Page 64 of Revenge

Great. Now I did have egg on my face. I lifted the napkin and wiped my mouth before throwing it onto the table.

“I think moving forward, we need to be honest with each other,” Kai began again.

The atmosphere was tense, “So if I tell you I had help, you’ll let me go?”

With a dangerous sparkle in his eyes, Kai replied, “Is that your way of admitting youdidn’twork alone?”

My shoulders slumped. I was so tired of the cat-and-mouse act.

“No.”

“You’re lying to me, Ava. I know you had a partner.”

Fear jetted up my spine, forcing me to straighten in my seat

Admit nothing. He’s bluffing.

Kai was now watching me with an intense look. He slowly shook his head and again I saw that flash of regret.

“What you did to my father was understandable, Ava. Men in this organisation understand an eye for an eye. However, as you know, we live by a code and there is a protocol that I must follow. If I don’t, I appear weak.”

“What does that even mean? You lose face if you let me go? It’s not that big of a deal.”

“It isn’t as simple as losing face, Ava. You committed a crime against a figurehead of the organisation and involved someone from the outside to assist you. That cannot go unpunished.”

“I said I did it by myself.”

“And I don’t believe you.”

“So, I’m to be punished for sending a sexual predator to prison?”

“He was the head of the family, Ava. A highly respected man in several countries.”

“Clearly, not behind closed doors,” I muttered. “And who do you look weak in front of? Nobody knows I was responsible,” I pointed out breathlessly.

“And it’s to stay that way. If the truth came out that Gerard was brought to his knees by a woman and a teenager, we’d become the laughingstock of the criminal world. And as for no one knowing, yes, it’s contained but some know it was you. And no, they do not knowwhyyou did it. Not the real reason anyway.”

“So,tellthem then. Let the whole world know what a lecherous bastard he was.”

“I can’t do that. There is too much at stake. The entire reputation of the Kinlan name would suffer. That would affect me and everyone who works for me. Men who have families to support. It could even endanger lives. If news of who my fathertrulywas came out, it would cause all the families that have supported us over the years to unpick everything we ever did. They would turn their back on us and I can’t allow that to happen. It would fuck with too many people.”

“But he’s dead. Why would they care?”

Again, Kai’s expression switched at my words before he replied, “Because I am now the owner of the Kinlan legacy.”

Closing my eyes, I felt weary. Like I had just suffered an information overload. Pushing my chair back, it scraped along the floor, the sound felt like nails down a blackboard. Turning from Kai, I walked over to the patio doors and stared into the darkness.

“You said you wouldn’t kill me,” I reminded him in a small voice.

Kai’s voice sounded behind me as I heard him rise from his chair, “No. I would never hurt a woman and you are too valuable to me alive.”

I felt his presence behind me as he approached and stood beside me.

“How the hell am I valuable to you? I’m nobody. No one.”

“We’ll come to that. You haven’t finished your meal,” he said, standing tall and looking into the night.

“I can’t eat anymore. I’ll be sick. So much has happened in such a short space of time.” I then turned to look up at him.

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