The Fortunates (Unfortunates #2) (14 page)

“It is particularly serene this morning, isn’t it? It’s nice to finally get some fresh air.” John sighs, inhaling deeply. “I haven’t felt it in my lungs since Kathryn’s death.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Kade tells him, his voice even and, dare I say, compassionate.

“Thank you. It has been particularly hard on the children, but it’s for the greater good.”

I frown. The greater good? John turns his kind eyes on me and my frown dissipates. There’s something in his stare…something
knowing
. He smooths the palm of his hand over his slicked hair.

“That’s a lovely dress,” he says, leaning forward. “Kathryn had a similar one except hers came with a
secret ribbon
.”

My heart stutters. “Excuse me?”

“A secret ribbon,” he repeats with a confident nod of his head.

The Secret Ribbon
. Surely he’s not referring to Oliver’s code name for our rebellion?

“You’re—”

“I hope you received the gift I sent this morning,” Kade cuts in, pinning us both with a warning glare.

I swallow hard and glance over my shoulder at the table of Fortunates behind us. They sip at their orange juice and watch us excitedly. Right. Now isn’t the place to discuss such a sensitive topic.

“Yes, we did. Thank you. We’ve reached our Unfortunate quota for the month so Amir will be a great help. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting the replacement so soon.”

“You never would have received it if it was left up to my brother, but I’m a man who pays his debts.”

John’s lips curve with a sad smile. “April’s death isn’t your debt to carry and neither is Kyle’s, so your bag of jewels will be returned to your house immediately.”

“I’m sorry,” I slip in. “Kyle? April?”

I’ve never heard these names before. A thin sheen of sweat bubbles along John’s forehead and he reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket.

“You met Kyle when Vince ordered you to gun him down in my foyer and April…” He retrieves a handkerchief and pats his forehead. “April was our youngest kitchenhand. She died in the early hours of the morning after succumbing to injuries left by Master Vince.”

A sinister chuckle chills my blood as it slices through the air and kisses my skin. Goosebumps spring along my collarbone and that’s when I feel cool fingertips sweep against my shoulder. I shudder and pull away as Vince slides up next to me. He poisons the air, leaving a bad taste at the back of my throat.

“April? Yes. She was a clumsy little thing. Truth be told, I barely touched her.”

I peer sideways at him. I used to think Kade was terrifying, but he has nothing on his brother. They look alike, but Kaden is infinitely more beautiful. Though Kaden spends most of his day frowning, there is life to him. There’s an unfathomable magnificence that makes my heart ache.

Kade is the lion his family boasts to be, but Vince, well, he’s a hyena.

“What’s the matter, Anna? You look ill.”

I turn my head to Kade, whose angry eyes burn holes through his little brother before flicking to me.
Can we go?

He nods his head at my silent question and proceeds around the table, buttoning his jacket. With Vince next to me, Kade feels like he’s a world away. Each step doesn’t seem to bring him close enough, fast enough.

Vince’s scent swirls around me as a gentle breeze blows. The bourbon in the air is thick, tainted by the smell of smoke.

“It was nice to see you, John,” Kade says, closing the distance between us. “Unfortunately, we can’t stay.”

He slides his hand around my bicep and gently tugs me along with him, pulling me out of his brother’s sickening aura. Away from Vince I can breathe without worrying that the air is poisoning my lungs and infecting my bloodstream.

“You can’t hide in your room forever.” Vince snickers, turning around.

Is that what he thinks I do in there? He thinks I hide? I clench my teeth as irritation prickles up my spine and warms my head.

“What is your problem?” I hiss, shrugging out of Kade’s grip. “Why do you insist on ruining my life?”

Vincent’s dead eyes glimmer with excitement. Finally. I’ve given him the reaction he wanted. I feel stupid for caving. I feel stupid for letting him burrow under my skin, but what happens when you fill a balloon with too much air?

“Ruining your life? Baby,” he teases, catching my chin between thumb and index finger. I slap his hand out of the way. “I haven’t even started.”

“I’ve done nothing to you,” I point out, ignoring the sound of Kade snapping my name between his angry teeth.

“Some things aren’t about you,
Unfortunate
,
”
he answers quietly, glancing over my head. “Some of us have other scores to settle.”

“If you have a problem with your brother, leave me out of it.” I swallow my pride. “Vince…
please
.”

“Ooh.” A cruel smirk twitches at the corners of his lips. “Say that last bit again.”

I scowl at him. He’s not taking me seriously. Why would he? Why would a single, desperate plea deter his sick mind from ruining everything Kade and I have achieved? I just want him to stop.

“If you’re going to kill me, kill me,” I say, slumping my shoulders. “Stop dragging it on. I’m tired.”

