Parked some yards away from the farm, Luna watched as Tăcut loaded Fang into the back of a truck then looked back in their direction, the only indication that he knew they were there.

“Is he going to be okay?” Luna whispered, even knowing that Tăcut and the others couldn’t hear her.

Kit’s resigned sound made Luna hurt for him. Despite his cold exterior, she knew how much he loved those closest to him.

He hadn’t just lost Aidra, but Fang and the rest of The Wild Bunch—though if everything went as she hoped, it wouldn’t be for very long.

Kit was silent for a long while as he stared after The Wild Bunch, watching as they got rid of the bloody body parts then climbed into the truck and took off. “It won’t hurt forever.”

Once they were clear, he turned the key, the engine purring softly. He looked back at her, his hand coming down to wrap around her thigh.

“Let’s go home.”

---

“I think I’m going to miss that bungalow,” Luna said some hours later, staring out the windows of the jet at the twinkling lights below. “I liked being that close to the ocean and smelling the salt in the air.”

Despite it all, she had found peace there, and unlike the château that held a myriad of memories, the bungalow only held the good kind.

“That’s what I was hoping for,” Kit responded with a glance in her direction. “It’s still ours, you know. I bought it for you.”

She had assumed as much, but it was nice to hear it all the same. “Any other surprises you want to tell me about?” Luna asked, shifting so her legs draped across his lap.

“Where would the fun be in telling you?”

“Well, it’ll be fun for me because I’ll know.”

Kit might have smiled, but he didn’t offer anything further.

“And my place in Vegas?”

“What of it?”

“If I’m going back to New York with you—”

“If?” he asked, making a show of looking around at their surroundings.

Luna rolled her eyes. “Do you really want to argue semantics?”

“Do you?”

“Fine. When we get back there, what about my condo?”

She hadn’t given it much thought after their surprise trip there, but now that they were heading home, she couldn’t help but wonder about it.

“I imagine it’ll still be there should you, or we, choose to visit.” His smile grew a little wider. “I do own the building after all.”

Right … she had forgotten that little detail.

“And The Wild Bunch? Will they be there when we land?”

Kit lost his smile, his gaze falling on his phone and its black screen. “Doubtful.”

It was bittersweet, going back to a place she loved though it would be missing the people she loved. And Aidra—the thought of her not being there and handling things hurt the most. She had been such a staple in their lives that Luna wondered if it would ever feel the same.

Luna fell silent for the rest of the journey, busying herself with thoughts of anything other than how drastically everything had changed.

By the time they were arriving, the château looming ahead as it once had the first time she had ever ventured to this place, the melancholy that had suddenly gripped hold of her eased a little bit.

Things wouldn’t be the same, no, but she was very good at rebuilding.

“You know, I don’t think you’ve actually carried me over the threshold,” Luna remarked thoughtfully.

After their rather short honeymoon, she had jumped right into work, and with Uilleam’s shooting soon after, there hadn’t been much time to bask in post-marital bliss.

Dropping their bags by the door, Kit came back to her, and without a word, he lifted her up effortlessly and carried her up the stairs and into the house. “Welcome home, Luna.”

She was glad to be back.

---

Luna paused in the entryway of the near empty coffee shop, surprised by the lack of customers. While it was only nine in the morning, this place was usually packed with early commuters, especially with the law firm just next door.

But despite the lack of customers, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary with Charlie, the owner and coffee connoisseur, standing behind the counter with his white apron tied at his waist.

He smiled as she approached, polishing one of the oversized mugs he kept behind the counter. “Want your usual?”

“Yep,” she said, pulling a twenty-dollar bill from her pocket.

As he went about fixing her order, Luna checked her phone—which was ultimately pointless since she had no bars, she found—but her gaze was drawn from the device at the sound of clicking heels.

“I’ve only ever ordered from a Starbucks,” a softly accented voice said. “You never know the company you might find in these smaller establishments.”

Belladonna.

Luna had started to think she hadn’t been real, that the woman she’d met with was a stand-in, especially with Kit’s suspicions about her, but not much had changed over the last few years.

Dark hair still spilled over her shoulders, and a hint of mischievousness still existed in her kind features.

Manhattan might have been home to millions of people, but the city felt small once you had lived there long enough, and Luna didn’t think it was any coincidence that they had run into each other here.

And if she had to guess, it was because of Belladonna that this place was so empty.

