Throne of Power (Throne Duet #1) - Rina Kent Page 0,81
You know me, Kyle, or at least you did back then. Did you really think someone like me would ever beg? I’d just lost my grandpa back then, my only anchor, and the only person I needed by my side fucking left.”
“I didn’t know. I don’t exactly have the capacity to read your mind.”
“So you decided to leave as if nothing happened?”
“I told you I was on a mission.”
“What type of mission? And don’t tell me I shouldn’t know for my safety. We’re already married. There’s no wall that exists between us.”
Yes, there is, and she’s the one who has been building it since the beginning. I’m no better myself considering everything I’m hiding, but the barrier does exist, and all I want to do is to fucking eradicate it.
“The mission was for that organization I told you about. I had to go back to England.”
“And that made you unable to answer my calls or send me a text to let me know?”
“Yes.”
“But why, Kyle? Just why the hell did you erase yourself from my life that abruptly?”
“Because that’s what I do. I disappear. I couldn’t stay in touch because that would’ve made me want to come back, and that was out of the question.”
“You just wanted to leave.”
“Yes.” And I didn’t want to think about you. “You’d already chosen your life path, and I didn’t have a place in it.”
“Idiot,” she mutters.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t need to know for your own safety.” She repeats my words from earlier in a mocking tone.
“You never give up, do you?”
“No, and if you leave without notice again, it won’t be pretty.”
I brush my lips over her forehead as my form of an answer.
We remain like that until exhaustion takes its toll on her and she falls asleep. As soon as she does, I reach for my phone and unlock it. I have several messages.
One of them is more important than the others.
Flame: The attack tonight went smoothly.
Fucker. Of course it did.
Shouldn’t it be ironic that I’m shot by an attack I initiated?
I type.
Kyle: Were there any casualties from our side?
Flame: None aside from your embarrassing shot.
Kyle: It was part of the plan.
Flame: Bullshit.
Kyle: Why the fuck did one of us take aim at Sergei?
Flame: You said to hurt them enough to start a war.
Kyle: If Sergei is gone, who the fuck would start that war, genius?
Flame: All the others. Genius.
Kyle: Don’t take aim at Sergei without telling me first.
Flame: Yawn.
Bloody arsehole.
Kyle: How is it with the Irish?
Flame: They’re trembling in fear.
As they should. Because while the Russians were holding back before now, they will never allow one of their own to be shot and stay quiet about it.
That in itself is worth being shot for. Not only that, Sergei will also have his full trust in me, and everyone will respect me for protecting their boss.
I will use all those privileges to my own advantage.
Flame: Oh, and Ghost knows you were shot.
The phone nearly slips from my fingers as I read and reread Flame’s text. I’m not imagining things. He just said my godfather knows.
Kyle: Why did you tell him?
Flame: Passing conversation.
Kyle: Bollocks.
He doesn’t do anything without a prior plan, and the reason he told Godfather isn’t a coincidence, either.
Flame: He asked me about you.
Godfather asked about me? But why? When we parted ways ten years ago, he made it clear that he didn’t want to see my face again.
Kyle: And?
Flame: And what?
Kyle: And what did he say?
Flame: Nothing. You know he’s a man of few words.
The hope that rose in my chest from earlier withers away and perishes. Of course he would say nothing after that betrayal.
Shaking my head internally, I get myself back in the game.
Kyle: Keep me updated about your side, and next time, kill one of the Russian leaders.
If one of them is gone, the war will be stronger and more furious.
The only miscalculation in my plan is this woman who has her hand wrapped around my waist as if she doesn’t want to let me go. This woman is my only loose end, but I will find a way, and I will get her where she belongs.
Right next to me.
“Sleep,” I whisper. “Your life will never be the same in the near future.”
29
Rai
Two weeks have passed, and although it’s a significant amount of time, it doesn’t feel like it.
I think it’s because of how little has happened, but at the same time, it feels like a lot.