Driving home, Keanu couldn’t have looked down for more than a second before his gaze was back on the road—and on the man suddenly standing in the middle of the street, an assault rifle in his hands.

He slammed his foot on the brakes, a low curse leaving his lips as he twisted the wheel at the last minute, narrowly avoiding mowing the crazy bastard down. As he came to a jerking stop, his heart pounding in his chest, he ripped off his seatbelt and got out of his car, ready to lay into the man who was stupid enough to be standing in the middle of the road at night.

For a second, he thought maybe the man wanted to die, that he’d been waiting for someone, anyone, to come down this road unaware and slam into him, but as he turned, his mouth already opening with what he wanted to say, the headlights illuminated the man and one look at him told Keanu he’d been wrong.

Dressed all in black, a war vest on his chest, and an assortment of weaponry strapped to his chest, he wasn’t standing there because he expected to die.

The Jackal, as he’d been dubbed by the Den.

He killed without leaving any trace behind, and even though he had never publicly claimed any of the kills, his signature was clear.

Most looked like accidents, but others … others were brutal and the body was nearly unrecognizable.

For a time, Uilleam had thought it was the Jackal who’d murdered Karina—it fit his kill history after all—but that was back when they’d thought his handler was a man named Elias Harrington. Back when they still thought Karina was a victim of Uilleam’s hubris.

This man, who no one had been able to find—and there were a lot of people looking for him—was also the only man to have nearly succeeded in killing Uilleam several years ago. Cold and efficient, he’d been able to pump six rounds into the man’s chest before Keanu could even turn to see what was happening..

If he hadn’t tried to murder him, Uilleam might have tried to recruit him.

But, the mysterious assassin was also responsible for the capture of Grimm—a mercenary who’d disappeared off the face of the earth years ago after a run in with him.

They were still looking for him now.

Very slowly, Keanu reached for the gun he kept on him, glad the car provided some cover for what he was doing. Even if there hadn’t been a multimillion dollar contract on the man, he would still be trying to bring him in alive.

The Jackal had a lot to answer for.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” a lyrical voice called. “When my life is threatened, he has a tendency to overreact. When his life is threatened … well, I’m sure you could imagine what he might be capable of.”

That voice.

One he hadn’t heard in years, but one he could never mistake.

He turned, peering over the hood of his car at the woman perched on the trunk of the idling Bentley on the side of the road. Her dress was as white as the car, stark in the dark of night.

A part of him hadn’t believed it was true, not entirely—not when he’d thought he knew with a churning stomach how her face looked when it was caved in—but the woman now approaching him didn’t look like she had ever been hurt a day in her life.

She also didn’t resemble the girl she had once been, and she definitely didn’t look like the handler of a man who killed without emotion.

“It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it, Keanu?” Karina asked, speaking to him as if they were old friends. “The last time I saw you, you were asking if I’d give him a second chance to break my heart. Are you regretting that choice yet?”

“Good to see you alive, Karina. Or should I be calling you Belladonna.”

Uilleam hated when others used his name—only answering to his moniker. Would she be the same?

“Karina is fine,” she said with a casual wave of her hand. “Others care about those silly little names, I don’t. Besides, we’re old friends, aren’t we?”

What was most unsettling about her, besides the fact that she was living and breathing and talking, was the fact that she looked virtually the same since he’d last seen her.

A little older and a little colder, but the same.

Uilleam hadn’t found her body on his own, Keanu had been with him and had felt the revulsion and sadness her death sparked inside him.

Even he hadn’t been able to shake the image of her on that floor, unmoving, her face a mess of blood and bone.

“Friends don’t try to kill each other,” he reminded her.

Her laughter was soft as she shook her head. “If I wanted you dead, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we? As I told Luna, I don’t mean either of you any harm.”

“But you do mean Uilleam harm. If you’re trying to hurt him, you’re trying to hurt me. I can’t let that happen.”

“I’ve always found your blind loyalty to those you care for admirable—it’s one of those qualities so rarely found in people these days. Sometimes, they don’t even deserve it.”

“Is that your game? To turn people against him? Even if you wanted to, he’s earned it—you of all people should know that.”

She’d been around in the early days—before there was a Den. Back when Uilleam was still trying to make a name for himself and only kept Skorpion around instead of an entire team of mercenaries.

They’d watched his rise together, and she knew more about them than anyone.

“You don’t know, do you?” she asked, looking genuinely curious. “You don’t know what he’s done to you or the others to get you exactly where you are.”

Keanu had plenty of practice schooling his features, making sure he never gave himself away, but there was only so much he could hide from the woman staring at him.

“No, you couldn’t possibly know. If you did, you wouldn’t be working for him. I dare say Luna is far more forgiving than I thought she’d be, but matters of the heart are always difficult to handle, and Kit always did have a way about him.”

Her words were a carefully poised trap, one meant to tempt him into falling down the rabbit hole they presented. He didn’t intend to give in.

“Is that why you’re here now?” Keanu asked a question of his own. “You’ve stayed hidden this long, what’s changed?”