“Have you come to finish what your lackey started?” Luna asked, gauging the distance between them, then around the room—if she had any security with her, Luna didn’t see them.

“I’ve come to offer an apology,” she answered, folding her hands in front of her. “While he did work for me, I thought I made it clear that you were not to be harmed. You know, it’s quite hard to find good help these days.”

Elias had said something similar before he attempted to have her beaten to death, but his ramblings hadn’t made sense at the time, and she’d believed by the end, he had gone a little crazy.

Now, she wasn’t so sure.

“I didn’t think I was that special.”

“Come now, you have to know that isn’t true. I’ve not once seen the Runehart brothers work in tandem for anything—yet they did so for you.”

They were interrupted by Charlie setting two to-go cups on the counter. Belladonna accepted hers with a smile, tipping the cup to red-painted lips.

“Besides, I would hate if something were to happen to you through no fault of your own.”

“Because my mother used me as a pawn …” Luna said, trailing off, vaguely remembering what Belladonna had told her all those years ago when they first met.

“No one should play God, but that’s not why I’m here. I thought we could go for a little drive.”

Though she wrapped her hand around her cup, bringing it close to her chest, Luna didn’t move. “Why would I go anywhere with you?”

“Because if you thought I truly meant you harm, I’m sure you would have used one of those daggers you’ve become notorious for. Yet, here we stand.” Belladonna smiled as she glanced down at her nails—black, and shaped to resemble claws. “Besides, a part of you, no matter how small that part is, trusts me.”

She didn’t admit it aloud, nor did she particularly want to admit it to herself, but Belladonna was right.

It didn’t matter that Kit was suspicious of her, or that her motivations for aiding Luna were murky at best, Luna did trust her.

Even as insane as the thought was.

Belladonna turned on her heel. “Let’s go out back, shall we? The security your husband hired is waiting out front, and while he’s doing a rather poor job of it, I’d rather not make a mess should he attempt to stop us.”

Even as she reluctantly followed behind the woman, her gaze went back out the front where she knew her bike was still parked. How long would it take, she wondered, before he realized she was no longer in the shop?

A Bentley was parked behind the cafe, exhaust billowing from the tail pipe. Upon first glance, Luna was starting to think that ‘white’ was Belladonna’s thing.

“Where are we going?” she asked once she was settled in the back, Belladonna sliding in after her.

“We’re visiting an old friend of mine in the country. She has a place more suitable for what I have in mind,” Belladonna said, her gaze on the passing buildings as they drove out of the city.

They rode in silence for a while longer, only the slight hum of the engine filling the space before Luna asked, “What’s your vendetta against Kit?”

A corner of the woman’s mouth tipped up. “I have no quarrel with your husband, I assure you.”

Luna waited a beat before asking, “The Kingmaker, then?”

Belladonna didn’t answer for several seconds, her expression unreadable. “If I did, you would be the last person I’d tell, considering your alliances. An admirable trait, really, your loyalty to Uilleam. He does have so very few that are.”

“You were close to him then, right?”

“What ever would make you think so?”

But the question was asked in a way that told Luna the woman was humoring her. “You used his name.”

And it was rare that anyone did with such easy familiarity.

“Though he’s loathed to admit it, there are many that know his name, but out of fear of him, they won’t use it. I, on the other hand, feel no such fear.”

But she hadn’t actually answered the question …

Though, in a way, her non answer told Luna that she was right.

“Explain something to me,” she said, drumming her fingers against her knee. “Considering what you know about him, why did you think telling me about what he’d done would hurt him?”

Uilleam hadn’t denied it, nor did he try to cast blame on anyone else when she’d confronted him with the truth. He hadn’t even been upset that she knew about it, but rather that she was close to learning of Kit’s involvement.

“You misunderstand. I didn’t offer you the truth to hurt him—I offered you the truth because I know what it’s like to have your life manipulated by Uilleam. I learned later … and paid a dire price.”

She might not have known the details, but Luna believed that.

Uilleam was notorious for manipulating events to his own benefit—that was what he did best. And if she had learned one thing about the man, it was that he didn’t care who he had to hurt, kill, or destroy to get what he wanted.

“What did he do to you?” Luna asked softly, almost afraid to know the answer.

“Oh, there’s no need for me to delve into ancient history,” Belladonna said with a slight wave of her hand. “Just know that those I deemed responsible will be held accountable.”

That was a threat if she had ever heard one, and from the way she was carefully orchestrating every move she made, Luna didn’t doubt that the woman would pay each one of them back in kind.

