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When the muscle hung loosely in his hand, he turned, his chest heaving with angry breaths as he walked out of the room, leaving an unconscious Steven behind. Ky and I gave each other an amused glance before following our deranged leader out of the room. Once Keir was in a mood like this, he was little more than a beast until he worked it out of his system: yearning for a fight, a fuck, or some bloody, messy, and likely disturbing combination of the two.
When we walked past Terrance’s desk and he was nowhere in sight, my suspicions were confirmed. Keir did little more than glance that way before stalking through the room and wrenching the door open, stopping as he glanced down at our ex-guard’s dead body. Without a word, he stepped over the corpse and hit the elevator call button, growling low and menacingly when he pointed to the side door that was wide open, clearly having been used for her escape.
“I’m going upstairs to get the keys. You two head out to the car,” Keir said, but Ky only laughed.
“Do you really want to make her run for good?”
“Why would that make her run?” I questioned, turning his way and tilting my head as I tried to figure it out, but Ky was cryptic as always.
“Think about it. She was here, halfway across the country and using an alias. We’ve known since school she was mafia, though we always pretended like that was no big deal. If she’s here, there are really only a few options. If we go too soon and put on the pressure, she’ll run, then we’d have to chase her. It’d be a big fiasco. Give her the night,” he said calmly, though from the way he snapped the rubber band on his wrist, he was on the verge of losing it too. It was something our mother had insisted on as kids; the snap supposed to curb our anger, and he was the only one who’d kept it on, though it was more of a tribute to her memory than helpful.
“Fine,” Keir bit out, “but I’m calling her.”
“No, not until tomorrow,” Ky urged, but Keir was his own man... and if he didn’t, then I would. I just need to hear her voice. When Keir turned to our brother with death in his eyes, Ky just chuckled and held his hands up in defense. “Alright.”
“I’ll shower first,” he compromised, the words ground out between clenched teeth. After a chance to calm down, he’d realize Ky wasn’t just being a dick, but he was too mad to see past his impulses right now.
Ten minutes later, I was the first out of the shower, heading for our spacious kitchen. I started gathering the ingredients to make breakfast burritos, one of the few foods I had figured out, chopping peppers, onions, and mushrooms, ham and cheese, then mixing the eggs in.
My brothers joined me, but sat silently as I finished cooking. Ky got up and poured three glasses of white wine, setting them at the breakfast bar. Once I had all three done, I quickly cleaned up before joining them. Keir was the first one to break the silence.
“I’m curious to know why she killed Terrance. Unless he didn’t give her a chance to say who she was?”
“She’s too good to kill him just in case,” I countered, but as I said it, I realized I didn't quite believe it. Not anymore.
“Yeah, maybe that was true at seventeen, but she’s been through more than we could imagine,” Ky said, shaking his head. “I have a feeling we’d eradicate her entire family off the map if we knew the finer details.”
“You're not wrong. She’s got that look about her. And that episode today?” Keir said, his fork clattering against the plate as he dropped it and pushed it away, no more than a few small bites taken. He wasn’t good at eating while stressed, the opposite of Ky, who took Keir’s plate and started in on his helping.
“That episode took her way back. The look on her face wasn’t just fear; it was beyond that,” I agreed, remembering the hollow desolation in her eyes as she stared off, unfocused and frozen. I was just glad she’d gotten the guy before she spaced out. If she hadn’t, that distraction would have gotten her killed. “Should we get someone to watch out for her?”
“I’m not opposed, but we need to get someone that has a grasp at subtlety. She’s way too independent, and if she sees them, she’ll likely kill them,” Ky said, eyes glinting at the idea. Keir stirred in his seat, and I didn’t want to think too hard about what reaction he was likely having to the idea of our girl painted in the gore of a fresh kill.
“You know, I thought after I lost her back then, that we’d never find someone who understood our world enough to stick around or survive it. I’m glad she’s back,” I admitted, shoving my plate toward Ky as well. He took a bite and chewed slowly, thinking it over.
“We don’t technically have her. She just said she was out.” His reminder had Keir tightening his hands into fists again.
“Oh, she’s not out. Sana doesn’t have a choice anymore. She’s ours, and she needs us like we need her. We’ll just have to show her what that means.”
“I couldn’t agree more, brother. We aren’t the type for subtleties, and she’s not the type for bullshit. We’ll show her what it means to be a queen,” I said with a smirk.
She’d always hated being called princess, and I didn’t have to guess why. Her family wasn’t like ours; they were cruel to their own. But with us, she’d be treated like a queen, a loyal family behind her and three devoted, deadly knights driven to give her the life she deserved. Our armor might be blood-crusted and blackened, instead of shining, but Sana had never been a true damsel anyway. With her by our side, the Adrostos kingdom could become an empire. We just have to make her understand her rightful place once and for all.
My gun was out of my holster and aimed at the woman standing across from me, but she didn’t even flinch. My heart constricted painfully at the sight of the one ally I had back home. Or maybe ex-ally? Who knows?
“You thought you could just leave?” she asked, the bite in her tone hiding the hurt I knew would be there. Dani had been my best friend growing up, well, as best of friends as we could get with Eros around. We’d had to avoid each other when he was around and keep our relationship quiet as best we could, but having an ally made all the secrecy worth it. He would take anything that mattered to you without a second thought.
She had always been the more emotional of the two of us, but seeing her here had me wanting to break down. I’d missed her the last few years even though I hadn’t allowed myself to really think about that place. Associating any fondness with memories of the Family was a dangerous path to tread. I couldn’t afford to let myself soften toward them at all, lest I be sucked back into the cesspool that was the Priamos.
“We have some catching up to do, dear cousin.”
“Apparently,” I said, not moving a muscle.
“Who hit you?” she asked, tilting her head to examine my cheek, and for a moment I was caught off guard. Oh yeah, the dick got me on the face. I softened my stance, brushing a hand over the tender spot and shrugging.
“How did you find me?” I asked, ignoring her last question.
“Eros, of course,” she laughed, still not giving a fuck that I had a gun trained on her. She knew how good my aim was, but she also knew I wouldn’t shoot her if I could help it. That hesitation was a weakness, but if I thought she’d turned, I’d do what I had to. She was my only ally in the family, and leaving her behind hadn’t been easy to do, but for once I was putting myself first. Plus, if I’d told her about the deal, she would have seen right through it, knowing damn well I wouldn’t be coming back. “I had to let him use me for a business deal to get it out of him. As long as it benefits him, fuck everyone else, right?” I knew what that meant. He’d told her to fuck a client to secure a deal, and knowing the kind of clients he kept, that wasn’t an e
