Page 14 of Twisted Kings

I made the mistake of trying it once. Disgusting didn’t even come close. People in poor countries probably used that shit to build houses.

Kyril shook his head, exasperated, clearly over this conversation. As was I. The mold wasn’t doing anything for my hangover. I needed coffee, not penicillin. And more sleep.

“Take these and sit down while I make more coffee,” he snapped, throwing a packet of Panadol at me. “We need to talk about Thea.”

7

Milo

“You better wake Dario,” I observed.

“I threw a glass of water in his face. He’ll be here shortly.”

I smirked. While Kyril had accepted Dario’s version of events - much to my surprise - he sure as hell hadn’t forgiven him. I had a feeling that once we got Thea back, Dario might suffer a fatal accident.

The Italian had betrayed my angel, so he deserved all he got. Thea was sweet and perfect. If she’d been mine, there was no way I’d have believed anyone who told me otherwise.

My sympathy for him was non-existent. Whatever punishment Thea wanted to inflict on his sorry ass, I was down for. The more painful it was, the better. But that wasn’t important right now. All that mattered was rescuing my angel from the men who wanted to hurt her.

When Dario finally appeared, his eyes were red, his face haggard. Like he hadn’t slept at all. Guilt was a tough pill to swallow.

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked Kyril. I figured he had a plan. Knowing him, he’d been contacting all his allies ever since we learned who had taken Thea. My fists clenched as I recalled the footage of Thea being carried away, slung over that bastard’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

The van Torrance Asaro used to steal away my angel ended up at a small airfield 30 miles outside of Glasgow. The cameras around the airfield were easy enough to hack, and the van arrived there just before 2 AM. A flight to Palermo, Italy, left not long after.

“We rescue Thea.”

Landon nearly choked on his coffee. “What?” I ignored him, my focus on Kyril.

“Yes, I realize that, but we need a plan. I’ve done some digging. Francesco di Luca is dangerous. We can’t just walk onto his estate and ask for Thea. Assuming he’s taken her there.” Italy was a big country. Finding her would be like looking for a grain of rice in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

“Hang on, why are we talking about rescuing Thea? You do know she fucked me and Cass over, right?”

Kyril turned to Landon and glared, but to his credit, Lan didn’t back down.

“If you weren’t so busy wallowing in self-pity last night, you’d have heard Dario explain why there’s a sex tape now doing the rounds, and also why Thea was told to plant drugs in Cassian’s hotel room.” Landon shifted uncomfortably before throwing Dario a hateful look, which he didn’t see because he’d apparently fallen asleep.

“So Thea wasn’t trying to fuck us over?”

“No, you stupid fuckingmudak.”

The tension left Lan’s body, and he slumped back against the cushions.

“She still loves me!” He grinned, apparently happy at the revelation his one true love wasn’t a scheming whore. Then he frowned. “Does Cassian know this? He was pretty fucking annoyed when his father arrived last night.”

Furious would be a better descriptor. It had taken Cass longer to trust Thea, so hearing how she’d been ordered to plant drugs in his hotel room had really messed with his head.

“His father’s taken his phone away, but he still has the burner phone. We should carry on messaging him the usual nonsense in the official group chat, so Lucian doesn’t suspect anything, but for everything else, use his other number and stick to Telegram. I heard from him this morning and asked him to call me, but he didn’t read my last message. He’s probably asleep.” Cassian needed to know what we’d learned, so once we had a plan, I’d contact him.

“OK, we can talk to him later,” Kyril said with a nod. There was a knock at the door just as Dario stirred and opened his mouth to say something.

“Yeah. I’ll upload some more dick picks and cat memes to the group chat. That should show Lucian it’s business as normal.”

“Get that, Lan.”

Landon huffed with annoyance. “Am I your house bitch now? Fuck off.”

“Open the door, dickheads!” Eden’s shrill voice made my head hurt. The girl talked way too much for my liking, but we needed her help.

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