Riccardo Silva was a snake hiding behind a gorgeous face. His dark, curly hair draped over his forehead and set off his blue-green eyes and warm olive complexion. He wielded his smile like a knife—shiny, beguiling, and deadly, without a hint of warmth.
I couldn’t see much behind him on the video but it was clear that he was aboard a ship. “Hello, Riccardo. I see you’ve chosen to hide like a coward while the expendables do your dirty work.”
“Oh, that’s rich coming from the daughter of a High House. You’ve been having expendables fight your battles for millennia. Maybe you really are the stupid one. Bianca was far more clever.”
I’d have to care about what Riccardo thought of me for that barb to hurt—and I didn’t, at all. My older sister was clever. I was proud of her. I just wished she’d killed this asshole when she had the chance.
I would not make the same mistake. And I would happily use his assumptions about me to my advantage.
I subtly waved my fingers to tell the others to start evacuating the civilians without taking my eyes off the screen. “Did you call to surrender?” I asked sweetly.
His laugh was not nice. “Hardly. But if you and Evelyn Rockhurst cede control of your Houses to me, then I won’t turn Serenity into a smoldering ruin.”
Battle cruisers weren’t really designed to attack planetary targets but Riccardo had enough weapons onboard to ensure the threat had teeth. The city held nearly a million people and a lot of them were hunkered down in their homes. We didn’t have enough shelters for everyone and an evacuation would take too long.
I did the only thing I could: I played dumb. The timer in the corner of my glasses counted down as slowly as stars burned out. I needed to stall to give Benedict time to arrive.
I blinked at Riccardo in confusion. “But if we turned over our Houses, then you would run the Consortium.”
Riccardo’s expression tightened as he tried to determine whether I really was that stupid. But this time, my reputation worked in my favor. His smile was wide and vicious.
“Perhaps we could run it together,” he offered, all charm. “As empress, you could buy as many gowns as you like.”
I frowned. “I don’t think Father would like that.”
“I’ll deal with your Father.” The threat was unmistakable.
Around me, the room fell silent as the last civilians left. A glance at the surveillance video showed that we needed to leave, too, or we’d be trapped.
“Can I think about it?”
“This is a one-time offer. Take it or leave it.”
I pouted prettily at him. “That’s not fair.”
He wavered, but in the end, I wasn’t a big enough prize to change his mind. “Sign over your houses or Serenity dies.”
I dropped the act. “Your campaign to take over the Consortium will run into some trouble if you kill the very people you’re trying to persuade.”
His expression twisted. “We don’t need your help; we need you gone.”
I raised one eyebrow. “You’re not exactly convincing me that you’ll let the city stand after we sign over our assets. And have you relayed that sentiment to Hitoshi?”
I watched him closely and picked up on the subtle surprise in his expression before he smoothed it behind a slick smile. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“What did you promise him? Or was murdering his father enough to secure his cooperation? He’s too smart to be there with you now, but I think he might find this video enlightening, don’t you?”
“Hitoshi knows his place.”
Well, now, that was interesting. I almost wished I was recording this so I could send it to Hitoshi.
“I will speak to Evelyn and let you know our decision in an hour.”
“You have thirty minutes to sign the contract I’m sending. After that, I open fire on the city. And if you made the mistake of calling for reinforcements, I’ll be more than happy to shoot them down if the orbital defense doesn’t get to them first.”
I let my lip curl at the threat, but internally, I was shocked. He didn’t know we’d taken down the defenses. I wanted to keep it that way, so I responded to the initial statement. “Thirty minutes isn’t enough time for me to return and track down Evelyn, much less look over a binding contract.”
His smile was not kind. “Then you’d better hurry.”
“I guess I will.” I disconnected the call without another word and checked the timer. Ten minutes had passed since I’d sent the message to Benedict. He would receive it in twenty minutes, but he wouldn’t make it to Earth before Riccardo opened fire.
Despair threatened, but I drowned it with resolve. Chaos wouldn’t stand a chance against a battle cruiser, but I’d have to try. If I caught a transport and flew straight there, I should be able to get in the air and make myself a target before my thirty minutes were up. Maybe I could buy the city enough time for Benedict to arrive. Riccardo seemed like the type who enjoyed toying with his prey. I would just have to make the game interesting.
“We’ve got to go now,” Alex called from the doorway. The room was empty and I could hear distant shouts from the hallway.
Moving sent fire burning through my shoulder and I hissed out a breath.
Alex noticed my pained expression. “You okay?”
“The hole in my shoulder is reminding me that I’m still alive.”
“Come on, I sent the others on ahead, but we’re about to have company. Can you run?”
