Darling Wildfire (Red Rabbit #2)

16

THERON

I stood in Kaelin’s driveway with Graham pacing angrily beside me.

The fury had calmed, only to be replaced by the never-ending loop of seeing the hurt on Kaelin’s face when I wouldn’t tell her what was going on. Even worse, seeing the betrayal in her eyes as I left.

Viktor came over, pain etched on his face as he grasped his freshly bandaged shoulder.

“It’s my fault—”

I held up a hand. “Viktor, go home and get yourself checked out by Doc,”

I nodded to Kon hovering behind him. Viktor looked upset and angry with himself and opened his mouth to argue but I cut him off again. “We knew this was going to get rough—this is no one’s fault. Get that out of your head because I need you focused, understood?”

He stood a little straighter and nodded curtly before leaving with Kon.

“You need to tell her,”

Graham growled, drawing my attention back to him.

“I don’t need to do anything,”

I said coldly, my anger flaring and needing an outlet as our eyes clashed.

“North—”

It was Nyx. He came up, looking between us with a frown before holding out a folded piece of paper. “This was stuck to the door.”

I held Graham’s gaze a moment longer as I took the paper from Nyx and then dropped my eyes to read it.

Game on.

She’d look so pretty in a cage, don’t you think?

My lip curled in disgust. “Bastard,”

I snarled.

“We need to find him,”

Graham snapped. “Vetticus is it? Why haven’t you tracked him down yet? First the photos and now this? He’s getting bolder—”

“Again with the demands,”

I growled. “I don’t need to do anything. This is much deeper than just a few photos and a spray paint job. Do not assume you know what’s going on.”

“Then tell me,”

Graham demanded, taking a step towards me. “We’re all involved now, North. I’ve helped you with the warehouses…I’ve listened to a plan I don’t understand. I need to know who Vetticus is. I can’t protect her if I don’t know what I’m supposed to be protecting her from!”

I turned to Nyx. “Stay here with her. Get a crew in to clean this up—”

My phone rang and I saw it was Atlas.

“Is she okay?”

He asked as soon as I picked up.

“As okay as can be expected,”

I said shortly.

“Good. Listen, Tex hasn’t reported in and no one can get a hold of him.”

I cursed and turned to Nyx again.

“His tracker is offline,”

Atlas went on. “I told the men to no longer go anywhere alone.”

“Activate the sleepers in his supply lines,”

I said. “I want his river cut down to a damn stream by tomorrow.”

“Copy that.”

I hung up with Atlas and addressed Nyx. “He took Tex.”

“Fuck,”

Nyx cursed, running a hand through his hair, a grim look on his face. “I know, I know—”

he said when I fixed him with a look. “We knew this would happen—”

“What?”

Graham interrupted incredulously. “What do you mean you knew this would happen?”

I finally rounded on him, fed up with his interruptions and distractions.

“I have been planning this revenge for over a decade and nothing—”

My voice raised as my passion and anger raged. “—nothing will stop me taking down everything Vetticus has ever touched. He took everything from me—from Nyx and Atlas too—and countless others that are no longer with us. They all deserve vengeance and I will give it to them by any means possible. This is not some quick spur of the moment operation. I have spent years planning and putting pieces into play. Everyone knows the risks. You will follow orders, or you will stay the fuck out of my way.”

Graham’s face was downright murderous, his jaw so tightly clenched I was surprised I couldn't hear his teeth grinding together. He stepped closer to me and shoved a finger at my chest.

“I really hope you know what you’re doing, North, because take a good look around you—”

he threw open his arms. “You have a hugely successful global enterprise, loyal men who would follow you literally to the grave, and a woman who loves you,”

he turned away as his passion overcame him then turned back. “She fucking loves you, T. And I just really hope all of this is still here when you finish burning the world down. Is revenge really more important than the people who love you?”

“My revenge is for the people who love me,”

I said quietly.

Graham shook his head, his anger tinged with sadness. “They just want you, Theron. They don’t want you to give them retribution—they just want your heart and that requires you to still be alive to give it.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”

“It fucking can be,” he said.

I hoped he of all people would understand. But I also knew I was wrong for leaving him in the dark. He’d helped with a few jobs but he didn’t know everything. It wasn’t fair. I knew this. And yet I couldn’t bring myself to tell the whole story yet—especially to Kaelin. It was too much…too emotional at a time where I couldn’t afford to focus on that.

I looked down at my phone and dialed Demetrius.

“Atlas is going to activate the sleepers in the supply lines,”

I said when he answered.

“I’ll call my contacts,”

Demetrius said. “By the end of the day he won’t have any suppliers left.”

I got off the phone with Demetrius and headed towards my Aston. There was nothing I could do about Kaelin and Graham at the moment—but it didn’t stop me from the twisted feeling in my gut and the strong suspicion I was making too many wrong decisions.