“That’s for me to know, I’m afraid, but I can tell you that I’ve come to make a bargain with you.”

He laughed without humor. “Not the first time I’ve heard that.”

Her smile never wavered. “Except I’m not asking you to work for me, rather the other way around.”

“You want to work for me?”

“I’m giving you a chance that I don’t offer many others.”

“What, to come over to your side?”

Her smile slipped as she regarded him. “Only one of us can make it to the end of this, Keanu. I wouldn’t want you to be on the losing side.”

“It’s only a matter of time before he finds you, Karina. What do you expect will happen once he does?” He stepped toward her, and out the corner of his eye, the Jackal took a step toward him. “Whatever fucked up thing the two of you have—it should be kept between the two of you.”

“Agreed, but he’s not quite playing fair though, is he? If he’s brought you back into the fold, that means there’s only a matter of time before you’re sent to bring me in. Or am I wrong?”

He didn’t respond. Couldn’t. She was right.

“He still loves you, ya know. A part of him doesn’t even think you’re alive.”

A flash of emotion crossed her face. A spark. Something that proved she wasn’t so unaffected as she claimed to be.

But it was gone a split second later. “Love makes you weak—it was a lesson he taught me well. I’ll give you forty-eight hours to make a decision.”

She turned then to walk back to her car. “Oh, and to give you something to think about. Tell me, what on earth would make Ada’s sister come to a city she’s never stepped foot in without actually talking to her sister. Who would have something to gain by doing so? Food for thought, I’d wager.”

* * *

Wars weren’t always started because of violence.

Sometimes, all it took was one small, insignificant bit of information that churned the waters, and though Keanu had driven away unharmed, Belladonna’s words still played in the back of his mind, forcing him to contemplate a possibility that made his fingers tighten around the steering wheel of his Mustang.

She was good, not because she threatened him, but because she’d been able to make him do the one thing no one else had when it came to Uilleam.

Doubt.

There were two things about Uilleam Keanu was absolutely certain. He was ruthless, willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted and he played with lives the way he played a game of chess.

Most people were insignificant pawns to him, just pieces to be moved around and manipulated, but they had been close—or as close as anyone could truly get to a man like Uilleam.

He was the Kingmaker after all, and he didn’t have or make friends—not in the traditional sense. He didn’t try to conform himself for the sake of others, but he was who he was, faults and all.

Keanu hadn’t cared about that—he knew the life he was signing up for and the man he’d agreed to work for—but knowing him as well as he did presented a problem now.

He knew what Uilleam was capable of, had seen the ramifications of the man’s actions more times than he could count, and if there was one thing he was absolutely sure of he was more than willing to use someone’s sister for his own agenda.

But that wasn’t how this all was supposed to work.

The mercenaries, his mercenaries that put their lives on the line for him were supposed to be off-limits—they were never meant to be part of the game.

But haven’t we all been playing it?

As he pulled around the side of the compound and killed the engine of his car, Keanu had a feeling that the answers he was about to go looking for wouldn’t be the ones he wanted.

It came as no surprise that Uilleam was still in his office despite the hour, but more surprising was his brother’s presence opposite him.

The two had a tumultuous relationship, one that had only recently been mended.

Nix was the calmer of the two—at least on the surface and only if Calavera wasn’t being threatened. Even now, he sat off to the side, a newspaper in hand, reading the obituaries.

Assassins and their codes.

“I assume you’ve marked another name off your list?” Uilleam asked without looking up from the tablet in his hands.

“Yeah, but I had a run in with Karina after.”

There were only two of them who’d seen Karina after her sudden return from the dead, but Calavera hadn’t known who she was at the time, but Keanu did, and he didn’t intend to mince words.

Plus, he wanted to see Uilleam’s reaction—he wanted to read the man that read others.

On the surface, Uilleam had his brother’s careful composure—the ability to hide what he was thinking whenever it called for it and even when it didn’t—but everyone had a weak spot.

His was the woman he’d loved and lost.

His gaze lifted first, completely forgetting about whatever he’d been reading to focus on Keanu.

No, he couldn’t have hidden his reaction to her name even if he’d tried. It was written all over the way his jaw tightened and his hands flexed and tightened.

Worse, Keanu wasn’t sure whether this display of emotion was because he was annoyed that Karina seemed to show herself to everyone but him, or if she just had this level of effect on him.

“Enlighten me,” he said, his voice tight.

“She had the Jackal with her.” He thought of the man who’d stood silent and unblinking … the half mask that covered his face.

He’d probably fit right in with the Wild Bunch.

“And …”

He told him as much as he could about the short meeting, leaving out the details at the end regarding Ada’s sister.

For now, anyway.

“If nothing else,” he finished, “she plans on making your life a living hell.”

Nix made a sound in the back of his throat. “Now I see why you’ve always steered clear of relationships, brother. Somehow you’ve managed to turn your lover homicidal. Nicely done.”

