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23
QUIN
Kira’s eyes grow so wide, I can barely breathe — I’m so livid.
“Thaddy, sit your ass down and shut the fuck up, before you get someone killed,” I growl, pointing at the chair he’s just cleaned.
He considers me for all of one second, then he sits. He glances between me and Kira and scratches at his beard, his eyes widening. “Oh,fuck. It’s true?”
I hold up my hand, to keep him quiet, and address only Kira. “I haven’t told a soul; I swear it. He’s made an assumption, but he has zero basis for it. Nobody but Loosh knows parts of what really happened between us, and even he’s not sure of the paternity stuff.”
Kira’s complexion pales even further. “To be honest, I’m not a-hundred-percent sure, either. I’m too scared to find out,” she whispers, her eyes welling with tears.
I glare at Thaddy and point at Dusty’s laundry. “Do you know what I want to do to you, for making her cry?”
He flinches. “I didn’t mean to. Kira, I’m sorry. It was a joke. Only it’s… not a fucking joke. Obviously.Fuck.” He searches my eyes. “What were youthinking?”
I stand up, and Kira follows suit. I take a step toward Thaddy, and she takes one back.
He watches the dance, looking confused as all hell until I’m close enough to stand over him menacingly, and he has to face only me.
“You want to know what I was thinking?” I hear the unhinged tone of my voice, but I’m unable to smooth its sharp edge. “I was probably thinking I was in love with a beautiful girl. That I would run away with her and live a free life, like we’d been planning. What I wasnotthinking, was that my father would take indescribable measures, to clip my wings and curb such an undesirable rebellion. At worst, I thought he’d kill me and be done with it. I did not —could not— imagine that he would forcibly marry and breed my woman, to make me kneel. But he was wise to my plans. He succeeded in his power-play, and here we are.”
I gesture toward Kira, but Thaddy’s gaze remains on me. He swallows visibly. “This explains so much. The intensity, the brooding, thescars… Why didn’t you tell us?”
“What difference would it make, other than to darken the world for all of you, and render life riskier for the woman I love?” I reply quietly, watching Kira retreat to the far side of her room.
I move back to my seat, so she can attend the discussion. We’ll need to decide what to do, now that Thaddy will need the dangerous and crippling rules explained to him.
She resumes her seat too, and she’s glaring at me. “You didn’t even make up a lie so you could get some support? You just left yourself completely alone?”
I shrug. “Couldn’t risk any mistakes, so I kept things tight. Your life is a matter of the utmost importance, and if Jack has taught me anything, it’s that one weak link can bring down an empire. There can be no weak links when death threats are on the table,” I say, staring at Thaddy.
He points to himself, raising his eyebrows. “You think I’m a weak link?”
I close my eyes and shake my head. “I didn’t want to believe it, but you did just flippantly accused me of fathering our little brother. If you’d done so publicly, there would’ve been repercussions you wouldn’t have wanted to be responsible for, Thaddy.”
“If I’dknown, I never would have…” He looks between Kira and me again and locks his lips with an invisible key. “I won’t mention it again. How do we fix this?”
“By sticking to the plan and getting the last of his goddamned hitmen out of play.”
Kira crosses her ankles and smooths the skirt of her dress over her knees. She’s nervous, but I can tell she’s doing her best to stay calm, as she closes her eyes and takes several deep breaths. She irons out the wrinkled fabric over her belly and then she settles her hands there, in a perfectly natural protective manner… that would give her condition away in an instant, in the wrong company. She doesn’t even know she’s doing it, but Thaddy picks it up in an instant.
I swear again.
When Thaddy turns his alarmed gaze to me, he silently asks for confirmation.
I point my business finger at him with a lot of surliness building behind it. “Don’t you breathe a fucking word to anyone.”
He nods. “Fuck. We have to end this, Quin. And fast. Sooner than we thought.”
Seems my brother can see the danger Kira’s going to pose to herself, should she lose focus for even a second. I don’t want her to live this life. I got her into this mess, and I’m the one who has to remain on tenterhooks, not her. It’smyduty. My burden to bear.
Thaddy’s a dad now, and he clearly fucking gets it.
“Yeah,” I agree, smiling at Kira, to help reassure her that everything is going to be okay. “Moving up the timeline would be great, but I’d need to cater to a shitload more risk, Thaddy.”
He spreads his hands. “I’m your guy. Risk is my wheelhouse. Tell me what you need,” he says, waving me closer and pulling his chair toward mine. He gestures for Kira, to join the huddle-up, too.
