she hadn’t been in that dark alley the night I first met her. Another victim of the cliché of being in the wrong place at the very wrong time. I’d feel sorry for her if I knew how to pity people.

She’s asleep now, unaware of what has befallen upon her. I cleaned and bandaged her forehead wound when I carried her into the dungeons. A cube-like room with faint yellow light, controlled by a remote switch.