Keanu might have laughed had he not been thinking about Ada and the truths Belladonna had hinted at.

Uilleam elected to ignore that. “If she’d coming out of hiding more frequently, that means we’re getting close. Let’s focus on that, shall we?” He looked back to Keanu. “Once you’ve finished … whatever it is you’re doing, I’ll need you to—”

“You must have forgotten. I don’t work for you.”

“Apologies if you thought I was about to ask a favor of you.”

There was a reason he’d walked away from Uilleam years ago, and the last thing he needed was to start back up with him, especially now that a war was brewing.

“You’re all out of those, Uilleam.”

Keanu could practically feel the temperature drop in the room, not that it fazed him in any way.

No one, with the exception of Nix, ever used his name when they spoke to him. If you were smart, you used a variation of his moniker, but no one dared utter his name.

At one time, Keanu had also called him by his name, but that was before he’d become obsessed with the power his moniker carried and seemed to have forgotten that he was just a mere mortal like the rest of them.

“At the very least,” Nix said before he could comment, “at some point, she intends to use your mercenaries against you.”

“A problem for a later time,” Uilleam said. “My only concern is her and what she’s planning.”

The two spoke in hushed voices, switching between English and Welsh, Keanu hardly able to keep up.

He could have walked away, left the conversation as it was—he should have walked away—but Keanu had never been good at leaving questions unanswered.

“What did you do?”

Uilleam didn’t blink at the question, but Nix … his expression cleared, his face a careful mask of disinterest. He knew, though the question was vague, what Keanu was really asking.

And that look also told him that he knew why he’d been approached all those years ago.

“I’ve done many things in my life—both righteous and deplorable,” Uilleam said without looking up. “Which do you speak of?”

“Ada’s sister is here in LA.”

Uilleam reclined back in his chair, meeting his gaze. “Would you prefer I act surprised?”

He sounded bored as he asked the question—uncaring that he’d lured a girl to her possible death.

It might have been because he was still thinking of Belladonna’s ominous words, or the looming threat that still hung over Ada’s head, but whatever the reason, had him stalking toward Uilleam, fully intending on dragging his ass from behind that desk.

“As entertaining as that might be,” Nix said before he’d taken more than a step, probably anticipating what he wanted to do, “I don’t believe my wife would be as forgiving.”

No, Calavera wouldn’t.

Even beyond the fact that Uilleam was Kit’s brother, and her brother-in-law because of it, she had a soft spot for him—the only mercenary, really, who did.

“You won’t always be so lucky, Uilleam.”

“Is that what you think?” he asked, his voice deceptively calm as he stood. “That I got here because of luck? Understand me, Keanu, I’ve never needed my brother’s protection and I won’t start now. If you ever want to challenge me, by all means, be my guest.”

“You’re crossing the—”

“Oh, spare me your hypocrisy. I’ve crossed every line imaginable without blinking an eye—some of which you’ve helped me cross. In case you haven’t realized, I couldn’t possibly care less about your relationship with that girl, nor any of the other women you mercenaries have shackled yourselves to. You, none of you, mean anything to me.”

No malice colored his words, nor any biting edge that said he was merely trying to cut him down—he truly meant what he said.

“You serve one purpose for me and that is to fulfill my endgame—no matter how uncomfortable it might make you. Have I made myself clear?”

“I—We aren’t your fucking pawns, Uilleam. You don’t get to play that game with us.”

“Or what?” he challenged, stepping around his brother, his eyes gone hard as he glared at him. “What exactly will you do to me? In case you’ve forgotten, Keanu, there are more than just seven of you that make up my Den. Dozens more answer to me and should there ever come a need, they’re more than willing to do whatever I ask without hesitation. Let this be your only warning.”

He’d been a fool to think there was any loyalty between them, that the seven he meant—Red, Celt, Calavera, himself, Syn, Grimm, and Winter—were worth anything more than the body count they’d racked up and the power they’d afforded him.

His last mistake.

If Uilleam expected a reaction, Keanu refused to give him one. Instead, he drew in a breath and held it, waiting until his lungs protested before blowing it out. “When this is done, I’m out. No more ties. No more favors. We’re finished.”

“Then let’s hope for your sake, you live that long. Now, if you’re finished wasting my time, I’m quite certain Roger Fitzpatrick is still waiting to be dealt with. Oh, and in case you haven’t bothered to check into him yet, he’s suddenly back in Los Angeles after a sabbatical in Prague. Curious, his timing, since the sister you’re so up in arms about is here as well. Perhaps I did you a favor.”

Nix looked as if he wanted to speak, to undue some of the damage his brother had inflicted, but Keanu didn’t give him the chance.

Instead, he turned on his heel and headed for the door without looking back.

The end had come sooner than he expected, Karina’s words echoing in the back of his mind.

Now … now he understood how easily she’d managed to turn Calavera away from Nix for as many years as she’d been able to.

And it wasn’t with carefully concealed lies and colorful embellishments.

She’d simply told the truth.

Because sometimes, truths were as poisonous as any lie.