Page 72 of Stars in Halo

The man who’d set her on her criminal path in the past and who had since ripped her children and mother from her.

The flyer landed on the grounds of House D’Hanna, the sprawling mansion looming like an ominous presence.

Katya stepped out of the flyer. Her brothers flanked her on either side, their menacing aura casting a shadow over her.

Memories of happier times as young kids clashed with the present reality of their betrayal and deceit.

‘After you,’ Korin grunted, pushing open the front door.

Katya marched beyond him, leading the siblings as their footsteps echoed in the now dusty, once grand courtyard.

The mansion’s interior was opulent and still foreboding, with cobwebs dancing on the roof and walls. It needed the mother of the house.

Katya’s mum was an immaculate house-proud woman, and to see her home in shambles cut deep.

A figure emerged from the shadows—a man of average height.

Yet despite his limited stature, his presence commanded respect and fear, and his eyes, set within a thick brow studded with diamonds, were piercing and judgemental.

He wore a traditional gold woven kaftan, which flowed around his lean, skinnier form than she remembered since they’d last met.

‘Welcome home, daughter,’ K’Toro D’Hanna drawled. ‘You helped us out of debt; we will be ever grateful for that.’

She walked up to the simpering man and, without warning, slapped him across his face.

‘To wriggle out of the arrears you raked up,’ she hissed into his stunned, reeling face, ‘you set House ALMQ’s sentinels on me, dragged my kids away while I watched and put your wife and my household up for ransom. What monster does that?’

K’Toro D’Hanna recoiled from the force of Katya’s slap, his hand moving to his stinging cheek.

His expression shifted from shock to fury, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

‘How dare you, child?’ he bellowed, his voice echoing through the hall. ‘After all, I have done what I have to keep this family afloat. You have no right to judge me, given you, too, are a delinquent just like us all.’

Katya stood her ground, her gaze unwavering as she faced her father. ‘How convenient of you to forget that you taught me to be so and pushed me to work as a pickpocket, burglar and thief. Any crime I’ve committed since leaving this freakin’ home was what I was forced to survive on my terms. I also never stole from the innocent again, only the guilty. But what you did was unforgivable. Putting our family at risk for your gain, using blameless lives as pawns in your twisted game. You give love a bad name, that’s for certain.’

K’Toro’s face contorted with rage, his fists clenched at his sides. ‘You were always a rebellious child, never understanding the sacrifices a father must make to protect his legacy.’

‘Fokkin shut it,’ she snarled. ‘My so-called father, the man who was supposed to safeguard and care for his loved ones, allowed my mother and children to be held captive for an indefinite time as leverage in some unknown mission. So he could wipe his gambling and loan debts and cosy up to a corrupt King. This betrayal cuts deep, and know that all you’ve done is slice through whatever remaining shreds of familial loyalty I had clung to.’

The brothers shifted behind her, unsure how to react to the heated confrontation between their sister and father.

K’Zito stepped as if to grab her, but K’Toro lifted a hand and recoiled, eyes flashing with age-old resentment.

Katya shot glares at all of them, bristling with outrage.

Realising he’d no leg to stand on, her father sighed with weariness, his mood shifting. ‘Katya, come in, eat a meal. Stay with us until K’Sumi releases your mother and the children. There’s not much more we can do prior to then.’

She jolted. ‘Wait? He just agreed to let them go. That’s why I came along with these losers, to plan how to retrieve them.’

‘We can’t yet,’ her father shrugged. ‘The King sent word to wait for him to tell us where they are. K’Sumi is holding them until his mission succeeds.’

Katya almost lost her damn mind, hyperventilating. ‘So he reneged on his promise to the Rider? Fokk that!’

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing and clenched her hands into fists at her sides, her eyes blazing with fury and fear.

‘We must find them,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘I won’t let them suffer for one more day because of your freakin’ greed and incompetence.’

She nailed each of the men in her family with a withering look. ‘You all should be ashamed of yourselves.’

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