Someone she hadn’t seen for years, yet one look at her felt like no time had passed at all. She still had the same hair, though a touch longer, same flawless skin, and her somewhat mischievous grin was the same. There was no denying who she was seeing—Luna doubted she would ever not recognize her own family.
Realizing that the television had stolen Luna’s attention, Belladonna didn’t demand she focus on her, but rather grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.
“Celebrity jewelry designer, and daughter of the renowned human activist, Carmen Santiago, was spotted having a late lunch with a mysterious new man. This news comes only months after Ariana announced her engagement to a wealthy businessman from …”
Luna tried to listen, or rather make sense, of what the woman was talking about, but it was too crazy to believe.
Though, was it?
Ariana had always had an interest in fashion, and if she had managed to make a career of it, that was amazing. But Luna didn’t understand how she knew Kit …
And why Kit had never mentioned that he was having lunch with her.
Just as Luna thought what she was seeing couldn’t get any stranger, there was another show of not just the pair of them, but Luna’s mother as well, and a man she didn’t immediately recognize.
“Oh dear,” Belladonna said, watching along with her. “I wonder what on earth Caesar and Nix have to talk about? Perhaps one of his infamous deals?”
Luna had always heard the saying, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ but as she stared at the video footage, she couldn’t find anything to say that described the confusion she felt.
And in the rapidly spoken words of the reporter, one stuck out.
California.
Was that what business Kit had out there? Was that why he was so secretive about that meeting?
She understood that she couldn’t see them—or at least had until now—but what confused her was why he had never bothered to mention it.
Was it really innocent though?
Just now, Belladonna had hinted that it may have been a business deal, and Kit had already told that it was for that reason that he was even going to California.
She didn’t think her heartbeat had ever sounded so loud in her own ears.
“I want to tell you a story,” Belladonna said, though Luna had yet to take her gaze from the television. “About a girl who life was not her own.”
It didn’t make sense.
Kit told her everything, even things she didn’t particularly enjoy. That was just who he was, honest to a fault, but why hide this?
What was there even to hide?
“Now this girl,” Belladonna went on as she twisted the gold Cartier bracelet on her wrist, “beautiful girl, she was, had become a pawn in a game she didn’t know she was playing.”
Squeezing her eyes shut to try and get her bearings, knowing she needed to focus on the present, Luna forced her gaze away from the TV. “What? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about a martyr—about a girl whose life was taken to give another power.”
She was speaking in riddles, Luna thought with an inward shake of her head. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought she was talking to Uilleam.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I need to—”
“One question before you go,” Belladonna said raising a perfectly manicured finger. “Did you ever wonder why you?”
“I’m sorry?”
“At some point over the last—how many years has it been?—you had to have asked yourself why the Kingmaker wanted you as badly as he did.”
Luna had wondered that very question since the second Uilleam offered to buy her. It wasn’t as though he knew her, or cared about the horrors she faced. Over the years, she’d had an up close and personal view of how callous he could be.
And because that was what he did, Luna thought, but didn’t voice it aloud. It wasn’t as though she were the first mercenary Uilleam recruited, and she knew she wouldn’t be the last.
So why did she feel anxious all of a sudden?
“I’ve learned a great many things about the Runehart brothers since my business began. And one thing I learned is that you never get in between them—there are often casualties in their wars.”
“You know something,” Luna said—it was the only thing that made sense.
“It’s not what I know that’s important, it’s what you don’t.”
“Then tell—”
“I think our business is concluded, Luna, don’t you? Unfortunate what’s happened to Mr. Kanekov, but I would wager you’ll find your way soon enough. But I do have something for you, because I’m sure it bugged you nearly as much as it bugged me. I finally found the owner of the warehouse I’ve been asking you to track down.” Belladonna’s gaze didn’t stray from Luna’s as she said, “I’m a bit surprised really, that Uilleam was willing to buy the place instead of having it put in someone else’s name—but I’m also sure he didn’t intend for anyone to filter through the shell companies under his employ.”
There was a dangerous thing about fear and doubts. Sometimes they could be ignored, pushed aside because the worries were unfounded, but other times it only took the smallest bit of information to make those doubts morph into something bigger.
Something like suspicion.