“Elias had a meeting after we got back from hearing your testimony, so I called to check in while he wasn’t around,” he explained. “Dad knew I was upset. I kept it vague about what happened in that room since I didn’t think it concerned us. At that point, we were focused on Elias and his betrayal. And Elias was connected to Damien, which made him connected to—”
“—Linden,” I finished for him.
“Exactly.” He nodded solemnly. “Elias came back, but when he left for his meeting the next morning, I could tell he was flustered. He messed up. He got that call from Damien, and that set him off. He left and left the door to his room unlocked. That’s when I found the file on you.”
“And you came to find Remy?”
Dimitri had been looking for him when he found me. We were going to get Remy when the bomb went off, and I was knocked out.
He hesitated. “I called Dad first. Told him what I had found out. About … you and the DNA test. Dad said to get you out of there, away from Elias and the Council and Norwood.”
“And Linden?”
“He said to bring him, too.”
“Why? What questions could he possibly have for Linden that Elias can’t answer?”
Dimitri gave me a strange look. “Your uncle isn’t here for an interrogation, Skye.”
“Nikolai said he has questions for him,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, questions that will help fill in the gap about what happened to you and your mom. After he gets those answers …”
Unease pricked the back of my neck. “After that what?”
“Linden isn’t here for questioning,” Dimitri replied evenly. “He’s here to pay for what he did to you.”
“But Nikolai doesn’t know—”
“He’s smart,” he ground out. “Dad can read between the lines. He knows whatever happened, upset me a lot. And he knows that whatever I’m not saying is bad and that it’s about you. He’s holding Linden accountable for whatever happened to you.”
I sucked in a deep breath. “Hold him accountable how?”
Dimitri’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Skye, your uncle will be executed for what he did to you.”
14
Skye
My brain was still turning over what Dimitri had told me as I closed the door to my room. I leaned against the door and looked around with a snort.
This wasn’t a room; this was a suite. It was ridiculous how opulent and just plain massive the space was. This was a completely different world than what I knew.
But I wasn’t the only one who would be dealing with this culture shock.
After a second, I pushed off the door and crossed the room to the bathroom, going inside and knocking on the door that joined Tate’s room to mine. When she didn’t answer, I slowly pushed the door open.
Tate was sprawled on top of the bed, asleep.
My heart ached for her. It was obvious she had been crying, and she was still clutching her phone. I pulled a blanket from the foot of her bed up and over her body, tucking it around her as gently as I could without waking her up before going back to my room.
I closed the door on my side of the bathroom and pulled my phone from my back pocket before climbing up onto the bed.
Someone had made the bed while I had been at dinner, and I spied a bowl of soup, a bottle of water, and a bottle of ginger ale on a tray across the room. Natasha must have had it sent up as soon as we left the dining room, but even still, that was fast.
Probably more freaking magic.
I dropped my head back against the headboard with a thunk.
Everything was chaotic and messy. After holding it together for as long as I had, I knew I was rapidly approaching my breaking point.
I hit the call button on the phone, switching it to video mode.
The phone only rang twice before Remy answered. His face filled the screen, slightly grainy and shadowed in the dark of his room for a second before the light next to his bed turned on and I could see him fully.
The sight of his face, that gorgeous face that I loved more than any other face in the entire world, brought me to tears. Emotion swelled in me, choking me as my vision blurred behind a wall of tears.
“Hey,” he said softly, his voice sleep roughened and raspy. “Babe, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I managed to get out, forcing my emotions back down to a manageable level. “I’m fine.”
“Bullshit,” he replied tersely, his eyes narrowing as he sat up straighter. His dark gaze studied me intently, missing nothing.
“I just miss you,” I answered honestly. My eyes closed briefly, holding back a wall of emotional turmoil I didn’t want to throw on his already heavy shoulders. “I miss you so damn much.”
His shoulders relaxed as he leaned back against the headboard. “I miss you, too, baby.” His hand moved across his chest, absently scratching a gloriously bare pec. God, this man was gorgeous. Distractingly, mouth-wateringly, sinfully gorgeous.
And he was all mine.
There was no missing the way my wolf preened a little.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, and then he frowned. “How’s Tate?”
“She … I don’t even know, Rem,” I replied with a heavy sigh. “I told her about Luke, and she’s kind of shut me out.”
He nodded, lips pressed together in a tight line. “Sounds like Tate.”
“What do I do?”
“Give her space,” he suggested. “Tate’s always been a bit of a loner. The shit that happened with her birth parents, losing Luke’s wife … Luke was her family, her only family. Tate’s always been pretty private. Let her deal with her grief in her own way.”
“I wish there was more I could do.” I bit my lower lip, worrying it between my teeth.
“It will be better when she’s back here with Dante and Ryder,” he told me.
“But that won’t be for days,” I said, frustrated as hell.
A dark look passed over his face. “I know.”
“Any word on your dad?” I asked hesitantly.
He shook his head grimly.
“How are you doing?” I pressed softly.
“I’m okay.” His answer was instantaneous.
And a lie.
“Must be nice,” I drawled, giving him a pointed look through the screen. “I’m a wreck. I miss my family and my friends. I’m in a total new place, with my freaking father, and it turns out I have a brother. I just had dinner with them and my step-mother and her current sidepiece.”
His eyes went wide.
I kept ticking off all the reasons I was far from okay. “A man I trusted has apparently been keeping a file on me and spying on me, my uncle is currently locked in a cell somewhere inside a Russian mountain. But the worst part? The one person I want to be with is literally on the other side of the world.”
I gave him a pointed look. “I’m so glad that you’re okay.”
He exhaled hard, his eyes flicking to the ceiling for a brief second. “Sorry. I’m just so used to saying that to everyone because it’s what they need to hear.”
“I’m not everyone,” I reminded him.