I grinned. “Faster than you.”
We dashed into the tunnel leading back to the science building. I wasn’t faster than Alex, not with a hole in my shoulder, but I kept up. We came around the final corner and found our way blocked by the door.
The closed door.
“Did the others come this way?” I asked.
“Yes. They specifically said they’d leave the door open.” Alex cursed harshly. “One of those assholes we freed must’ve known about this door and didn’t want anyone to follow. Ungrateful bastards. Let’s go back. There’s another exit.”
“To the north,” I said. We nodded in agreement and ran back.
Only to run into a hail of stun rounds at the corner before the main intersection. Alex grunted as he went down, but I couldn’t stop the scream as my shoulder lit up in fiery agony.
A group of six soldiers in Syndicate uniforms laughed and jeered. “That was almost too easy, but you know I’m not going to turn down the bonus,” a female voice taunted. The other soldiers agreed, already talking about how they’d spend the promised credits.
They rolled me over and secured my arms behind my back, yanking extra hard on my left arm. I bit my lip hard enough that I tasted the metallic tang of blood, but I didn’t give them the satisfaction of another scream.
I used the eye tracking to hard-wipe my smart glasses and lock down my com. I hoped Alex was doing the same thing. A moment later, the soldiers stripped me of both weapons and glasses, but they missed my com.
“Wiped,” a male voice said in disgust. “His, too.”
Two soldiers hauled me up by my arms. Pain darkened the edges of my vision but I gritted my teeth and willed my body to recover from the stun rounds. Next to me, the soldiers were having trouble lifting Alex’s muscular form. I smiled, and based on the way the soldier in front of me stepped away, it was probably bloody and half-crazed.
My fingers tingled. I curled my toes in my boots. Soon.
The soldiers finally got Alex up. He met my gaze, eyes clear and cold. He was furious. “Remember what I taught you?” he asked, his voice a whisper.
I nodded once.
“On my mark.”
The soldiers shook him. “Shut up or we’ll gag you.”
Progress was slow, but the soldiers didn’t seem to mind. They talked and laughed and spent their imaginary credits on alcohol and tech and companions. I remained limp in their grasp even after feeling came back into my limbs.
“Now!” Alex barked.
My arm ached, but I poured all of my pain and anger and worry into relentless determination and yanked my arms apart with a shout. My cuffs snapped and I wasted no time in standing and driving a full-force punch into the face of the soldier nearest me.
She crumpled.
Alex snapped his cuffs and rose with a roar, an angry bear out for blood. The soldiers, lulled into a false sense of safety, didn’t react fast enough. Without surprise and stun bolts to protect them, we were too fast and too strong and everywhere.
By the time we were done, the floor was littered with a half dozen bodies. Alex looked around, then wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close, being careful of my arm. “You were amazing. I’m so proud of you.” His mouth slanted over mine, hot and fierce, and I pressed up to get closer.
We broke apart far too soon, but we needed to escape before another squad found us. I retrieved my weapons and glasses while Alex did the same. We edged down the hall, taking care to avoid being ambushed again.
The northern door was at the top of a tall stairwell, and it had a working control panel. The door opened on the first try and dumped us into a dim building interior, thankfully empty.
Twenty of my thirty minutes were already gone. If I was lucky, Benedict was about to get my first message, but the jump coordinates would put him an hour out, and there was no way I’d make it to Chaos in time to prevent Riccardo from attacking. If we hauled ass and didn’t run into any trouble, we might make it back to the tunnels leading to the stronghold before the worst of the attack hit.
And I was just as likely to sprout wings so I could fly there.
I had pulled out my com to let Marta know to expect an attack when it beeped and vibrated with three short pulses, repeated multiple times. The gates were finally processing messages and the emergency ones were coming through first.
Momentarily distracted, I scrolled through the messages, looking for the ones from my siblings, my heart in my throat. When I found the first message from Ada, tears flooded my eyes. She and Loch were okay, as were Rhys and Veronica. They’d been evacuated by Rhys’s security staff just before the bombs went off. They’d made it out with only minor injuries from the explosion.
“What is it?”
“Ada is okay. So is your friend Rhys. They escaped just before the blast hit.”
I blinked through the tears and kept scrolling. I found Bianca next. She’d been off grid and had only heard about the attacks afterward. She was frantic for news, but she and Ian were unharmed. Ferdinand had also checked in but without any details of where he was or what had happened.
Hannah was alive but injured. She’d lost one of her guards in the attack and had taken a blaster bolt to the stomach, but the private retreat she’d been at had a top-of-the-line medical facility. She was expected to make a full recovery, but she couldn’t travel for another day or two, much to her annoyance. She told us not to worry, not that we would listen, and that she’d be home soon.
