Page 97 of Star Claimed Omega
But she nodded.
‘What you told me,’ he murmured, brushing her hair from her face, ‘it stays here with me. You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about,cariño. We all carry our burdens. Some weigh heavier than others.’
The privacy shield lifted with a gentle chime, the shimmer receding like the parting of a veil.
Santi leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to her temple, letting his lips linger.
Her skin was cold beneath his touch, and she didn’t return the embrace.
With a shake of his head, he stood as Miral placed a careful hand under Soleil’s arm and guided her to the exit.
He gave Miral a chin lift, his heart breaking as the door hissed shut behind them.
He turned back toward his desk, fists curling.
Santi sat in his chair, unable to shift his thoughts from the woman who enthralled him.
Her story was gut-wrenching, and he wanted to trust it andher.
Still, for a single, tempting moment, the idea flickered like static in the back of his mind:Ask Miral to do a deeper dive into her identity. Cross-check her name and dig for any aliases.Slide into her comms and search every thread. Make sure she’s not a bomb ticking in your bed.
He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned.
Fokk, he couldn’t give the order, not yet.
Not when he was working on growing Soleil’s trust in him.
Which had to begin with him trusting her.
If she had a confession to make, he wanted it to be of her own compulsion.
As if summoned by the storm in his mind, the door opened, and Kaal stepped in.
Santi glanced up with a wry tilt of his eyebrow. ‘Let me guess. More trouble?’
Kaal’s lazy drawl was now a grim growl. ‘Naam. The loathsome variety.’
Santi arched his brow even higher.
Kaal’s eyes were dark, tense, and glowing with spectral intensity. ‘ARed Skullmedley of shit.’
Just like that, the little that was remaining of a fragile calm was shattered.
16
Chapter 16
SANTIAGO
The lights dimmed as Kaal tapped the panel on Santi’s desk, casting the room into a quiet hum of holo-feed.
A grainy clip flickered to life above the desk, tinting the space in ghostly scarlet.
‘She’s calledThe Red Queen,’ Kaal said, folding his arms, his face taut.
Santi leaned forward as the footage played: a masked woman in a crimson suit, her hair a fiery blaze, tearing through a corridor flanked by a swarm of armedRed Skullsoldiers.
She moved like a living blade, ruthless, fast, merciless.
