“Get up,” he tells me. “We’re going somewhere.”
I sit up and rub my eyes with the back of my hand. “Do I get to know where?”
“No, because I want the ability to turn around if I choose to.”
Snorting, I push the blanket off me. “At least you’re honest.”
I get out of bed and stretch my arms above my head. Kage’s eyes move to where my T-shirt rides up, revealing me in a thong. I glance down to see what he’s looking at and chuckle.
“Later, babe,” I tell him. “Right now you’re taking me on a date.”
He rolls his eyes. “Considering this a date would make us even more fucked up than I thought.”
“Oh, we’re definitely fucked up.”
I go into the closet and glance at my clothes before realizing I have no idea where we’re going.
“What do I wear?” I shout.
He takes a few seconds to answer. “Something you don’t mind getting dirty.”
That piques my interest and I peek my head out the door. “You’re not taking me to dig my own grave, are you?”
“Is that a deal breaker?”
The mischievous smile falls right off my face. “Prick.”
Kage laughs and goes into the living room to wait for me. Meanwhile, I pick out a pair of black sweatpants and a matching tank top. I throw on the outfit, paired with a pair of black sneakers, and slip a hair tie onto my wrist just in case. Grabbing the hat and hoodie off the bed, I go find Kage.
When I come out, he looks me up and down, smirking. “Are you dressing to match your soul today?”
“Maybe. You sticking around to find out?”
He looks unsure. “I don’t know. You’re a bit of a wild one.”
My smile widens. “My grandfather didn’t call me Wildflower for nothing.”
“Whatever you say, Gabbana. Where’s your disguise?”
I hold it out to him. “I figured you’d want to do it, being the perfectionist and all.”
Chuckling, he starts to put it on me. “Wanting to keep you safe is not perfectionism. It’s being protective.”
“That’s not the word Viola used for it,” I say, looking up at him as he puts the hat on me.
“Viola is the bane of my existence.”
I tilt my head to the side. “I don’t know. I kinda like her.”
“I liked it better when you wanted to jab a stiletto into her eyeball,” he says seriously. “Can we go back to that?”
“Nope. Now let’s go.” I grab his hand and start pulling him toward the garage door. “I’m anxious to see where this date is.”
“It’s not a date.”
I tsk. “Nuh-uh. That’s for me to decide.”
WE END UP TAKING A blacked-out Mercedes Benz, with every window tinted to the point where you can’t even see inside through the windshield. The privacy allows me to stare out the window, watching the world pass by as we drive. It’s been so long since I was able to just exist that I almost forgot this feeling.
Kage stays quiet for most of the drive, genuinely looking like he might turn around a few times. I glance over at him a few times, and when he can tell I’m getting anxious, he reaches over and covers my hand with his own.
“We’re going to where Vladimir Mikulov is being held,” he confesses.
I wrack my brain to try to figure out where I’ve heard that name before. “Do I know who he is?”
“You should. He’s one of the men who ordered the hit on you. Dmitri’s right hand man, if you will.”
“Oh.” I turn my attention back out the window. “And why are we going there?”
“To kill him.”
His words come out so naturally, like he’s talking about the weather or the stocks he bought and sold today, but they catch my attention and hold onto it like Velcro. I whip my head towards him, feeling the adrenaline coursing through me already, and he holds up one finger to keep me from saying anything.
“This isn’t what I wanted for you,” he points out, “but if it helps you defeat your demons, then fine. But you have to own it. You can’t retreat back into yourself when you start to regret the things you’ve done; guilt is a dangerous bitch, but so is this cold, lifeless corpse that you’ve become.”
I elbow him in the arm, scoffing playfully. “You’re lecturing me on feelings? You’re so cold that you’re completely incapable of love.”
“That’s not true. I love a lot of things.”
“Name three.”
He keeps his eyes on the road in front of him as he lists them out. “I love feeling powerful. I love the feeling of my knife as it slides through flesh. I love watching blood pour from my enemies.” He looks over at me and smirks in the way that always manages to melt me. “And you.”
The breath is sucked straight from my lungs as he turns back to the road as if he didn’t just drop the L word while we’re on our way to turn someone’s insides to minced meat. And he knows exactly what he did as he stares out the windshield with the utmost confidence.
So, I do what I do best, and throw him a curve ball. “That was four. I asked for three.”
He glares at me, his amusement evident, and with my tongue pressed against my cheek, I shrug.
Checkmate.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT I expected when Kage told me we were on our way to kill someone, but it definitely wasn’t this. He takes my hand and leads me down the stairs of an abandoned building, careful not to let me get hurt.
“There’s a rusted part of the stairs right there,” he says. “The metal will slice right through your skin.”
As we make our way down, I feel my heart start to race. The bottom of the stairs leads to a dark hallway with only one lit room, all the way at the end. Moisture covers the floor and smells like mold and mildew. The sound of Kage’s loafers bounce off the walls with every step he takes.
“You’re sure about this?” he asks, stopping outside the room. “Because you can still change your mind. I’ll take you home right now.”
I bite my lip and nod. “I’m sure.”
He presses a kiss to the top of my head before opening the door and walking inside.
An older man is chained to a chair in the middle of the room, his head tipped back awkwardly as he sleeps. Roman and Cesari are both seated on a table, legs dangling, as they mess with their phones. When they look up to see Kage and me, however, they have completely different reactions.
“The fuck is she doing here?” Ces growls, while Ro just smirks.
Kage levels him with a single look. “She does not concern you, Cesari. Make that mistake again, and it might be you in the chair.”
Ro holds back a laugh while Cesari goes deadly silent, choosing to watch me with a disgusted look on his face. I have no idea how that man is single, with all of his wonderful qualities.
Kage crosses the room with confidence before grabbing the feeding tube and quite literally ripping it out of his face. “Time to wake up, asshole!”
Vlad startles awake and his arms strain against the chains as he tries to ease the pain, but it’s no use. He’s trapped. Kage rips out the IV attached to his arm and tosses the pole into the corner of the room.