Shifting, Belladonna turned to better face her. “You were just an innocent girl when you were taken. Back then, there were fewer checks and balances in the world we live in. Uilleam, if you can imagine, was far more arrogant than he is now, but time does that you.”

“Or because he lost someone he loved,” Luna dared to say, wanting to see her reaction.

She tried to see in her what Uilleam had described of Karina. Belladonna was beautiful, as Karina had probably been, but there was a stark difference between the women’s personalities.

During Uilleam’s drunken ramble, he had described Karina as soft, docile even, with an inherent goodness that had drawn him to her in the first place.

While Belladonna seemed mild-mannered on the surface, something else stirred beneath the surface.

“Perhaps so,” Belladonna finally answered, her expression never changing. “Grief can bring even the strongest of men to their knees.”

“Is that your plan? To hurt him more?”

“Your focus is too narrow, Luna. You only see what’s in front of you as opposed to the bigger picture. Consider me an advocate for the forgotten and the wronged. Uilleam wasn’t the first bully nor will he be the last.”

Luna didn’t get a chance to respond before they were turning onto a dirt road and driving through the trees lining either side of the road. Once they reached the clearing, the driver killed the engine and opened the door for them.

A modest house sat a few yards away and further behind it was a barn that looked well-maintained.

They were hardly halfway across the gravel driveway before a woman appeared on the threshold of the front door, her expression neutral as she came forward.

The multiple piercings in her ear glittered as the sun hit them. She was taller than Belladonna, closer to Luna’s height, with a pixie-cut that was bleached a pale shade of blonde.

She spared Luna the briefest of glances before addressing Belladonna. “He’s waiting out in the pens.”

He?

Luna could only wonder who the man could be as they were led around the side of the house and toward the barn. The possibilities of who it could have been were endless, but once they were inside, and she got her first look, she should have known.

“My dearest Elias, my apologies for having kept you waiting,” Belladonna said as she approached, carefully removing the leather gloves she wore.

Bruised, and slightly bloodied, Elias Harrington was huddled naked in a cage, the once ever-present smile of his a distant memory as fear and anxiety showed itself on his face.

But it wasn’t just Belladonna he seemed to fear, not when his gaze kept darting across the barn to a shadowed corner where a man stood with his arms folded across his chest.

He didn’t move nor did he speak as he watched them. He just stood there … expression never changing.

Seeing him made the tiny hairs along her arms stand up.

“Luna arrived a bit later than I anticipated,” Belladonna went on, dragging her back to their conversation.

While she had never doubted that their meeting was intentional, she hadn’t expected the odds of it being planned to this degree.

“I’ve always been loyal to you, but you’ve gone too far,” Elias said. Though he tried to inject as much strength into his words as possible, Luna could hear the thread of uncertainty.

“When you approached me about joining my organization, I gave you one rule, did I not?” Belladonna asked.

“Yes, but—”

“What was that rule?”

“Bella—”

“The rule!” she suddenly snapped, her eyes blazing as she glared down at the man with such hatred that it was a wonder the two had ever worked together at all.

“Never cross you,” Elias answered, barely above a whisper.

“I understood your need to test me—you’re a man, after all, and as you’ve said before, you don’t believe there’s a place for women in this business. But I have rules for a reason, and you broke every one of them.”

“Whatever I’ve done,” Elias said, trying desperately to appeal to her, “surely I can make it right.”

“It’s far too late for that,” Belladonna said. “I excused your deals that were contrary to my vision. I allowed those pathetic excuses for men to work under your employ so long as you kept them in check, yet you couldn’t manage that.”

“I—”

Belladonna raised her hand, a silent command for him to stop speaking. “And what did you give me in return?”

Elias remained quiet.

“I’m waiting.”

“He was interfering,” Elias said, and even in his current predicament, his contempt for Uilleam was clear.

“He did what he always does, Elias, except you let it get under your skin. You were no longer content to play the game as I’d instructed, so you went back and forth with him until you got his attention, but that was when you made your first mistake.”

“I never made a mistake! The clients were sloppy.”

“Perhaps, you could have learned something from him in that regard, but it’s not your clients that I’m referring to.” Belladonna’s expression changed as she touched the bars of his cage. “You sent the Jackal on a mission by giving an order in my name.”

His gaze darted to the left to where the silent man was still standing.

Was that who this was?

Was she standing in the room with a man the Den had been hunting for years?

