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“Evening, gentlemen,” a voice says smoothly on the other end. Cocky. Could read that instantly. “As Eli just announced, she hasn’t been staying in the same place for longer than twenty-four hours. She has been dumping phones within that space, too. Unlucky for her, she has left out the Big Brother factor, and that’s that every single CCTV footage can be used by simply uploading images of the person you’re looking for. God, I love facial recognition.” I don’t bother to tell him that we already know how he found her, and that we don’t care. We just want to know where she is. “Now this next part might surprise you, but right now, she’s in The Hamptons. I would say that she’s on our turf because of the airport, since I’m guessing you didn’t capture her?”
“Why would she be here?” I lean forward, listening for his answer. “Why would she be near, wouldn’t she be far away?”
Benny pauses on the other end. “Not if you have something she wants.” My eyes fly up to my mom, who holds my stare.
“And if we do?”
“Then I’ll say she’s waiting for someone to make contact, but be careful. Usually people who move like this only do it because they know they’ve got security. Whatever you have that she wants, I’m guessing she has something that’s more valuable to you.”
The line goes dead and Eli picks up his phone again as my mom turns to my dad and whispers something into his ear. Cartier has busied herself with her bike, riding through the forest every chance she gets to keep her mind away from the fact that all she has ever known was a lie. I haven’t had the time to sit her down and sort her out, but I know her. Right now, she’s hot. She’ll only bite my fucking head off. I need to wait for the three-day cooling-off period.
“We’re not using her as bait, just saying,” I say the words that I fucking know everyone is thinking.
“Kyrin, don’t be silly. Why would we use your sister as bait?” my mother asks incredulously.
I pin both of my parents with a glare. “—or her.”
Everyone silences. It rubs me the wrong way, so I look for the only man who has any fucking real pull in this circle. When a family speaks, they shut up for an Axton.
Kauis stretches one leg out in front of himself, unbuttoning his suit jacket. His hair is longer now, cut around the collar of his shirt. “Lilith.” He says her name and the hairs on the back of my neck stand.
I’m at my feet before I can blink.
Kauis’s eyes come up to mine. “Son, sit down. We can figure this out. Lilith, as we now know, is half Kiznitch. She is part of our family now, too. We won’t allow anything to happen to her.” Eli’s hands are on my arm, pulling me backward and away from the center of the room.
I find Lilith watching me with wide eyes, waiting for my instruction. Good girl. Finally, I nod, gesturing for her to go to Kauis. Slowly, she moves around the sofa and to the front, taking a seat on the coffee table in front of him. I keep my mouth closed, my jaw tight as Eli keeps his hand on my forearm as if he’s known me all my life and is well aware of how reckless my hands get when it comes to protecting the people I love.
“What do you know of Kennedy?” His tone is gentle, but his stance is not. It’s a disguise. If he comes in soft, she’ll open up. Only Lilith isn’t like the other girls he’s used to. For one, she’s not a girl. Despite her age, she’s every bit a woman, and a fucking lethal one at that. She doesn’t need anyone to fight her battles because she’d gladly do it herself.
“I know that she’s my mother. Have known for some time.” Lilith pauses, but it’s not because she’s scared. It’s because she’s finding the right words to say. She’s hiding something. “She was our therapist and doctor. The woman we went to if we needed to talk, and the one who made sure to perform all of our… tests. Through our combat training, she also worked on our wounds. She was an all-rounder, though she kept to herself. Quiet in the corners, until she—did what she did to me.”
Kauis seems to be satisfied with her answer, as he nods and leans back… slightly. “Do you know why she might want you?”
“I was thinking she more wanted Cartier, not me.”
Kauis shakes his head, and I agree with him. This has nothing to do with Cartier, and everything to do with Lilith. “No. If it was about her, she would have had her, or at the very least tried. This is about you.”
