Despite the gnawing anxiety in my belly about what tonight might bring, I really did want to hear him out. Foolishly, I supposed, I was clinging to the thread of hope that there was a good reason for everything he’d done. That he hadn’t tried to kill us, and that he wasn’t using me like a fucking weapon to further his own agenda.
Slim chance, I know. But a chance, nonetheless.
21
The restaurant we had arranged to meet at was really only a five minute drive from our hotel, but we took a roundabout route to get there, as one can never be too careful when dealing with spies and magic. By the time we arrived, we were almost half an hour late already, and my palms were sweating like crazy.
“Deep breath, Kitten,” River advised me, placing a comforting hand on my knee as we pulled into the valet in front of the restaurant. He’d hired a swanky black Maserati and was dressed in his usual impeccable suit. He was unbelievably sexy, but I was too far gone inside my head with worry to fully appreciate the view.
Cole had arrived separately on a motorcycle so that we would have two options for a getaway vehicle if we needed it. I could already see him waiting for us near the entrance, decked out in his faded black jeans, motorcycle boots, and dark gray T-shirt with a leather jacket over the top. Seeing him dressed like that broke me from my anxiety briefly. It was such a fuck you to the ritzy restaurant, and it was so Cole.
“You good, love?” River asked, tipping my face gently toward him with a fingertip under my chin. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I’m fine,” I reassured him. “Just... nervous, I guess. Let’s just get in there and rip the Band-Aid off.”
River held my gaze with his steady golden eyes for a moment longer before nodding tightly and getting out of the car. I took the extra moment as he came around to open my door to suck in another deep breath.
You can do this, Kit. You’re tougher than this. Just listen, keep your cool, and don’t blow anything up. You can do this.
My door clicked open, and I swung my legs out, taking River’s warm hand with my own to stand from the low car seat. My dress and stiletto heels didn’t make it an easy task to get out of a Maserati, but I was no novice.
“Vixen,” Cole greeted me when we reached him under the ivy-covered entrance way. “You look fucking unbelievable.”
A laugh cracked through my panic, and I gave him a grin. “Thanks, Cutie. You look hot yourself. You both do.” For a brief moment I ran my gaze over the two of them appreciatively and considered what I might do with them both later as a reward for this shit show with my adoptive dad.
“Shall we?” River prompted, trailing a light hand down my back and making me shiver as I took the lead and stepped inside the restaurant. The dress I was wearing was one of my favorites, and as I’d dressed at the hotel, I’d realized how much I missed getting dressed up for Fox missions.
The soft black fabric with intricate geometric panels of sheer black mesh that made up my cocktail dress felt like armor. It hugged my curves beautifully all the way to the knee, with a tasteful split at the back making it possible to move. The neckline was plunging, and before we’d gotten into River’s borrowed car, he had given me a black velvet choker necklace that matched the whole outfit perfectly.
A gift, he’d told me, for missing my birthday. Evidently Vali’s little trip into the Louboutin store had not gone unnoticed. The choker was exquisite too, encrusted with black diamonds and weighing heavily enough that when I moved it felt like a firm hand around my neck.
“There he is,” I breathed, spotting my adopted father across the room instantly. He was alone at the table, but I easily picked his two agents out as they hovered nearby like vultures waiting to feast on a carcass. They weren’t anyone I recognized from Omega Headquarters, but I knew full well how massive the organization was, so that didn’t shock me.
What did shock me was how awful Jonathan looked.
He’d always been a distinguished gentleman, with salt-and-pepper hair and immaculate grooming, but now he looked old. Like he’d just aged ten years in the past three weeks since River and I had overheard his damning phone call.
“Jonathan,” I greeted him in a cool voice as we reached the table he sat at. He stood politely but made no move to hug me or anything. Not that we’d had that sort of relationship to begin with, but the air between us crackled with tension until I took my seat.
Both Cole and River joined us at the table, and Jonathan gave them a pointed look.
“They’re staying,” I snapped, already pissed the hell off that he expected them to wait with his agents. “What you did concerns them just as much as it does me.”
Jonathan gave me a defeated look and sighed heavily. “Fine.” He waved a hand to the waiter to bring more settings, as the table was only set for two.
“Would you like to order?” he offered, indicating to the menu in front of me, and my stomach lurched. I doubted I could keep food down if I tried.
“We’ll just get drinks for now,” River answered for me, “until we see if this is worth sticking around for.”
My dad’s mouth tightened and his nostrils flared, and I waited for him to put River in his place. But he must have already realized his status as Director Pierre, owner and founder of the Omega Group, meant nothing here. We were not subject to his authority, so to try and assert it would be nothing but a waste of breath.
Or... that’s what I hoped he had realized as he made a clear decision to keep quiet and let my Alpha order us a bottle of wine.
No one spoke while the waiter hurried away and then returned with the bottle River had selected. He opened it, then poured a small drop for River to taste, but my British lover simply waved a hand to say it was fine.
After what felt like the slowest pour of wine I had ever seen in my life, the waiter left the bottle with us and disappeared once more.
“Kit—” Jonathan started, but I cut him off.
“Jonathan, I am about two seconds away from snapping and telling you to go burn in hell,” I told him, my throat tight with tension. “So think really fucking carefully before you lie to me.”
“Kit,” he sighed, his shoulders drooping. “I wouldn’t lie to you.” I snorted, and he corrected, “I mean, I wouldn’t lie to you now. Clearly I have already done so in the past.”
“Clearly,” Cole muttered, and Jonathan speared him with a withering glare.
“Let me start,” Jonathan continued, turning his wrinkled eyes back to me, “by saying that it is not what it must seem like from where you’re standing. I made some mistakes in hiding my agenda from you, Kit, and for that I cannot tell you how sorry I am.”
“You’re sorry you got caught?” I frowned. “This is not a great start, J-dog. I have to be honest. I was hoping for something more along the lines of ‘I’m sorry I tried to have you all killed. Twice.’”
“I didn’t try to have you all killed,” he retorted, his mouth tight with frustration. “I knew you needed a little bit more motivation to figure out your healing powers, and after seeing it work on Dragomir, it was clear what was required to have you choose and change your guardians.”
“Right,” I snapped, taking a sip of my wine with a shaking hand. “So you’re admitting to being behind the car bomb and the crash in Seattle?”
“You already asked this, Kit, and I already admitted it.” Jonathan sighed, giving me that look that parents give their kids when they’re being facetious. That look made me furious.
“And Vali?” I asked. “You deliberately fucked around and didn’t fetch help, just on the hope that I’d work out how to heal someone?” He gave a short, sharp nod, and I needed to put my wine glass down before it broke under my clenching fingers. “What if I hadn’t been able to do it? No other Ban Dia in four hundred years has been able to heal others. What made you so sure I could?”
Jonathan shrugged a bit helplessly. “You’re different.”