Page 324 of Lodestar

The smile that curved my lips was painful in how large it was. “She and Kat have something in common then. She considers him her soul mate.”

“Weird kid.”

Proud, I nodded. “The weirdest. She’s mine.”

“How did that happen anyway?”

“Same way you got yours.”

She stilled. “Katina is Bogdan Belyaev’s daughter?”

“She is. That’s why I get what you’re going through with Lyra and I’ll never let my grandfather take her away from you, because I’d make what I did to Smythe and Foundry back there seem like child’s play if someone eventhoughtabout taking Kat away from me.”

“Funny how two women who should never have been mothers are so protective of the cubs in their fold,” she mused, but her tone was loaded with her approval at my idea of punishment.

“I think it makes perfect sense. Who better to know how shit the world is and with the skill set to keep them safe from it?”

“True.”

“I’d do anything to make sure she never goes through even an inch of what I have.”

“Same.” She cleared her throat. “I appreciate you saying that though. It… concerns me.”

“Understandable.” With my eyes locked on Conor’s ass, I asked, “Who was your partner?”

“In Ohio? Useless piece of shit. Shot him myself afterward. Was worth getting an extra year added to my sentence.”

Typical Troy.“Who was he? A hacker?”

“I could hack better than him. His name was Dazzy.”

My brow puckered. “Never heard of him.”

“Not surprised. He was useless. I swear, half the trouble I got into in Ohio was his fault. Still, when I picked up Lyra, she stole my heart. Dazzy had to die. Didn’t matter if he was hot shit at hacking or a pile of crap. To save her, he had to go.”

If I’d needed proof of how much Troy loved her daughter, I had it. “How did you get out of Jorgmundgander?” was all I said.

“You don’t. You finish your time, know that they could call you up at any moment, and you deal with it. It helps that I’m not as good of a shot as I used to be because of my eye.” She grunted. “You can tell he doesn’t do this often, can’t you?”

I had to laugh.

Conorwastaking an inordinately long time in filling up the SUV’s tank.

“Hates driving.”

“That’s why you made him take the wheel?”

My lips twitched. “It’s good to do things you hate sometimes.”

She snickered. “Life lessons according to Mrs. Lodestar.”

“I should have been a teacher,” I agreed.

A scoff was her only answer to that. Then… “You know who Belyaev was?”

I cast her a glance. Her expression was hidden by the depths of the backseat, but her tone was ominous, to say the least. “Conor looked into him. Said he was a front. You know differently?”

“He was a front. In a sense.”

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