Now, when she looked back at him, she didn’t just see a stoic figure, she saw him for what he was—the assassin with unparalleled skill, and the one who had a million dollar bounty on his head.

But even as Luna was registering the thought, her fingers tracing over one of the knives at her wrists, she also considered what Belladonna was saying.

If she understood correctly, she hadn’t been the one that sent the Jackal after Uilleam, rather Elias had.

Now, she understood why they had never been able to find him despite all the information Uilleam had recovered on Elias. He wasn’t the Jackal’s handler—Belladonna was.

There was no telling what Uilleam could do with this information, but Luna was now starting to wonder if she’d even be able to tell him. She didn’t suspect that Belladonna was sharing all of this out of the kindness of her heart.

Seeing that he was running out of time, Elias shook his head. “They don’t care if he lived or died. I didn’t need your permission so long as I had theirs.”

They?

Who the hell were they?

Luna was starting to wonder just how many people were involved in all of this.

Belladonna shook her head, as though disappointed, then called for the man who hadn’t spoken a word since Luna was brought here. “Jackal.”

Belladonna said something else—Romanian, if Luna had to guess, because some of the words sounded familiar.

The Jackal came forward without a sound, and as he did, Luna got her first look at him without rain and a black helmet shielding her view.

Unlike the last time she had crossed paths with him, only half his face was covered—like he was muzzled. Long, dark hair fell to his shoulders and curled slightly at the ends, and gray eyes that seemed as cold as they looked didn’t hold any emotion. They were just … dead.

A bulletproof war vest with varying straps covered a well-muscled chest, with a weapons belt that held an assortment of tools one could ever need doing the work they did.

But just looking at him, it was clear he was the weapon.

“Vointa ta—Your will?” he asked, his voice low, the words guttural, sending a chill down Luna’s spine, the acute fear she felt freezing her in place.

“Don’t do this,” Elias begged from his corner, panicked gaze on the Jackal. “Whatever you want! I can fix this.”

“I’m all out of forgiveness, Elias,” Belladonna said apologetically, but she didn’t look it in the slightest. “Understand something, this could have all been avoided if you would have just listened.”

“Because of her?” Elias dared to ask, his breaths coming faster as his gaze darted between the Jackal and Belladonna.

Me? Luna thought, but that couldn’t be right.

“I could tell you yes, it is because you targeted her, and the result of your actions has made an enemy of Nix—that’s reason enough—but we both know the truth, don’t we?” Belladonna unlocked the cage and stepped back. “I just needed an excuse to be rid of you. Kill him.”

Elias didn’t stand a chance.

Not when he was less than half the size of the Jackal without the slightest bit of his skill. It only took a few seconds at most for the Jackal to get the man on his knees, standing behind him as one gloved hand rested on top of his head, and the other beneath his chin as he gripped with a firmness the man couldn’t escape.

As the Jackal turned dead eyes to Belladonna, he waited for the slightest nod from her before he twisted and the quick snap of bone echoed around the room.

Seconds …

That was all it had taken to kill a man Uilleam had hunted for years, and by the very man he wanted more than him.

“When you recount this story to your husband, please offer my sincerest apologies, and know that no harm should come to you again. On that, you have my word.”

Luna could only stare. “I don’t understand. Why would you do this?”

“That’s not your question though, is it?” Belladonna asked patiently as she pulled her gloves back on. “You want to know why I’d involve you, and whether you’ll be permitted to leave now that we’ve finished.”

She wouldn’t deny that. “Yes.”

“Whether Elias wanted to admit it or not, Uilleam was getting too close, and it’s doubtful that he would have made it another three months. This, at the very least, buys me some time. I don’t think I’m quite ready for my meeting with Uilleam just yet. I have a few affairs to get in order first.”

This, all of it, felt surreal, but Luna had long since stopped questioning the impossibility of her life.

“I do have a favor to ask of you,” Belladonna said as she touched a hand to her arm, leading her out of the barn as the Jackal dragged Elias’ body from the cage.

“What’s the favor?”

Retrieving a black envelope with a wax seal from the pocket of her coat, Belladonna handed it over.

“Don’t worry,” she said once it was out of her hands, and Luna gazed down at it with apprehension. “It won’t kill him—not literally anyway. As I’m sure you’ll be seeing Uilleam later due to our time together, it will help put a few things in perspective for him.”

Luna traced the edges of the wax, following the lines of the ‘K’ that was embedded in it. “Who are you to him?”