He leans in. “Maybe I’m waiting for the perfect moment—a moment when your death will have the biggest impact.” He snatches my hand and sneers down at the ring Kade gave me. His oily, black irises bubble with hatred and disgust. “Your wedding day, perhaps. Or the day you birth your first child. Who knows?”

A cracking shout startles me and I snap my hand back in time as Kade slams into Vince and they crash to the ground. My heart spears into my throat as they fumble. Cursing, John Milano steps in, grabbing Kaden by the shoulders. John rips Kade off of a laughing Vince, who spits blood into the grass. Raking my fingers through my hair, I look over my shoulder. The field is quiet.

Dead quiet.

Despite the crowd of people, not a single sound is made. They watch us, their eyes wide and excited—some fearful. At least they got the drama they wanted.

Pushing himself to his feet, Kade rubs his fist and smooths the palms of his hands over his jacket. Vince massages his jaw and chuckles to himself, exposing bloody teeth.

“You’re going to regret this moment,” he warns us, sneering at Kade and me. “Until my death, not a day will pass that you don’t glance over your shoulder in fear of me. I swear it.”

Whirling on his heel, Kade scoops me up in his arms and throws me over his shoulder. My head spins and I grunt, digging my elbow into the nape of his neck.

“You’re going to carry me over your shoulder? Really?” I hiss, struggling against him. “Kade, people are watching.”

He doesn’t utter a word. Naturally. When we reach the back steps, I stop fighting him and let him carry me through the house. Unfortunates avoid us, their eyes cast down and away from the beast that storms by, his powerful steps thundering along the ground.

Kade doesn’t put me down until I’m safely in my room. I barely turn around before he demands I “stay here and lock the door.”

I place my hands on my hips. “Where are you going?”

“Out.”

I jump as he slams the door and I wait…I don’t know what for. I guess I wait for him to return.

He doesn’t.

Huffing, I storm across my room to the window by the bar. Sure enough, Kade stalks from my house in the direction of his. What’s he up to? I pace my room. Four steps in one direction, three in the other.
I should follow him.
I shudder at the idea. On second thought, I never want to step foot inside the Sario house ever again.

Surprisingly, my stomach groans with hunger, and I hate that I didn’t eat when Kade told me to. I should have…I should have tasted the pancakes. Sighing, I drop against a white stool by the bar and the colourful beverages on the floating shelves above catch my attention.

Browns. Golds. Reds. Blues.

The drinks come in small and big bottles, murky or as clear as water. Surely one or two of these will quell my hunger until Kade comes back? I reach for the clear bottle on the left and pull it down. Freeing one of the glasses from the rack on the left, I fill it up and lift it to my nose.

I inhale, then flinch away as a strange, potent smell burns my nostrils. I pinch my nostrils together and squeeze, trying to scratch the itch.

I can’t believe people willingly drink this stuff. What did Kade say one of its benefits was? Forgetting your problems? I like the sound of that. Still pinching my nose, I open my mouth and swallow a big mouthful of the drink that eerily resembles water.

But tastes nothing like it!

I swallow and clench my teeth with a hiss as fire burns at my throat.

“Uck.”

I shudder violently and inhale, desperate for air to soothe the pain. The burn subsides quickly and I take another swig. And another. And another. I keep going until the glass is finished and my head is spinning. The alcohol makes quick work of me, loosening my muscles until I can no longer hold myself still. Concrete slabs hang from my eyelids and I giggle as I slip off my stool.

Now I get why Fortunates are obsessed with the stuff. It makes everything seem okay. It sucks the stress out and replaces it with nothing.

There is absolutely nothing in this world that can hurt me.

And I love it.

Chapter Fourteen

Kade

“Walk faster,” he snapped at Portia as she lagged behind him, her jaw clenching whenever she put her weight onto her feet.

She cast her gaze to the ground and nodded her head without complaint. “Yes, Master Kade.”

Underneath his shoes, rocks crumbled and twigs snapped. Kade remembered she wasn’t wearing shoes like he was. Exhaling, he slowed his pace so she could take her time as they marched across the sharp rocks.

It wasn’t Portia’s fault he was in such a mood. It’d been three hours since he left Nine in her room and that made him uneasy. Vince’s presence at the Sario house instead of the Milanos’ eased him a little, but the worry of someone hurting her when Kade wasn’t there to protect her still lingered. He hated that he had to baby her, to treat her like a weak female when she was anything but, but that was the way it had to be. It was a dangerous world and she was in the spotlight.

“I have something important to tell you, but I’m waiting for the opportune time,” Kade told Portia, slipping his hands into the pockets of his slacks and glancing over his shoulder.

