Page 28 of Beautiful Vengeance

“If we’re having a group hug, I want in,” a voice said from behind them.

Chloe sauntered in wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt that readI love a good bang, her blond hair plaited in a long braid. Kiyomi lifted an arm to invite her in and they all chuckled as they did a group hug. “What did we find today?” Chloe asked, the scent of her mint gum wafting in the air.

“Some of Kiyomi’s relatives in Japan. I’ve been looking into everyone’s families, trying to find anyone who might be a surviving relative.”

“Yeah? Cool.” She chewed her gum as she studied the screens in front of them. “What about you and Megan?” she asked Amber. “Any luck finding your relatives?”

“Still trying to track down our long lost aunt. I’m down to eleven possible leads. It’s tricky to ask the women on my list what I need to know without giving away anything sensitive about our backgrounds.”

“If anyone can do it, it’s you,” Chloe said.

“In theory, yes.” Amber swiveled in her chair to face them, an annoyed expression on her face. “A second cousin I’d contacted took it upon herself to reach out to one of the women on my shortlist of suspects.”

“Why?” Kiyomi asked, immediately suspicious. “Just being nosy?”

“Not sure, but I’m keeping close tabs on her. She doesn’t even know me, has no way of verifying anything I say, yet she drops everything to help track a possible distant relative down?”

“Maybe she’s a busybody with nothing else to do,” Chloe said, jaw working as she chewed her gum. “Or maybe she’s just really nice and actually wants to help.”

Amber’s expression said she didn’t believe that last part one iota. “I’m watching her, just in case.”

Chloe nodded. “What are you gonna do if you find your aunt?”

“Get closure.”

Kiyomi didn’t blame her. The rest of them hadn’t had any immediate family to take them in after their parent or parents had died. For Amber and Megan’s aunt to give them up to avoid inconvenience to her own life was beyond shitty, even if she hadn’t realized what would become of them.

“And what about Rahman and the Architect. Anything new there?” Chloe asked.

“Rahman’s in the wind again,” Kiyomi said, unable to stem a surge of frustration. “Still no solid leads on the connection between him and the Architect. I’ve racked my brain and I can’t think of anyone who it could be.”

Chloe nodded, then her expression brightened as she turned her attention to the first screen. “Now this is more like it.” Her eyes gleamed as she studied the figures. “How much money’ve we got now?”

Amber laughed. She’d been secretly funneling funds away from human traffickers, terrorists and other criminals they’d tangled with, hiding it all away in various accounts in the Caymans, Bahamas and Switzerland. “More than enough for each of us to walk away from this and live in luxury for the rest of our lives.”

Since Kiyomi was good with numbers, she and Trinity had been helping Amber manage the finances. While she didn’t know the exact total at the moment, it broke down to over twenty million US per Valkyrie so far—and counting.

The catch was, when this was finally all over, for security reasons they would all likely have to split up and go their separate ways under new identities.

An ache started up beneath Kiyomi’s sternum at the thought of never seeing her fellow Valkyries again. But if the only way to ensure their safety was to go ahead with the WITSEC-style program they’d been working on, then that was just how it had to be.

And there was someone else who deserved a share of the pot too. “What about Marcus?” Kiyomi asked.

Trinity blinked at her. “What about him?”

“We’re going to compensate him for everything, for having us all here, right?”

He deserved at least that. She’d seen him poring over his spreadsheets, juggling his finances and paying endless bills for repairs and the staff required to keep Laidlaw Hall from falling apart. Running a place like this cost a fortune and he’d already had to sell off over half the property when he’d first inherited it in order to pay off debts accrued against it.

“Yeah, of course,” Amber answered. “The six of us will talk about that when the time comes and come up with a number we can all agree on.”

Kiyomi nodded, satisfied. She would give him a share of her cut if she didn’t think the number was high enough. He was a private man, but she knew he’d come to like having them all here. She hated to think of him holing up here all by himself, shutting out the rest of the world and just going through the motions of living once they all left. After what he’d endured, he deserved to truly live again and find happiness.

Even if it wasn’t with her.

They all turned at a knock on the door. Kiyomi’s heart leapt when she saw Marcus in the doorway, cane in hand and Karas beside him. His gaze locked with hers, and her welcoming smile faded at the seriousness of his expression. “Something wrong?” she asked.

“We’ve been called to MI6 HQ in London,” he said, looking between her and Trinity.

---