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MY PHONE RANG.
A few birds took flight, their feathers rustling in the leaves of leering trees. My empathetic illness throbbed in my blood, fanning out, searching for signs that Nila wasn’t far from me. That I had time to do what I needed. That all of this would be over.
Shutting the top of the laptop, ceasing the email chain of instructions I’d been sharing with Kill, the Pure Corruption president in Florida, I swiped on my phone and pressed answer.
The number signalled the caller was at Hawksridge.
Nila?
My heart thundered. Please, be okay. “Jet speaking.”
“Kite, it’s me.” Jasmine’s worried voice came down the line, scattering fear in an instant.
Shit.
I loved my sister, but her call wasn’t good news. Even though she wasn’t close by, and our only connection was the phone, I sensed her panic and horror. My condition amplified her terror, injecting it directly into my bloodstream.
My hands curled tighter around the device. “What happened? Where’s Nila?”
My heart raced as Jaz swallowed a sob. “They took her!”
What?
My legs shot me upright. “Who took her?” I winced, gripping my healing side as agony flared. Stupid fucking question. Not waiting for an answer, I growled, “Where did they take her? Where, Jasmine?”
Tears tainted her voice. “Bonnie was secretive all morning, not letting me leave my room, saying we had important things to go over. She wouldn’t let me go downstairs. She wouldn’t let me go to Nila’s quarters.”
My fingers clutched the phone like a mortal enemy. “Get to the point. Spit it out, Jaz! Where did they take her?”
Jasmine cried louder, wrapped up in her own grief. “I can’t believe I did it, Kite. I grabbed a pair of her flower cutting scissors and demanded the truth.” Disbelief and horror lurked in her tone. “I wheeled up to our grandmother and threatened to kill her if she didn’t tell me. I’ve become as bad as they have. I’m the same as Cut!” Her sobs came louder. “I’ve become them.”
Shit, I don’t have time for this.
Rage at her timewasting battled with my need to calm her. All her life, that’d been her ultimate fear: turning into Cut. Forgetting her humanity and being swept up in the evil romanticism of debts and death and blood.
Lowering my voice, I forced myself to remain calm. This was my sister. My blood. My fear for Nila was equal measure to my loyalty to Jasmine. “You’re not the same.”
Dashing into the tent, I grabbed the backpack with already packed essentials. “You did what we both should’ve done years ago. So what you threatened her? We should’ve killed her for the things she’s done. She’s the catalyst in all of this, Jaz. Not me, not you, not Kes. Not anyone. Her.”
Breathing hard, I stuffed last-minute necessities into my jean’s pocket and plotted a new plan. “We’re putting things right. If we have to kill to do that, we will.”
Jaz hiccupped, tears still clogging the line. “I just—I’ve let you down. She knows I’m on your side now. The way she looked at me, Jet. All this time she let me get away with things I know you would never have been permitted to. She indulged me as I’m the only girl. But she knows now. She knows what I truly think of her. I’ve ruined the trust you told me to gain.”
Her voice broke. “You asked me to keep Nila safe. You gave me a task. And because I’m stuck in this fucking chair, I let you down.”
I slammed to a halt.
My stomach twisted; it took everything inside to keep my voice level and not wobble with guilt. “Jaz...you’re in that chair because of me. It was selfish of me to put so much on you. You did keep her safe. You dealt with Bonnie all these years. You got Cut to change the Debt Inheritance. That’s fucking huge. The rest is on me.”
“No, no it’s not.”
Sudden wrath hijacked my hand—I pummelled a fist into a sapling. “Yes, it is. I had her in my arms a few hours ago. I thought I knew best. I stupidly thought I had time. I’m a fucking idiot. I’m to blame. Not you. Never you. Understand?”
Jasmine didn’t reply.
My time had run out. My voice lowered to a soothing whisper. “I can’t comfort you. Not yet. It fucking kills me that you’re dealing with this on your own but, Jasmine, I need you to spit it out. Where did they take her?”
Diamond Alley?
The integration house in Devon?
Where?