Another car was waiting by the time they made it back to the front of the house, this one to take Luna back to the city.

Belladonna’s expression shifted, back to one that was unreadable. “A distant memory.”

“Distant, but not forgotten? Karina?”

That was what Kit thought, and now seeing the lengths in which the woman was going to to get Uilleam’s attention, Luna was starting to believe it too.

It was the only thing that made sense.

A flash of recognition shined in Belladonna’s eyes. “The question isn’t whether I’m Karina, or not, but rather whether the woman Uilleam knew as Karina ever existed at all. Good day, Luna. I hope to see you soon.”

There was no point in arguing nor extending her stay to question the woman more—she doubted she would get any more answers out of her anyway.

As she slid into the back of the car, watching the house and Belladonna fade the further she went, Luna couldn’t help but think that something was about to happen.

And it was going to change everything.

---

They rode in silence the entire drive back to the cafe, not that Luna had anything to say—at least not to the driver. He wasn’t the same one who had brought her and Belladonna to the farm, so she doubted he knew anything useful.

And if the woman was half as smart as Luna thought she, it was unlikely that she would have used anyone who was close to her organization.

The drive back to the city was far shorter than the one out of it, and if she didn’t still hear the sound of Elias’ pleas in her ears, she might not have thought it actually happened.

“Please,” the driver said with a cultured accent, “watch your step.”

Apparently, even Belladonna’s drivers were unnecessarily polite.

Stepping out onto the curb, she pushed the door shut, watching as the driver signaled before pulling out, quickly disappearing into the sea of cars.

Checking her watch, she had only been gone for an hour, far shorter than she had expected.

Circling back around to the front of the café, she looked for any sign of the security Kit had assigned to her, but neither the man nor his car was anywhere in sight.

Knowing that her absence had to have been noticed by now, she dug out her phone and called Kit, already thinking of what to say to calm him.

“I’m fine,” she said the moment the call connected before he could get a word in.

“Thirty-seconds from you,” he said in return.

Luna looked up, searching for his car in the sea of others, but despite looking over each one, she didn’t see his anywhere.

“Traffic jam down on Fifth,” Kit suddenly said from behind her, his voice startling the hell out of her. She’d barely turned to face him when he said, “Explain.”

“Where’s your car?” she asked, looking past him, trying to see if one of the many she knew he owned was parked somewhere that she hadn’t noticed during her first sweep.

“I told you—traffic jam.”

“So you walked from there?”

That was a solid few blocks, and in New York, those blocks could be treacherous. While most natives walked everywhere in the city, Luna was far too lazy for that.

“I ran from there.”

“How did you know—”

He held up his phone, showing her the blinking icon flashing on the screen. “The imbecile I assigned to you didn’t realize anything was wrong until twenty minutes ago, apparently. He said there was a woman who’d needed assistance.”

Undoubtedly a plant by Belladonna.

Luna was starting to think the woman was the female Kingmaker.

“It wasn’t his fault.”

Kit didn’t look like he agreed. “Nevertheless, I blame him entirely.” He looked at his phone once more. “Better to be safe than sorry.”

Maybe she should have been upset that he was tracking her, but after the last time she was taken, she couldn’t complain.

He cupped the nape of her neck, dragging her closer, eyes scanning over her face. “I’m fine,” she said again. “She wasn’t trying to hurt me or anything.”

“She?”

Luna didn’t have to give him a name for him to know who she meant. “There’s a lot I need to tell you.”

---

They were barely through the front door of the penthouse before Kit turned to her and said, “Explain.”

“First, Elias is dead.”

Kit didn’t even blink. “How?”

“Belladonna—or rather she gave the order and The Jackal carried it out.”

Now, he reacted, unable to hide his hatred at the mention of that name. Kit might not have been afraid of the Jackal, but he knew what the man was capable of.

Luna, too, knew what he could do, but seeing the cold efficiency in which he worked up close and personal … she didn’t think she ever wanted to be his target.

“Go on.”

“Elias wasn’t the boss,” she said, remembering the way the man cowered and everything he’d said. “She is.”

Kit rubbed his forehead, as if to ward off an oncoming headache. “Because this could not possibly get any worse.”

“She asked me to give you a message on her behalf.”

Kit looked like it was the last thing he wanted to hear. “And?”

“She sends her apologies for Elias’ behavior.”

“Anything else?”

She held up the envelope for him to see. “We’ll need Uilleam for the rest.”