Page 127 of Crimson Flames

“You are right; he is my son. Our son.”

“How are we going to face this?” I ask them both even as the emotions rolling through me threaten to take me down a rabbit hole. I refuse to let them though. Fighting for my family means I need to keep a clear head. It also means I need to activate part two of my plan.

“Together,” Boris answers firmly just as Nessa takes my hand.

“Together,” she repeats.

“Together,” I echo, hitting send on a message that I can only pray does exactly what we need it to do.

We follow Kai’s tracker all the way to the airport. Despite breaking every traffic law known to man, Nessa makes it to the runway just in time to watch the plane take off.

As the small dot goes up in the air, floating over the water in mere minutes, Nessa begins to lose herself in a way I fear we will never come back from if we are not able to get him back soon.

Nessa’s phone pings with a message as Boris calls to see if we have any contacts whose planes we can use here. She turns it to us, her face going pale.

Let’s play a game, Little Doll. Meet me at the place where I warned you that crossing me would ensure you lose everything.

Chapter 50

Taunting Nessa with the location of my final and most advanced camp did not go as planned. I thought these kids would be loyal to me. I have fed them, housed them, and guided them for most of their lives, yet Nessa’s friends still found a way to get them on their side.

Not only that, but I cannot find Sullivan. He’s been unreachable for the past two weeks, and I am beginning to worry if someone got to him.

My hope is that he is there when we arrive back as he tends to have a two-week rager here and there.

I might kill him when he shows up again.

Sighing, I look over at the passed out kid sitting across from me. His hair is longer than I remember, his skin slightly tanner. He looks healthy, well taken care of, and that has a smile forming on my face.

At least something went right.I knew this little shite of a kid would come in handy at some point.

“You did good, kid,” I say as he begins to wake up. We’re close to landing back in Ireland, just a few minutes from my home.

“What?” he asks groggily, trying to process the scene around him.

I laugh as if he doesn’t know. “You were the perfect bait tonight. I never thought you would fight me so hard there, though. Did you need to put on that much of a show for the white-haired one?”

I can see as the pieces begin to connect for him, his eyes widen as reality sets in. “You kidnapped me.”

I chuckle, leaning my chin on my fist. “No, I came back for you. Just like I promised I would.”

Kai settles back in his seat, looking out the window.

“Ireland?” he asks as he takes in the land before us.

I nod. “I always wanted to bring you here. I told you we were alike and I meant it.”

He stretches, as much as he can anyway, spreading his legs wide. I made sure he had enough room not to feel too cramped during the ride. I couldn’t dare hurt my last asset, and definitely not my most useful one.

I knew one of these insolent brats would bow to me one day, and the leaders are always my favorite to manipulate. I want to know everything. How he got them to care for him and accept him into the fold, what meetings he was part of.

Maybe, if he knows enough, I can still take the children back to resell them. This is all coming together perfectly.

“How close did you get to them?” I ask, ready to hear everything he did for me.

A blank stare meets my eyes. “They adopted me, so I would say I got pretty fucking close.”

I grin. “I only wish I could have seen their faces when they found out you were gone. A car chased us all the way to the airport, we barely made it out.”

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