“Yes, Master Kade.”

Kade couldn’t help it. A smile tugged at his lips. Nine would have demanded he tell her. She rarely made anything easy. Always snooping. Always curious.

“Make sure that envelope I gave you goes straight to Oliver Crow,” he ordered as he ducked under a low hanging tree branch at the back of the Milano residence. “It’s an order from the City.”

“Yes, sir.”

Portia stepped around him and he glanced at her feet. She lifted her heel off of a dry, pale leaf and a light smear of blood printed clearly against its smooth texture. The sight of it stabbed right through his heart and impaled his soul. All the bacteria it must be accumulating…all of the dirt and muck.

“When you’re done…” He scratched the back of his head. “Go back to my room, lock the door, and soak your feet in the bathtub. There’s a bottle in the cupboard on the top shelf. Put a few drops into the water. It’ll clean your wound and decrease your chances of an infection.”

Portia frowned. She frowned the way Nine did whenever he told her to do something she knew she shouldn’t.

“There are a few gems in the bottom drawer of my cupboard.” Kade added, retrieving his order coin from the pocket of his slacks. “Take them into town and purchase a pair of slippers from the Unfortunate store.” He handed her the coin with the Sario lion head on it. “If anyone approaches you, show them this. They’ll leave you alone.”

Portia reached out for the coin with her slender hand, but Kade pulled it back and clenched it in his fist.

“Do your best to keep these shoes from getting damaged. You’re only allowed three pairs in your lifetime and these will be your fourth.”

“I am grateful for your kindness, Master Kade.”

He flinched. Grateful for a pair of shoes to protect her beaten feet. She was worthy of more than that. He knew, Unfortunate or not, Portia was a woman of great integrity. She was a leader, a woman that could change the world if she was given the chance.

And she would be. It was only a matter of time before she had the freedom she deserved.

Kade handed Portia the coin and she turned around and stalked toward the Milano mansion, moving with purpose, her head held high.

There was a war coming and it finally made sense. He had to do it for Nine…

For their children…

For secret friends, like Portia, that he didn’t even know he’d made.

∞ Nine ∞

The door swings open and it takes me a second to register the shadow lingering in my peripheral vison. Blinking, I turn my head in his direction, only to end up with my cheek against the cool stone bar. I’m tired. My eyelids flutter and threaten to close but I fight to keep them open.

Space and time vanish for a moment, a chunk of time disappearing right in front of my eyes, and Kade ends up right behind me, his body brushing against my back.

“What’s the time?” I mutter, closing my eyes as he runs his fingers through my hair.

“Barely lunch.”

I groan.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure its evening somewhere.”

Is that amusement I hear in his tone? I straighten my spine and lift my head, not bothering to pull the locks of hair that stick to my sweaty face.

“You shouldn’t drink on an empty stomach,” he points out, pulling my hair into a ponytail.

I focus on the pads of his fingers as he drags them across my scalp. No one has ever done my hair before. Not like this. I close my eyes and my brain tumbles, pushing me off balance. Gasping, I rest against Kade and stabilise myself. Chuckling under his breath, he piles my hair on top of my head and I sigh as cool air kisses the back of my neck.

“I like drinking,” I murmur, a grin pulling at my lips. “No wonder you people rely on it so much and ban the rest of us from having it.”

Kade grunts at my reply and I sit forward as he walks around to the other side of the bar. Somehow, my hair stays bunched on the top of my head and I watch, tiredly, as he shrugs out of his jacket and drops it against the bar.

I grab my cup and glance down at its red contents. Why did I open so many bottles? Why was I hell-bent on finding a flavour I like? My stomach groans. They’re not mixing well.

I rest my face in the palm of my hand as Kade reaches out, his fingers gliding along the surface of the bar, and takes the cup. He glances at all the bottles I’ve opened.

“Find one you like?”

I shake my head.

Smiling, he pushes the glass to the side and plucks a fresh one from the rack. “These particular spirits are supposed to be mixed or taken as a shot. You’re not supposed to fill a standard glass with them.”

Says who? I scowl and sway on my stool. “You think you know everything. Don’t you?”

“Well, maybe not everything…”
Kade snags a golden bottle by its neck and twists off its cap. “…but pretty close.”

He tips his choice of poison into the glass, stopping just underneath the quarter mark. I watch, curiously, as he sets the bottle down and raises his glass. Kade swirls it in his large hand before lifting it to his lips and tipping it into his mouth. He swallows it without a grimace or a shudder and pins me with an arrogant stare.

I smile. “You didn’t fill it. That’s a waste of a glass.”

“Quality, not quantity. The better the booze, the less you have to drink.” He places his glass on the bar and moves toward me. “Fact.”

