Page 154 of Underground Prince

He nodded. “I was a new agent, fresh off the Farm. An inquiry was sent out within the department as to who was any good at poker.” Then, in a moment of the old Kai, he smirked, until he remembered himself. “Many replied they were awesome. A tournament was held to see just how great they were, because whoever was infiltrating the Saxons had to be so incredible they’d be employed as a dealer within the month. Become Sax’s right hand within six.” He shrugged. “The more Sax liked you, the more games he’d put you in charge of. High stakes. Family events.”

“You kicked their asses.”

He agreed, though without his usual cocky flair. “It’s how I funded my college tuition.”

“I don’t understand. All this sounds like you were primed to catch Theo red-handed in whatever you wanted to nail him in.”

“Therein lies the problem.” Kai sighed. “We could never see him do anything. Any information I received was secondhand, from someone else in the business. All Theo did was show up to games and sit. And play.”

My voice sifted through the small spaces between my teeth. “That sucks. Considering patrons of illegal games aren’t doing anything that you can arrest them on.”

“You’ve been reading up.”

“Had to.” Even through the sheets, my nails were cutting into my palms. “The minute you told me to get Trace to the drop site or else you’d arrest us, I read up.” I spat his words back at him. “The game itself isn’t against the law. The House taking a rake, the paid employees—all tax-free—is the problem.”

“Yes.”

“And that’s all you had on Theo? That he was the son of Gordon Saxon? You didn’t see him collect funds, or work the books, or do anything the House would do—”

“We had reliable information—”

“Screw your information. You had no evidence.”

Kai’s chair legs scraped against the floor. Cold air hit my eye teeth, and I realized I was snarling.

“I told you,” Kai said, calm, yet gripping the underside of his chair. “We had to stop Trace. He’s violent, unpredictable. Until we found this one hole…”

“Trace. Not Theo.” My lips trembled over my chilled teeth. “Never him.”

“It was all we had. And we needed to move before Trace accepted the largest amount of MDMA ever to be shipped into New York City.”

“And where is he now?” My question was innocent, but my chest throbbed with rage.

Kai clamped shut, the muscles of his jaw rippling under his skin.

“Gone,” I answered for him. “Escaped. Just like Theo. You’re left with nothing.”

“How did you know that?” Kai pushed off his knees. “Was he here? Has Sax visited you?”

“I’m—” I choked, but forced the rest out. “I’ll never see him again because of this. I’m left with a bullet hole in the place of the man I love. For nothing.”

“You can’t honestly think he’s innocent!”

“I’m smart enough to know that charging someone, to arrest him and throw him in jail, requires proof. And according to our justice system, you had no right—”

“You know we didn’t want him. He was never the collar—”

“No, he was a lackey. Just like me. Put us, your supposed friends, in mortal danger in order to arrest Trace on the only thing you could snag him on, drug dealing—”

Standing, spittle flying, Kai speared the air in front of me with his finger. “Trace is a sadistic son of a bitch and I’d put his head on a stake and call it fucking justice. But I can’t. So I’ve done what I’m able to do—get him on something, anything, and watch his house of cards fall. I won't stop. This will never end on my watch. So yeah, drug dealing to start. Four concrete walls to finish.”

“Kai, I…”

“That’s not my name.” He bared his teeth at me before pulling back. I wasn’t afraid, but I was careful in my regard.

“Scarlet, it’s really unfortunate, but you don’t know me. Don’t presume to predict my intentions.”

Kai sat down, folding his hands in front of him. His chin remained raised, not in defiance at me, but with pride.

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