Page 40 of Crimson Flames

Boris: You are already helping by being there for her. Let me know if the two of you need anything.

Kai: *thumbs up emoji*

I set my phone down on the desk as Cillian walks, or rather stumbles, through the door.

“What is it?”

“Ronan shot Nessa.” Just like my son, I am not one to beat around the bush.

Cillian’s brows furrow as he all but falls into the chair in front of me. His fingers massage his temples as he processes the information. Shock and horror are written on his face as he starts mumbling that he should have killed him over and over again.

I can see his panic beginning to rise as he pulls at the length of his hair. I do not know how to handle emotions well, so I go with giving the facts so that we can find a way to keep moving.

“Kai told Alexi, who just told me. He also told me it was up to us to tell Nessa.”

“What?” Cillian asks, shaking his head. “Why can’t he do it?” Tilting his head back he holds up his hand. “Nevermind, dumb question. She should hear it from us.”

I nod in agreement. As much as I wish I was not the one to upset her further, it will be best received by those who care for her most. Which my son understands well after everything he and Evie have been through.

“Feck, this has been a shite week.” Cillian says, his accent thickening in his anger. I would chuckle if the situation were not so infuriating.

“Should we tell her now?”

“Might as well get the shite storm over with. What could possibly be next?”

I brace myself for his reaction as I tell him the rest.

“I was also informed there are more training camps full of kids.”

Cillian looks up at the ceiling, appearing to have a conversation with himself in his head. Then, he stands up so abruptly that he knocks the chair down behind him and starts to pace.

“Yeah, okay, this sounds about right. So basically we thought we had just taken one giant step ahead, only to find out that we are actually a mile behind them.”

He kicks the chair on the ground, sending it hurtling to the wall with a crash. I allow him the time to work through his feelings the way he needs.

I do not know what to say to alleviate his anger because he is not wrong. This is a huge setback, and the look on Alexi’s face said it all. We are nowhere near done.

Thankfully, we can work here and maintain all of our other organizations and businesses, but we will need to plan a trip back to Russia soon. Our ground soldiers cannot go long without seeing us, or it creates instability.

Cillian makes an annoyed sound as he gets to his feet.

“Let’s feckin’ get this over with.”

I stand and follow even though I do not like this at all.

I am happy to see Nessa is awake when we step inside, but Kai immediately knows something is wrong.

“Are you sure?” he questions, looking between us and Nessa. “Don’t upset her.”

Nessa looks at us warily. We quickly relay what Alexi told me, taking the time to be gentle but direct, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate being handled with kid gloves.

Her face is full of shock as she stares at us in silent horror. She opens her mouth to say something but begins to hyperventilate until Kai reaches out and hands her a Twizzler. She looks at it skeptically, but he shrugs.

“They help me feel better.”

Taking the red candy in her hand, she bites into it.

“This is disgusting,” she says, looking like she wants to throw it across the room. “How do you eat these every day?”

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