Page 34 of Twisted Kings

“Declan Kelly, Irish Mafia heir?” Now I was confused. Why would Declan lend Kyril his private jet? I thought the Irish and Russian mafias hated each other.

“Yeah. He agreed to help us rescue you. I think you need to speak to a doctor.” He looked worried, even though he was the one bleeding everywhere, not me.

“I’m fine.” At least I thought I was fine, a throbbing headache and massive holes in my memory aside. “Tell me what happened.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Being locked in the dungeon. It’s a blank after that.”

I needed to use a bathroom imminently, but moving a millimeter felt like a step too far. Every bit of me ached. Still, lying here on this bed wasn’t an option, so I dragged myself into a sitting position.

“Are you going to fill me in?”

“When we discovered who’d taken you after the fire on campus, which was Dario’s handiwork, by the way, we put a rescue plan in place.”

“You’re working with Declan Kelly now?” I scoffed.

“Only for this. He said he owed you, so he agreed to provide everything we needed, including a few of his guys. Dario provided the intel.”

My jaw dropped in surprise. “Dario helped you rescue me?” That made no fucking sense. He’d done nothing but spew vitriol in my face for weeks. Not to mention the fact he was the reason the guys all hated me.

An unwanted memory of Cassian’s face when he heard the audio clip sprang to mind, and I winced. It also reminded me there was a sex tape of me doing the rounds. Maybe it would be better for me if this plane stayed in a holding pattern for the rest of my days. I wasn’t sure I could face anyone again. Not knowing the whole world had seen my O face.

“We…talked. He explained why he’d been such a cunt to you.” Kyril looked awkward, which was so unlike him, my eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Thea, as much as I want to bury the bastard in an unmarked grave, you should probably speak to him. He was told things about you, back when you were teens. Things he believed. Things that altered how he felt about you.”

He wasn’t making any sense. Or maybe it was the fact my head felt like it was about to burst like a ripe melon.

“I have no idea what you’re on about,” I admitted.

“The night you and he were supposed to…” His voice trailed off as a note of satisfaction crept in.

“The night he and I…?” Oh. The night we planned to lose our V-cards together. Only it never happened and I ended up giving mine to Kyril.

Kyril smirked when he saw my cheeks heat. That crazy bastard. He knew damn well reminding me was a bad idea. It had been ages since we…Oh. A sudden thought struck me. We’d had sex the night of the Christmas Gala.Withoutusing contraception. I was supposed to visit a pharmacy for a morning-after pill. But Torrance kidnapped me and tossed me in the dungeon.

“So that night back when you were teens,” Kyril continued, oblivious to my mini-meltdown, “Torrance intercepted him and showed him some video footage of you.”

“Huh? What video?” I tried to concentrate on what Kyril was telling me, but all I could think about was the fact I might be pregnant.

“A video of you having sex with some other guys.”

My brow furrowed with confusion. I must have hit my head really hard. That made no sense whatsoever. I’d not had sex with anyone before Kyril.

“Torrance had deep-faked a video of you having sex. He showed it to Dario, who assumed it was true and that you’d been stringing him along. Torrance told him you thought he was pathetic, and he lost his shit. That’s why he disappeared on you. Torrance used it as a tool to recruit Dario into your father’s ranks. He’s been working for him ever since.”

“So Torrance showed Dario some lame video and instead of talking to me, he assumed it was real and decided I was the Whore of Babylon?”

Kyril nodded.

“Wow.” I didn’t know whether to punch Dario in the head for being such a stupid fuck or kill Torrance for ruining the one good thing I’d had back then. Except…wait.Oh yes.Killing Torrance had long been a life goal. Discovering he’d done something so cruel just made me want to kill him even more.

I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time to dig into old hurts. Not while I was dealing with so many other problems.

“He feels bad, Thea.” Kryil ground his teeth at the admission like it pained him to admit Dario had a guilt complex.

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