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And she’s been at my crib since last night. If she didn’t turn my villa upside down, snooping around, I’ll be surprised.
Kitten, you are in deep shit.
I fire up the engine and speed back to my place.
40
KAI
I realizeI’ve been clenching my teeth for half an hour.
We’ve been riding in silence. The captain and the crew throw glances at us without saying a word—they get paid good money to deliver to Zion and not complain about Crone’s stunts.
I sit on the deck, on the bench, Callie at my side, my arm wrapped around her.
She tosses her head, the blond strands whipping across her face in the wind.
I smile and kiss the top of her head as her hands glide along my wet shirt like she is constantly checking if I am fine.
There is a sense of calm in me. As if fate finally gave us a break.
And there is something else—something that nags at me like a splinter.
I’ve been waiting for Crone to catch up, to pull another angry stunt.
Nothing.
Then the memory of us parting comes back—his gaze, tense, narrowed, but vulnerable.
Hurt is a sneaky monster that makes guest appearances in your strongest moments and cuts off your breathing.
That drunk night in Mexico was the first and only time I saw Crone cry. They were angry tears—guilt that pointed its sharp end at him. Not sure he remembered it the next day, but I never forgot. You never forget the most vulnerable moments that come from the strongest men you know.
That gaze when Crone stood on the deck, waiting for me to reply—it wasn’t his defeat, but perhaps, his most honorable moment, letting me and Callie go.
And yet…
You were like my brother.
The words sting me more painfully than any harsh words he’s ever said.
I felt guilty. Do you think I wanted you to hurt like that?
I know when Crone plays with sympathy and when he is genius. And that—that—for the first time in a long while, was genuine.
I wanted to hate him all those years. But more than anything, I felt betrayed.
And somehow, wanting to let go overrides any sense of vengeance.
I chuckle to myself—in the strange realization that Einstein might have been wrong, and Crone was right. Because after all this crazy manhunting, the final resultisdifferent. It’s forgiveness.
If I look deep inside me, I think that was the reason I wanted to come to this island—my revenge on Crone was my inability to let go of our past, desperately trying to keep fighting so we could be close.
Yeah, it’s fucked up.
But brotherly loyalty is irrational sometimes.
So is the ability to see good amidst the evil.
