Nix. (Den of Mercenaries Book 3) (33 page)

But it paled in comparison to the way he felt the day he lost Karina.

That
had been a different kind of pain, one that had ripped him to shreds.

“Some thought me dead, now they think me immortal. It seems your little plan has only helped my business. Bad luck there.”

Elias smiled at him, as though indulging a child. “You’ve been trying to get my attention—you now have it.”

“Then how about you tell me what grievance I’ve committed against you that has turned you into my enemy?”

Elias shrugged. “I’m sure you’ve amassed a great many enemies, Kingmaker.”

“But only one concerns me.”

“It’s the cost of doing business, you understand. It’s nothing personal.”

Oh, but it had felt personal to Uilleam.

But he hadn’t gotten as far as he did by letting his emotions get the best of him, so despite what he felt, he swallowed his words back down before he said something that would end with more bloodshed than he intended.

“And now?” Uilleam asked resting his elbows on the table. “What’s stopping you from ending this now? You have the means and opportunity.” A flick of his wrist at the men around them, and the rather empty restaurant.

A cup of tea rested in front of Elias, a small silver spoon resting on the saucer next to it. He picked it up, adding a liberal amount of sugar before stirring, steam billowing with the movement. His smile was patient as he took a sip, reclining back as though he hadn’t a care in the world.

“I’ve always thought you were like an errant child, one that wasn’t quite sure what their place was in the world. Your attempt at playing God didn’t bother me—not until you went too far. You want to know what you did to incur my wrath? You interfered where you shouldn’t have, resulting in the death of the only man I’d ever loved. For that, I returned the favor.” Elias’ expression didn’t shift. “You asked why I haven’t gotten rid of you yet, it’s because I have no need at this current juncture.”

“Then why are we here?”

Something, though he couldn’t be sure what it was, was poking at the back of his subconscious, an errant thought that he couldn’t quite grasp.

Uilleam didn’t much care for the man’s insults—his father had said far worse over the years—but there was something about this exchange that felt … off.

“I’ve come to offer you a deal.”

“A deal?” Uilleam scoffed. “You must be truly desperate seeking aid from me.”

“Desperate?” Elias asked with a laugh. “I’m merely offering you the opportunity to continue as you are without further interruption. I see no reason why we can’t work together.”

“Unless we’re forgetting that you took something from me, yes?”

“An eye for an eye, Uilleam. You mustn’t live in the past—not if you hope to have a future.”

Maybe he would have his eyes removed, Uilleam thought as he studied the other man—have them taken out with a rusted spoon. Perhaps even dangled one of the severed eyeballs in front of his face so he could see what it looked like outside of his skull.

It was with that thought in mind that Uilleam said, “Tell me more of this deal.”

“A truce is a better word, I believe, but that’s neither here nor there. It has come to my attention that a deal was struck with Carmen Rivera. You’ve agreed to dispose of her husband, isn’t that right?”

Uilleam had enough practice schooling his features to ensure that he didn’t betray his emotions, especially when someone took him by surprise.

Very few knew about that arrangement, and fewer than that knew the details. He didn’t make it a habit to speak of the jobs he took to anyone other than the mercenary he assigned to it. He knew with absolute certainty that Luna didn’t know Elias and even if she had, she wouldn’t have spoken to him about it.

And from his understanding, Elias worked for Carmen’s husband, not her—so he would have an interest in keeping his client alive.

That begged the question, how did he know?

“I’m willing to make it easy on you by not informing my client that you’re attempting to kill him. Whatever plan you have in place can come to fruition without any hindrance from me.”

“What would you want in return?”

“The girl.”

“I know many of those.” But Uilleam had a feeling he knew who the other man meant.

“Carmen’s daughter—I believe you’re calling her Calavera these days? You keep a leash on her.”

Now, it was Uilleam’s turn to laugh. “This deal of yours sounds awfully one-sided. I’ve yet to hear how this would benefit me. Your offer to make killing Carmen’s husband easy? I have no need when my mercenaries don’t
need
easy, or have you forgotten how well they were able to get to you?”

Niklaus had found a name, and Kyrnon had successfully killed a business deal that would have garnered him millions.

That was all done while Uilleam had been
uninspired
. He was still warming up.

“Karina was a lovely girl, wasn’t she?” Elias asked. “She had to be to hold your interest for so long. Tell me, what did she think of you when you confessed who you were? I imagine she didn’t take it well. Her leaving you had made it all too easy getting to her. Perhaps you should have spent more time preparing her for your legion of enemies instead of—”

“I don’t deal in idle threats, Mr. Harrington, so know that should you finish that statement, I will have him kill everyone here,”—this he said with the slightest nod to a now smiling Skorpion—“before I take you to a room where I will spend the next hour learning what devices will make you scream the most.”

“Until my business is complete with Carmen Rivera,” Elias said with narrowed eyes, ignoring Uilleam’s words, “she is off-limits to you and to Carmen’s daughter. Luna Santiago died seven years ago, she needs to remain that way. Once my business is complete, do what you will.”

It sounded too easy, and Uilleam knew that the best things didn’t come without a cost.

“Are you saying that you will hand Carmen over?”

Elias nodded. “And the girl can exact whatever punishment she deems worthy, but only once our business is done.”

Interesting.

“And you?” Uilleam asked then.

“This will be the last time we see each other in person, I’m afraid. If we’re to meet again, it won’t end the way you expect. Think over my proposition, Kingmaker—you have twenty-six hours.” Elias stood, smoothing the front of his suit jacket as he buttoned it. “I’ll be seeing you.”