I turn on my stool as he rounds the corner, closing the distance between us. There’s an aching in my bones that wants him closer—that needs him closer.

I tip my head as his black eyes study me in delight.

“Is there a problem? Is my dress on backwards?” I tease, swallowing a giggle.

“A hard question to answer. Where is your dress, by the way?”

Frowning, I glance down and—oh. Heat rushes up my throat and pools in my cheeks. The only things covering me are thin, black scraps of lace. I peer up at him.

“Is this considered weird? Drinking in my underwear?”

Kade chuckles and the sound is more than I can handle. This whole time I was worried he’d come back as angry as he was when he left, but his steps are light and his tone is friendly. I like it when he’s like this. I like it when I’m like this. Confident—albeit alcohol-induced confidence, but still. It feels good not to be so worried all the time.

“Believe it or not, alcohol can make you do stranger things.” He extends his large, beautiful hand to me. “I’d say it’s about time we hose you off.”

A shower would be good. I take his hand and he eases me from the stool.

“Make the water hot. I need something to burn away the toxins seeping from my pores.”

Agreeing, Kade escorts me to the bathroom, turns on the shower, and peels the lace from my body. He joins me under the scalding jets of water and scrubs us both from head to toe. The shower offers me some mental clarity, a temporary relief of my spinning nightmare.

I try not to stare at Kaden as he runs the sponge over his shoulders and down his arms, but here’s nothing else to look at. So I lean against the cold, wet tiles and watch as he cleans his body.

“You should take a picture,” he says, running his fingers through his hair. “It lasts longer.”

I drop the back of my head against the titles and chuckle. “And what would I do with a photo of you?”

My lungs tighten as he steps around the stream of water and swallows the distance between us. His full lips pull at the corners, curving into a smug smile as he plants the palms of his hands on the tiles beside my head.

“What wouldn’t you do with a photo of me?”

Is he teasing me? I press my hands against his stomach and his lips part, his muscles clenching underneath my palms. My heart pounds in my chest and echoes in my ears, drowning out the sound of the jets of water as they crash into the tiles. Despite that, despite the nervousness that dances in the pit of my stomach, I slip my hands lower. As the tips of my fingers brush against his tidy pubic area, he grabs my wrists in one hand, stopping me from stirring his penis from its slumber.

Not that I even have to touch it to rouse it. The thought of me wanting to, the feel of my skin so close to it, seems to be enough. In seconds, it eagerly presses against my arm.

“Some might say taking advantage of a woman under the influence is inappropriate,” he murmurs, bending the arm he holds beside my head at the elbow.

His mouth is close…so close I could flick my tongue out and lick it. My brain whirls in my skull and I have never felt so confident—so empowered.

“What do you say?”

He glances at my mouth. “I’m contemplating your vulnerability at the moment.”

The steam in the air is heavy in my lungs and it’s hard to breathe.

“And do I look vulnerable to you?” I ask, licking a rogue drop of water as it rolls over my top lip. “Am I too intoxicated for you to play with?”

God, I hope not.

“I…” His words evaporate on his tongue, leaving him speechless. Maybe I’m not the vulnerable one. Maybe, for once, I am the wolf and he is the sheep.

I push off the wall and he frees my wrists. He tries to pull back, but I snag his thumb and tug his hand forward, planting it on my lower back. I hold him in place, slipping my arm around his neck. Kade clenches his jaw on and off, on and off, and his display of uncertainty makes my blood hum. I lift myself on the tips of my toes and his body tightens, turning to stone. I close my eyes.

“Twenty-seven,” he mutters as our lips graze.

My head feels as though it’s too big for my body and every tumble my brain takes threatens to throw it off balance. “Twenty-seven what?”

“I’ve killed twenty-seven people in total.”

My stomach sinks and I open my eyes. In his stare, I’m not sure what I see. It’s not pride, but it’s certainly not remorse either.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I want you to know the kind of person you’re marrying.”

“I know what kind of person you are.”

“Then you should also know that number isn’t going to stay dormant. It’ll go up. It’ll double. It’ll triple.”

With a war just on the horizon, I don’t doubt it. However, something deep down in my soul tells me he’s not talking about war. I ignore it.

“And so will mine,” I admit, gliding my hand across his forearm and up his bicep. The light, careless feeling floating around my body becomes dense. Less floating, more sinking. “But we do what we have to do…for the greater good.”

Kade grimaces. “The greater good? What does that mean anymore?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “But it’s all I’ve got.”

Silence falls. Only the sound of the water as it blasts the tiles fills the room. I don’t know how long we look at each other. Maybe lunch has passed? Maybe it’s time for dinner?