But then Kage happened, and everything that came along with it. And being strong became the only thing that kept me alive. That helped me live through one day and to the next. I may have faltered, but I pushed through. And now, as a dead girl, I feel more alive than I ever did as the billionaire’s daughter.
I’m sitting on the couch, flexing my finger and wincing at how sore it is from constantly pulling a trigger over and over, when the sound of something breaking comes from Kage’s office. Beni and I both get up and rush in there to make sure he’s all right, but when we see the family photo on the ground surrounded by pieces of glass, I put my hand on Beni’s shoulder.
“I’ve got this.”
He nods and goes back to whatever he was doing, while I step inside the office, careful not to step on my glass.
“Kage?”
He looks over at me, and when he sees me in the middle of the mess, his eyes widen. He comes over and picks me up by my waist, lifting me over all the shards. When he puts me down, I rest my hands against his chest and look up at him.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
He forces a smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I’m fine. I just missed the garbage can.”
I hum and point to the total opposite corner of the room. “You mean the one that’s over there?”
He looks toward where I’m pointing and sighs.
Carefully, and much to his dismay, I go over to the photo and pick it up. It’s definitely older, taken with film and developed rather than printed like we do these days. A smaller, younger version of Kage stands front and center at the beach, dressed in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt and a grin from ear to ear. Behind him are a beautiful couple. The man is dressed in a black suit like Kage wears, with his hair slicked back and a pair of very familiar eyes, while the woman beside him is wearing a light-colored dress.
It looks like they just came from a dinner, and I can tell why Kage would hold onto such a photo. What I can’t understand is why it was able to take his mood from one-hundred to zero and why the frame is in pieces.
“Do you still have that T-shirt?” I joke, lightening the mood. “It’s definitely your style. You should wear it more often.”
He huffs playfully and snatches the picture out of my hands. “I’ll have you know that TMNT was all the rage when I was a kid.”
“You mean in days of yore?”
The glare he gives me is one that tells me he’s trying to be in a good mood, but it’s slipping. I walk over and tuck myself into his side, feeling content as he wraps his arm around me and the two of us look at the picture.
“I can see where you get it from,” I tell him.
He looks down at me. “What?”
“Your looks. You’ve got your mom’s beauty with your dad’s ability to look intimidating while smiling.”
As if he hadn’t noticed it before, he squints as he looks at the picture once more. When he’s done, he exhales slowly and puts the photo in his safe.
“Too bad he was a fucking liar,” he mutters.
My brows furrow. “Your dad?”
“Yep. The day we took Vlad, he generously filled me in on the fact that my dad was fucking someone else behind my mom’s back.” He goes quiet for a minute and then scoffs. “Dmitri’s fucking wife, of all people.”
I feel his pain, maybe more than he realizes. Finding out that your father isn’t the person you spent your whole life thinking he was is a hard pill to swallow. It makes you question everything else around you, because if something you were so sure about turned out to be a lie, how can you be confident in everything else in your life?
“I get it,” I tell him. “That’s really shitty of him.”
“You don’t even know the half of it,” he says, shaking his head.
I shrug. “I don’t, but I’m here to listen if you want to tell me.”
His gaze locks with my own, and for a minute, we just stand there, until the smallest hint of a smile peeks through. He breaks our eye contact and holds me close, rubbing the skin of my hip with his thumb.
“His actions were what kicked everything in motion,” he confesses. “Because of what my father did, Dmitri and some of his goons raped my mother. And because of the rape, my mother spent a year spiraling out of control before she finally committed suicide. Then when Dmitri finally got the chance, he killed him." He pauses to think for a moment. “I just can’t help but wonder—if he had kept his dick in his pants, would my entire life have been different? Would they still be here right now, having family game night at Raff’s and lecturing me on how I should be running things?”
I take a deep breath, letting everything he said sink in. “I think playing what if is a very dangerous game. One that has no winner. And with the world you live in, there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t have been killed anyway. That may sound harsh…”
“But it’s the truth,” he says. “Pissing people off was his specialty.”
Giving him a small smile, I rest my head on his chest. “All I’m saying is I don’t think you should let someone like Vlad and Dmitri ruin the memory you have of your father. Take it from someone who has the shittiest one of them all.”
He snorts, pressing a kiss to my hair. “Yours really is the worst.”
“Exactly, and allowing them to make you think your father is comparable to mine is letting them win, and that’s beneath you. Don’t give them that power.”
I grab his hand and lead him out of the office. While I tiptoe around the glass, Kage uncaringly steps right through it. As we pass by Beni sitting on the couch, I lean over the back of it.
“Would you maybe mind cleaning up the mess in Kage’s office?” I ask sweetly.
He smiles and turns to look at me. “You mean, you aren’t going to try slitting your wrist with the glass this time, Kamikaze?”
Taking my hand, I smack him lightly across the back of the head. “Not this time. But I’ll give you the heads-up if I ever plan on doing that again. Get you a front row seat this time.”
As he gets off the couch, he chuckles. “I appreciate it.”
Kage and I go into the bedroom and shut the door behind us, and before I can even reach the bed, he grabs my wrist and pulls me back into him. His gaze is intimidating as he stares down at me, but he softens when I reach up and kiss him.
“If you ever cheat on me, I’ll kill us all,” he warns. “You, the guy you’re fucking, and myself. I’ll make your antics look like a skinned knee.”
I giggle, knowing he’s telling the truth but also knowing he never has to worry about that. “You always say the sweetest things.”
“Saxon.”
Sighing, I put my hands on his face. “That will never happen. Not in this lifetime, and not even in the next.”
“Good,” he says, content with that answer. “Just know that if you do…”
“I won’t.”
And I mean that more than I’ve ever meant anything.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE things about Viola is her ability to make Kage go from laughing to an angry shade of red in record time. She throws her hands in the air as she once again isn’t getting the answer she wants from him, and he glares at me, as if silently saying this is your friend, you deal with her. I, however, am completely content with sitting here and watching this comedy show unfold.