“Did you know,” Uilleam said before he could take more than a step away from the table, “you should never tell an alligator it has a big mouth until after you’ve crossed the river?”

Confusion played on the man’s face before he smoothed his features, fiddling with his ear a moment before answering. “Kingmaker.”

With that, he exited the bistro, taking his men with him until it was only Uilleam and Skorpion left sitting inside.

Folding his arms across his chest after tipping his hat up, Skorpion asked, “Did you get what you came for?”

“Of course.”

Skorpion’s brows jumped as he frowned. “He didn’t say shit.”

“It’s what he didn’t say that’s important,” Uilleam said, more to himself than his associate. “Carmen has something he needs—why else would he both be trying to protect her and offering to let her be killed in the same breath?”

He understood all too well how someone’s usefulness could disappearance at a moment’s notice.

Now, the question was, what did Carmen have that he wanted, and how could Uilleam get his hands on it first?

Carmen was far more important than he had originally given her credit—he just had to figure out why.

“Did learn something though,” Skorpion said with a grunt as he got to his feet, adjusting the knife and gun holstered at his waist.

“And what’s that?”

“He ain’t the boss.”

Uilleam looked from Elias’ abandoned tea cup to Skorpion. “How do you figure?”

“That question you asked him, he was about to answer, but he touched his ear before he gave it.”

He’d noticed that. “And?”

“He had a comm in his ear. Explains the lengthy pauses every time you asked him something—he was waiting to get the answers.”

Uilleam smiled.

Round and round and round they went.

He was eager to see where they landed.

* * *

“
I
could make
you into a queen,” Uilleam offered with a smile, even as he draped the string of diamonds around her neck, but where he thought he would find a look of eagerness, Karina was shaking her head.

“I’m not very interested in being a queen—and what
is
your obsession with monarchic titles? Is that why you’re called the Kingmaker?”

Despite all she said, his mind only seized on a few words. “Everyone wants to be a queen … why don’t you?”

“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” Karina said, glancing down at the delicate tattoo on her wrist, “but queens can die—I would rather be a legend.”

That almost made him smile. “A legend, why?”

This time, she did offer a quirk of her lips as she gazed at their reflection in the mirror. “Because legends never die.”

Uilleam snapped out of the memory as a blurred shape appeared in his peripheral a moment before the man sat in the seat opposite him at the fire.

Not just any man, his brother.

Kit.

The fucking traitor.

“I told them to shoot you on sight,” Uilleam grumbled as he looked away from the flames to his brother. “Yet, here you are.”

Kit shrugged, just a casual lift of his shoulder. “Stronger men than you have tried to kill me. If I wasn’t able to evade your pathetic excuses for security, I would be a dead man.”

“In a mood, still?” Uilleam asked. “Let’s reconvene in the morning—I don’t think I’m in the mood for your dramatics tonight.”

“Thoughts of Karina keeping you awake at night?”

There was genuine curiosity in Kit’s tone, but the question still made Uilleam frown. Thoughts of her were too fresh in his mind, and talking about her would only put him in a dangerous mood.

“If there was ever a time when I wanted you to stop talking, it would be now. Besides, where is your army?” Uilleam made a show of looking around. “The last time we spoke, you promised a
war
. Can’t have a war if it’s only you, can we?”

“I’ve only just learned my grievances with you were unfounded.”

Uilleam looked at him with mock surprise. “Are you actually
admitting
you were wrong about something? Now, I have to admit, I’m curious why you’re here.”

“You didn’t tell Luna about my involvement with her being handed to Lawrence Kendall.”

Uilleam may have been a bit drunk, but he wasn’t sure he was hearing correctly. “Is that what your
grievance
was? How on earth could you make it through counseling—your methods of communication are severely lacking.”

Now, there was a crack in the ever present mask Kit wore. “Let’s not act like you don’t make a living disrupting people’s lives.”

“But only on
my
terms. Luna would have found out the truth about her family in time—I had already accounted for that—but
your
actions caused things to go beyond my control.”

“There would be no reason for me to tell her considering I was trying to cover it up.”

Rubbing his brow, Uilleam squeezed his eyes shut. “What are you getting at?”

“If you didn’t tell her, as I’d originally believed, and I didn’t either—who told her?”

Uilleam’s hand froze.

Not because of what he was hearing, but the implications behind it.

Kit was right to ask the question.

Already, there had been very few that knew about his intentions for Luna, and those that had been left had been systematically picked off by Kit to bury the truth.

Who was left?

“I have a question for you,” Kit said before Uilleam’s mind could run rampant with ideas.

“Then ask,” Uilleam responded impatiently.

“Who told you that Karina was dead?”

Just hearing her name was like a fresh wound in his already blackened heart, but his mind also seized on it because as he’d contemplated an answer for the question he’d been asking himself, it snapped into place.

Karina had known.

She was one of few he confided in.

But that had been years ago.

Back when he had felt loved for the first time in his life …

Back when it had been because of her that Uilleam had even thought of double-crossing Carmen in the first place …

“No.” Uilleam didn’t feel drunk anymore, his mind was the sharpest it had ever been. “There was a body.”

His brother was thinking word may have gotten to him, but it wasn’t that simple. When he had learned of Karina’s tragic death, he was
disbelieving
.

He had refused to even admit it to himself before a body was found.

It had been her body that sent him careening down the abyss.

“A journalist, wasn’t she?” Kit kept on. “You once told me of the investigation that had spurned your interest in her. Death by the poison, belladonna, wasn’t it?”

Uilleam was on edge, though even as his brother spoke, he still refused to see what was directly in front of him.