Which meant the only one I hadn’t heard from was Benedict.
It had never occurred to me that my brother might not survive the war, not really. He was larger than life, indestructible. He’d always been there for me when I needed him. My plan hinged on him because I was so sure he’d be okay—he’d been fine a week ago. Evelyn hadn’t mentioned anything when I’d talked to her. Had there been a battle that went unreported?
I swallowed my sorrow and sent Marta a message. I couldn’t deal with her on a voice link right now. I hit send and a tiny hiccuping sob worked its way past my control.
Alex pulled me into his chest and wrapped strong arms around me. “Who?”
The dam broke and tears streamed from my eyes, running down the hard planes of the armor Alex still wore. “I haven’t heard anything from Benedict since before the attacks.”
“I’m sure it’s just a communication problem,” Alex said soothingly. “He’s too cocky to die.”
That surprised a shaky laugh out of me because it was entirely too accurate to be a guess. “You know Benedict?”
“I briefly met him when I helped Bianca rescue Ferdinand.”
“I’d forgotten about that.” I wiped my eyes. “Even if it is a communication problem, it blows up my plan. Riccardo is going to nuke the city in less than ten minutes.”
“Then we need to move.”
I agreed, even though it felt futile. I’d tried my hand at leading and my failure would cost a million people their lives. The weight of that disaster threatened to crush me. But Alex had risked his life to help me, and I knew he wouldn’t leave without me. I might feel like giving up, but I’d never risk his life, too.
We ran.
The base was still in chaos, but it was slowly fading as Marta ordered our troops back to safety. Avoiding patrols slowed us down and we were still hopelessly deep in enemy territory when the sky lit with fire. I stopped and stared, entranced by the beauty of death.
The shots never landed.
They weren’t attacks on Earth, they were attacks in space.
The com in my hand vibrated and I cried at the name on the display. Benedict. Without a word, Alex pulled me into the shadow of a nearby building and sheltered me with his body. My hands shook so much that it took me three tries to answer the voice-only link. I kept it on speaker so Alex could hear. “Benedict?” I croaked out.
“Hey, sis. Sorry I crashed your party early, but I decided to jump in a little closer to home. Thanks for taking down the defenses for me.”
“I thought you were dead! Why didn’t you message me?”
“I did!”
“You didn’t!” I countered.
“The com drone must’ve gotten lost. But I’m here now. And so is Richard. I may not care for the bastard, but he’s fierce in battle.” He paused and barked something unintelligible to someone in the background, then came back on the line. “And it looks like Ferdinand’s battle cruiser just joined the party. I hope he realizes that Rockhurst is an ally. Get me a line to him!” he snapped at someone.
“Riccardo is threatening to fire on Serenity. If you could prevent that, I’d appreciate it. And Hitoshi’s Vermillion is up there somewhere. I don’t know if he’s onboard, but he’s not an ally.”
“Don’t worry, Cat, we’ve got Riccardo tied up and we’re keeping an eye on Vermillion. I don’t suppose you could take the gate down again so neither of them can jump away?”
I choked out a laugh. “No, you jerk, I almost died getting the gates up. I’m not going back until it’s firmly under RCDF control again.”
“It’s good to hear your voice, Cat,” he said quietly. “You did well; I always knew we could count on you when the time came.”
Emotion clogged my throat. “You, too, Benny.” He groaned at the nickname and I knew my job was done. “Stay safe. I expect to see you on the ground soon.”
“I’ll have this wrapped up in no time at all,” he boasted. More seriously, he continued, “My shock troops are loading up now, so you’ll see them landing in a few. Tell our people not to shoot them, if you don’t mind. See you soon.”
“See you soon. Love you.”
“Love you, too,” he said before he disconnected.
I stared at the com in my hand. When I looked up, Alex was smiling broadly.
“What?”
“You did it.”
I waved a hand. “Benedict and Ferdinand and Richard are the ones doing all of the heavy lifting.”
Alex shook his head in disbelief. “Are you kidding? You, who persuaded us all to return to Earth to fight, then single-handedly ended a war, plotted how to retake Serenity, executed the plan perfectly, and got the gates back up, despite setback after setback, you didn’t do any ‘heavy lifting’? Do you even hear yourself right now?”
He was right. I’d spent so much time hiding my differences that I often tried to diminish my own successes, to the point that it had become a habit—a bad habit. One I was going to work on breaking, starting right now. I smiled at him. “You’re right—I’m a badass.”
“Fuck yes, you are. It’s about time you realized it.”