Jaz sniffed loudly, shoving aside her grief. “They’ve taken her to Almasi Kipanga.”
“Fuck!”
My mind swam with images of our mine. The cavernous caves and labyrinth of chiselled pathways. Our fortune had come from there. Our name. Our titles. Everything we had came from the dirt.
Almasi Kipanga.
Swahili for Diamond Hawk.
“When? How?”
“I don’t know. But they took her. They left hours ago. I checked with air traffic control. The plane left on route to Chad then to Botswana. You’ll never make it in time.”
Everything inside went ice, ice cold. “In time for what, Jaz? What else do you know?”
I paced in the clearing, going out of my fucking mind.
“Bonnie took great pride in telling me Cut will make her pay the Third Debt the moment they get there. And the Fourth Debt the day after...Jethro...they plan on carrying out the Final Debt by the end of the week.”
Motherfucking shit.
My mind ran wild, calculating time zones and travel distance.
Even if I left now and there was a charter leaving immediately, I would still be hours behind. I would be too late to prevent the Third Debt.
My heart crumbled to ash.
How could I do this to her? After everything she’d already lived through. How had I failed her so fucking spectacularly?
Christ!
Shrugging into the backpack, I vowed I wouldn’t let Nila suffer anymore. Fuck the plan. Fuck timing.
I won’t give up.
“I’ll take care of it.” My voice was a tombstone. Even as I swore I’d save Nila, I knew the truth. The awful, disgusting truth.
Kes had done what I couldn’t and saved her from the Third Debt. He’d held her. Comforted her. Been there for her while he protected her from being raped.
All of that had been in vain.
He’d been shot because of me.
He might never wake up because of me.
I wanted to slaughter my father with my bare hands. I wanted to tear out my heart because no matter what I did, I would fail Nila.
She would pay the Third Debt.
And she would hate me forever.
My knees wobbled as I gasped in agony. I’d condemned her. I was the one she would blame. How would she recover from that? Why would she ever want me again after I left her alone?
She would never be mine again, but I would never let my father execute her.
Six days.
My father wanted to kill the love of my life in six fucking days.
My plan had just escalated.
I will stop this.
Even if it meant dying alone and unwanted because of it.
“How! How will you take care of it?” Jasmine screeched. “They’re in fucking Botswana, Kite!”
My jaw locked, and I stormed toward Wings. He stood obediently, hidden in the tree line. Neither tethered nor saddled, he looked up when I got closer. His black eyes gleamed with ancient knowledge, so smart, so empathetic. He sensed my turmoil. He knew what I was about to ask him and he didn’t hesitate.
Moving toward me, the giant animal placed himself sideways for me to mount. No rope or bridle, just a bond between man and beast.
“I don’t care if they’re at the ends of the earth. I’m going after them.”
Grabbing a fistful of Wing’s mane, I tucked the phone under my chin. In a practiced move I’d done countless times, I leapt upright and swung my leg over Wing’s back.
My side bellowed, but I ignored my discomfort, focusing on the pain I’d caused Nila by making her return to the Hall without me.
Stupid. So fucking stupid.
Wing’s silky coat offered no friction against my jeans. I’d been raised riding bareback. I’d spent many nights building a relationship with my horse. He would obey and fly wherever I needed.
The minute I was seated, he burst into a gallop. I bent low, gripping with my thighs.
Run.
Faster.
My rucksack slapped against my back as Wings flew toward the Hall. Wind stole Jasmine’s voice, but I caught enough. “Jethro, what are you going to do?”
The noonday sun drenched Hawksridge, mocking my choices and who I’d become. I vowed this would be over soon. That Nila would be in my arms. That my brother would wake from his coma. That my sister might finally find peace.
So much to fix.
So much unhappiness to erase.
Wings gathered more power, shooting faster than any bullet across the paddock. My legs tightened, my heart pounded, and my fury crescendoed into a breathable entity.
Cut had made his last mistake.
I’m coming for you.
“I’m going after her, Jaz. And this time, I’m going to fucking end it.”
