Perfect Ruin (Unyielding #2)(87)

Hands peeled me away from my dad and I knew it was Kai.

“Dad—”

“Baby, we have to go.”

I knew that logically, but everything inside me wanted to stay with my dad. “I… Kai… we didn’t get time.”

He wiped the tears with his thumb. “Baby, your dad was dying of cancer. He had months left. Maybe not even. He knew that. He was holding on to see you again.”

I swallowed. “Cancer?”

He nodded.

Kai gently urged me further away from my dad, the pain crushing and debilitating.

“He was a good man.” Kai kissed the top of my head. “I liked him.”

Georgie threw her arms around me. “Sugar, I’m so sor—”

Deck settled his hands on her shoulders then drew her back. “Not now, rainbow. Let’s go.”

Then we were running for the stairwell. Deck cleared it first and then we took one flight of stairs up before Deck held up his hand and we stopped.

“Vic, we’re in position.”

Kai handed me my gun. “Baby, here and now. Okay?”

Tears kept sliding down my cheeks, but I nodded. As my shaking hand curled around the hard metal, I heard the gunshots down the hall.

“Vic. He’s coming to help us,” Kai said.

I was still thinking about my dad, his face, the way his empty eyes stared up at me. God, he’d been dying. And now he was gone and….Kai’s hands cupped my head so I was forced to look at him. “I know you’re not good. But I need you to focus.”

I nodded.

His thumbs stroked gently over my temples, his hard body against mine, tense and ready to react in a moment. “Answer me, baby.”

“Okay.” I inhaled a quivering breath. “Okay.”

I looked up at Deck and nodded. Then the stairwell door opened and we ran down the hall. We didn’t make it far before two men ran around the corner and started shooting. Kai grabbed me, yanked me around the corner and shoved me against the wall, his body protecting me as Deck did the same with Georgie.

The gunshots stopped and Deck gestured to Kai before they both stepped out, Deck shooting while Kai ran and rolled across the hall into another corridor. I couldn’t see them anymore, just heard the gunshots.

My grip on the gun was so hard the metal indented my hand. Georgie had a gun, too, but when I looked at her she appeared pretty steady. She half-smiled at me with reassurance. She had total faith in her man that we’d get out of here.

I couldn’t smile back, my fear escalating as I heard footsteps getting closer.

Oh, God, please be careful, Kai.

But this was what Kai did. He’d broken me out of Vault’s prison after killing his own mother.

He knew what he was doing.

I heard two loud thumps and a half-shout before the sound gurgled to nothing. “Clear.”

It was Kai.

We came out from around the corner and I saw two bodies face first on the floor, blood pooling around their heads from the slices across their throats. Kai had his knives in his hand, blood dripping from the blades.

An alarm blared through the building and Deck said, “Vic.” And then Vic was running toward us with one badass gun slung over his shoulder and another in his hands.

“Emergency exit clear. Car waiting,” Vic said.

Deck slapped him on the back and they started for the door.

“London.” Kai stepped into me and lowered my gun. Then he slipped his knives in his holster and took my hand in his. “It’s just a word and I feel so much more than four f*ckin’ letters. But you need to hear it from me right now, so I’m giving it to you. I love you, London.”

He didn’t give me time to respond and I don’t think I could’ve even if he did. He linked our hands together and we ran for the emergency door.





FIVE DAYS WE’D been idle at Tristan’s place after flying back to Toronto. This one was located on the outskirts of the city and had an elaborate security system protecting what looked like an extensive collection of art hanging on the walls.

As no one from Vault knew of his involvement yet, it was safe enough—for now. But when you were the hunted, staying in one place was never a good idea.

London was being my braveheart, insisting on going over her father’s files so she could find out more about the drug and help Connor. But at night when I held her in my arms, her tears soaked into my skin and her body shook as she sobbed.

There was nothing to say and I honestly didn’t know how she felt because I’d never experienced a loss like that. I was too young when my father died and we’d been thrown into survival mode at the farm. I remembered being sad and missing him, but it hadn’t lasted long.

When I was old enough to comprehend why he died and what happened, I didn’t grieve him. I blamed him. He knew my mother was a controlling, power-hungry bitch. He had to have seen what was coming. He had an affair and my mother had her excuse to make her move. It didn’t take long before I stopped blaming him because I didn’t care one way or another. I didn’t care about anything.

It was mid-afternoon and I’d come to check on London, but she was in the shower, so I headed downstairs to make her something to eat. If she ate anything in the last five days, it wasn’t enough and I was worried. Fuck, I was worried. That was what it was to care about someone, you worried about them.