Nix. (Den of Mercenaries Book 3)(90)
It wasn’t Red’s name that made Luna’s eyes widen in surprise—he was well known in their world for what he could do with a rifle in his hands—but Fang …
As far as she could tell, the Wild Bunch lived like ghosts. Even the mercenaries, with the exception of Skorpion, didn’t know about them.
More curious was that she hadn’t known Fang even was a sniper. She knew he handled knives well, was far beyond efficient at hand-to-hand, but he had always seemed like the one that would be right in the middle of the action.
It was strange that no one had ever bothered to mention that.
“Did you get a chance to speak with Mr. Kanekov?” Belladonna asked while Luna was still lost in her thoughts.
How was she meant to answer that question?
Belladonna had never mentioned what she wanted Luna to do once she did in fact find Andrei, only that she wanted him found. As far as her talk with the man went, she didn’t see how the gibberish Andrei had spoken would mean anything to her.
“No,” Luna settled on saying. It was the closest thing to the truth.
“That’s unfortunate,” Belladonna said with a sigh and a shake of her head.
In her movement, Luna’s gaze was drawn to the television behind her. It was still showing the same episode from the time she walked into the room, but now it grabbed and held her attention.
Because the man they had caught on camera was Kit.
Her husband was anything but a celebrity—rather a man that prided himself on his anonymity—yet there he sat, looking particularly cozy with a woman that had dark hair and …
Luna leaned forward so fast she was almost out of her chair, trying to make sure she was seeing clearly. Even as her brain tried to process what she was seeing, it still wasn’t making sense. It just wasn’t possible.
The girl who had been snapped with Kit wasn’t just anyone, it was Ariana.
Her sister.
Someone she hadn’t seen for years, yet one look at her felt like no time had passed at all. She still had the same hair, though a touch longer, same flawless skin, and her somewhat mischievous grin was the same. There was no denying who she was seeing—Luna doubted she would ever not recognize her own family.
Realizing that the television had stolen Luna’s attention, Belladonna didn’t demand she focus on her, but rather grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.
“Celebrity jewelry designer, and daughter of the renowned human activist, Carmen Santiago, was spotted having a late lunch with a mysterious new man. This news comes only months after Ariana announced her engagement to a wealthy businessman from …”
Luna tried to listen, or rather make sense, of what the woman was talking about, but it was too crazy to believe.
Though, was it?
Ariana had always had an interest in fashion, and if she had managed to make a career of it, that was amazing. But Luna didn’t understand how she knew Kit …
And why Kit had never mentioned that he was having lunch with her.
Just as Luna thought what she was seeing couldn’t get any stranger, there was another show of not just the pair of them, but Luna’s mother as well, and a man she didn’t immediately recognize.
“Oh dear,” Belladonna said, watching along with her. “I wonder what on earth Caesar and Nix have to talk about? Perhaps one of his infamous deals?”
Luna had always heard the saying, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ but as she stared at the video footage, she couldn’t find anything to say that described the confusion she felt.
And in the rapidly spoken words of the reporter, one stuck out.
California.
Was that what business Kit had out there? Was that why he was so secretive about that meeting?
She understood that she couldn’t see them—or at least had until now—but what confused her was why he had never bothered to mention it.
Was it really innocent though?
Just now, Belladonna had hinted that it may have been a business deal, and Kit had already told that it was for that reason that he was even going to California.
She didn’t think her heartbeat had ever sounded so loud in her own ears.
“I want to tell you a story,” Belladonna said, though Luna had yet to take her gaze from the television. “About a girl who life was not her own.”
It didn’t make sense.
Kit told her everything, even things she didn’t particularly enjoy. That was just who he was, honest to a fault, but why hide this?
What was there even to hide?
“Now this girl,” Belladonna went on as she twisted the gold Cartier bracelet on her wrist, “beautiful girl, she was, had become a pawn in a game she didn’t know she was playing.”
Squeezing her eyes shut to try and get her bearings, knowing she needed to focus on the present, Luna forced her gaze away from the TV. “What? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about a martyr—about a girl whose life was taken to give another power.”
She was speaking in riddles, Luna thought with an inward shake of her head. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought she was talking to Uilleam.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I need to—”
“One question before you go,” Belladonna said raising a perfectly manicured finger. “Did you ever wonder why you?”
London Miller's Books
- Where the Snow Falls (Seasons of Betrayal #2)
- Celt. (Den of Mercenaries #2)
- Until the End (Volkov Bratva #2)
- The Final Hour (Volkov Bratva #3)
- In the Beginning (Volkov Bratva #1)
- Valon: What Once Was (Volkov Bratva Novella)
- Time Stood Still (Volkov Bratva #3.5)
- Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)
- Where the Sun Hides (Seasons of Betrayal #1)
- Red. (Den of Mercenaries #1)