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“You have a kid?” I queried, surprised.
“Yeah. You fucking touch him, I’ll kill you!” she spat.
I didn’t bother being hurt. She knew what I was capable of. It was why she was speaking so freely without me having to force things and get nasty.
“I have no intention of hurting your family if you give me the answers I want.”
Her anxiety didn’t lessen. “Leave him alone.”
I heard the plea. It made something ping in my chest.
“Lodestar doesn’t hurt kids for fun.” Conor’s defense of me, so immediate, hit me on the raw. I shot him a glance, not sure if I was grateful or not.
“It doesn’t have to be for fun. She’s relentless,” Minerva hissed.
“Ovianar was drafted into Jorgmundgander?”
“She’s still in it. They just let her out of jail early for good behavior.” She swallowed. “What do you want to know?”
“I told you on the phone. I have a foster daughter and somehow, you made that happen. I want to know how.”
Minerva whispered, “I’m in the dark about most of the details. Some of this happened while she was away from me—”
I jumped in with: “You were running BDSec alone during that time?”
Her nod was shaky but guilt filtered into her expression. “I needed the cash.”
I experienced a ‘eureka’ moment. “So, that’s why you started being the go-to service for hitmen?”
BDSec had been formed in the aftermath of my ‘ex-husband’ Hans’ death. We’d started the hacktivist group with the intention of using it to bring down the people who’d hurt me but, as with anything, intentions changed.Morphed.
The US had the Ledger—Hunter Lachlan ran that. But before he came along, Europe had BDSec’s Rolodex of hitmen and they acted as escrow for the client, only paying the hired gun once proof of death of the intended target had been submitted.
“I had no choice. We were on our asses. Without Ovianar…” She bit her lip. “I broke down. It was hard for a long time and we almost lost everything, but then, when I visited her in prison, she suggested we start the service and that’s when things got better.”
“If I were you,” D drawled. “I’d remember what you do for a living and what puts food on your table and dresses your kid when you’re judging Lodestar for her actions. You’re not exactly as pure as the driven snow.”
Minerva’s mouth tightened but she bowed her head to evade eye contact with us.
I cleared my throat at D’s defense of me. I was more used to her having my back than I was with Conor because he’d never been in a position where it had been necessary before.
As I studied the pair of them in silence, a whisper of a new truth settled deep inside me.
I wasn’t alone anymore.
“Your foster daughter, is she in danger?”
Minerva’s question had me blinking in surprise. “What? Why would you ask that?”
She swallowed. “That’s why Ovianar put her in your line of sights.”
My hands balled into fists. “So you admit she set me up?”
“I admit it but not for the reasons you think. There was no malice in it. Ovianar…”
“Less than five minutes ago, you were scared that she was going to kill your son or use him for leverage, but Ovianar was fine with sending some unknown kid to her for protection?” Conor queried, his tone perplexed.
“She has more faith in her than I do,” was Minerva’s bitter response. “Plus, desperate times call for desperate measures.”
