Page 89 of Vengeful King

“I asked Rose to be with her,” Aiden says. There’s something in his tone that says he understands why I’m asking, even if he doesn’t know the extent of it.

He knows she’s important, even if he doesn’t know why. Even if he doesn’t know what I’ve done.

But I’m relieved to hear him say the words. All I could think about was her, and at least now I know that someone is with her. Helping her.

“So Yuri had a connection,” Finn mutters. “Somehow, after barely being back. What else don’t we know about him?”

“Whatever else can wait,” Aiden says sharply. “Right now, we need to figure out how to cover our asses and plan our attack.”

“Attack?” Connor asks, tense. “You mean we’re going after him?”

“We need more information,” I say darkly. “He came back from the dead. That isn’t something just anyone can do.”

“Sure. But if he has a dirty cop in his pocket, he may be waiting for this.”

“Maybe. But we aren’t going to sit around after what he pulled.”

I mean it. I don’t want to wait around anymore; we’ve tried probing for information so many times now. We know where he is; we can take the fight to him.

And besides, I won’t be worrying about Yuri while I’m still trying to handle the marriage arrangement and my situation with Katrina.

I get into the car with my brothers, and Aiden gets behind the wheel and cranks the key in the ignition. But before he can pull away from the curb, his phone rings and he picks up on the car speaker.

“Yes?”

“I just got to the house,” Rose says, her voice thin through the car audio. “Did you leave?”

“Yes,” Aiden says. “I left with the others. But she’s there.”

“Oh,” Rose says, startled. “You didn’t take her with you?”

“No, why would I?” Aiden glances at me, obviously confused. “We left her there so she could talk to you.”

“But Katrina isn’t here. It’s empty.”

I can see Aiden glance in the rearview mirror, looking back at me. My other brothers react too, their expressions dark but not surprised. I know what they’re thinking.

They’re thinking that she just ran.

But my heart twists. I know that’s not true. Even as Aiden speaks with Rose and tries to get more information, I know it’s not true. I don’t believe Katrina would run.

“Did you go inside?” Aiden asks, his fingers drumming on the wheel.

“I rang the doorbell, went around, used your key. I looked. She’s not here.”

“Shit.”

“I don’t think anything is missing,” Rose adds, uncertain. “It doesn’t look like she took any of her clothes and things.”

I can hear that she wants to say something, but she doesn’t. Aiden just presses his hands over his eyes and nods.

“Okay. Thanks for going by anyway. We have to go. I’ll call you soon.”

I don’t listen to them say goodbye. There’s a horrible feeling settling in the pit of my gut. I think about how broken Katrina looked yesterday, after her mother died. She hasn’t even had a chance to bury the woman yet.

She’s more similar to me than I ever wanted to admit. I see so much of myself in Katrina; it made me want her at first, and then it made me care for her more than I ever intended to.

She reminds me of myself, and I know what I would do if someone just killed my mother.

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