Page 53 of Savage Kingdom

It was brief, but I felt him kiss my cheek softly like he was happy. I complied with his demands. Gideon sat across from me. He wanted the truth? Well, if he wanted that burden, it was on him.

“I was eight years old the first time I was sold.” His eyes widened with surprise because this was not the truth he wanted. “Ivan wanted to run a pipeline through the Middle East. He offered money, countless favors, but the sheikh had all of that and more. What he did have were very selective tastes, and let’s just say a little girl that looked like winter with the youth of summer was his taste.” Gideon’s eyes were burning up, but I forced myself to look at him no matter how much it was killing me to go back to the beginning. “One night for one line.”

“Stop,” he said.

“He tied me up so I wouldn’t hurt him. My wrists were bound and my legs spread. My first time was with a man forty years my senior. His fingers dug into my bony legs, but that pain was nothing to what would come. He tore through me, making me cry in pain. My little body shook—I wanted todie. So vicious and violent, I didn’t even feel human. Thrust by thrust, he stripped me of my innocence, making me forget about my humanity. I was a little girl who begged for her parents. I begged for my mother, pleaded for my grandmother, I wondered whymyfucking father would sell me for one night.”

Gideon let out an audible gasp at my admission.

“Stop.” His voice was gruff.

I didn’t stop. “He had me from dusk till dawn, and he made sure to take his fill.”

Gideon got up and threw the chair across the room. “Stop.”

I didn’t even flinch. My heart was pounding in my chest, but one thing was clear now. I knew what my destiny was. I now knew what I was supposed to do to avenge not only myself but my babushka. It was time to make everyone pay.

“It doesn’t matter what I give you on Ivan because he’s dead, but before he died, he sold me to Yorovich.”

Gideon didn’t even look at me. I didn’t give him the chance to ask any more questions. I kept talking. He wanted the truth—I hoped it was sharp enough to cut him.

“The agent you were looking for was a double agent. His real name was Adrik.” He turned to me, his eyes shining with hurt. “I don’t know much, but I do know someone from your agency was helping Yorovich.”

“Tell me everything you know, and don’t fucking lie to me anymore.” He seethed. Part of the anger wasn’t even because I’d lied to him. He had to have known that all along. He played himself by turning me in.

Ignoring Gideon, I leaned my body forward, dislocating my thumbs, biting my lips so I wouldn’t cry out in pain. Gideon noticed when I pulled my hands out but waited to see what I would do. The door opened, and Hayes walked into the room. I looked at the camera and pulled my sleeve down, revealing myStattoo.

“I want to speak to Smith or Walsh. You have twelve hours before they come for me.” I fixed my thumbs, put my hands in front of my tilted my chin, and stood quietly while I waited for them to cuff me again.

Hayes looked at Gideon. “Let me guess, Walsh is your director.”

Gideon’s jaw was set, but he tipped his head, his form of admission.

Both men left the room angrily. My face was stoic as I stood there, thinking of all the moves I had made since landing in Chicago.

I went to look for Adrik because he had gone missing. He was an MI6 operative, but his true alliance was to the Sekt. He had discovered a link between someone in his government and Yorovich. My guess was that Yoro wanted to hit the Estacados from another angle since he couldn’t overpower them here in Chicago. Controlling London would be the first step. Now usually, this wouldn’t be a problem, but he’d excluded the Sekt from his plans.

The one thing the head of the Sekt hated above all was when people double-crossed him. I couldn’t prove it had happened, at least not yet, but giving him White’s head was a nice apology on my part for leaving Yorovich’s estate.

When I’d called Bas, I gave him the location of where I was staying. I’d also asked him to deliver a message to Damian. I knew Damian, and he would want proof of the carving. Like the pompous ass he was, he would demand Bas to get it for him, and in return, Bas would trade the picture for a vote. With his face, his background, his training, he was all but guaranteed a seat at the round table.

That’s how you killed two birds with one stone. When I called Damian, all I said was to be on standby because I would need his help soon. I hung up, and Bas was going to do the rest. Once he completed the task, our rendezvous point was my safe house in Sweden.

I believed things happened for a reason, and everything that was happening was predestined. I always knew I was destined for something bigger than myself, and love was not for someone like me.

I closed my eyes, remembering every moment with Gideon, knowing this was as close as I would ever allow myself to get with a man. I couldn’t afford to get attached to him or to anyone. I belonged to no man, but let all men have me. I was a whore who didn’t work for money, but favors and secrets. I lapped up their confessions then killed them with lies.

Taking a deep breath, I remembered his kiss, his touch, the way he felt like sins and blessings on my skin. I thought of last night, and when I exhaled, I let him go. In a few hours, Damian would contact the head of the CIA and MI6 and blackmail them. Unless they wanted their secrets exposed, they were going to have to let me go.

The good guys wouldn’t win, but justice would still prevail.

Laws were meant to be broken because governments were corrupt, and kingdoms looked out for their crown and not their people. There was no perfect system, and in the shadows was where I lived.

They forbademe from seeing Daphne. The orders came from high above, leaving me to wonder about whom exactly I was serving.

Savage were the nations that killed for their secrets. Savage the men who abided by their own rules. Savage were the kingdoms that abided by no laws, who lived in harmonic chaos.

In savage kingdoms was where my Petal thrived, and savage I already was. The only thing I needed was to be lawless.

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