Page 34 of Kai
“If we haven’t found her yet, the chances that the NWO has located her are low.”
“They found me.”
“ButIfound you first,” he reminded me as he moved on to lubricate his weapon.
The act of lubricating his carbine almost dragged me back to a state of horny, but fear cooled my body and fury kept me on the straight and narrow. “If Affie dies, if any of my sisters are caught, hurt, or killed, it’ll bemyfault.”
He looked up from his rifle and drew his eyebrows together. “Why?”
“Iwas the one who came up with our plan to disappear.” My chest tightened. “Ibroke us up and made us weak and vulnerable.”
“That’s your fear speaking.” Kai reassembled his rifle. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Back then, you were reacting to one kind of threat. You outsmarted your father and, for three long years, you succeeded.”
“Thena and Missy almost died.” I pushed the words through my tight throat, trying and failing to control my frustration. “Affie’s missing. All my sisters are in danger. How can you call this debacle a success?”
“Your plan worked.” His rationality slowed my internal meltdown. “Your father, with all his power and resources, couldn’t find any of you. You couldn’t have anticipated that the NWO would murder Richard Astor, or that you and your sisters would become targets.”
I lifted a despondent shoulder. “I should’ve at least considered the possibilities.”
“You’re smart, Cece, but you can’t see the future.” He paused for a second and glanced up. “Or can you?”
“Of course not!” I snapped. “What kind of question is that?”
“A good one, given that your last name is Astor.” He locked in his rifle’s parts, leaving me wondering what he meant. “Since you can’t see the future, you can’t create contingencies about situations that didn’t exist when you first came up with your plan.”
“Don’t you dare go easy on me,” I grumbled. “If something happens to any of my sisters, to Dash, hell, to anyone trying to help us, like you, for example, it will be on me.”
“Stop.” He lifted his weapon from the stand, settled it down on the table, and gave me his full attention. “This clusterfuck isnotyour responsibility. You didn’t start this shitshow, and you didn’t know about your father’s dealings with the NWO.”
“No,” I admitted. “Had I known, I would’ve done something to protect my sisters.”
“I believe you,” he said. “I understand you are your family’s protector. You’ve done well by them, but that’s a big job for a whole trained team, let alone one woman, no matter how smart and fierce you are.”
“Yeah, right.” I huffed. “If I’m so smart, why is Affie’s life in danger right now?”
“You can’t control everything, Cece. Control is an illusion. Affie made her choices. So did your sisters. You can only try your best. You can’t assume responsibility for everyone’s lives.”
“Says the Zen King,” I teased, even though I realized he could be right. “Or is it King the Zen?”
“It’s neither,” he said. “I’m more of a Zen seeker. Back to you. Am I right to assume you don’t know where Affie is?”
“No idea.” My eyes stung, and the band around my chestsqueezed tighter. “See? Another mistake on my part. I decided on a no-contact situation. I should’ve made sure we could communicate with each other.”
“Had you maintained contact with your sisters, the mercs would’ve found you months ago,” he pointed out. “Once they got one of you, they would’ve tortured the information out of their captive to find the rest of you.”
“Um…” My voice thinned. “Torture?”
His stare bored a hole in my brain. “That’s the kind of enemy hunting you.”
“Shit.” I scrubbed my face.
“Cece, look at me.” He waited until my eyes met his. “You understood that going dark was the only way for your plan to succeed. From one operator to another, it was an excellent call.”
I twisted my face into a grimace. “I’m not an operator.”
“You think like one,” he said. “You fight like one. I like that about you.”
Helikedsomething about me? Why did I perk up at this?
