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Ali opened his mouth to respond, but his head jerked back as the first rock caught bounced off his forehead. It was the first of many. Zeke threw one after another. A large one hit his nose, and we heard the bone break. Another oozed blood from his temple.
The three of us were like kids throwing a baseball as we slammed stones into the man.
Soon, Ali’s screaming halted, and his head hung to the side, his blood-covered lashes flickering slowly.
Cyrus pulled a rag from his pocket and filled it with a few rocks. He walked to the car trunk and dosed the rag with gasoline before returning to Ali. Yanking his head back, Cyrus pushed the burning cloth into Ali’s mouth and laughed as he watched his head burn.
Chapter 23
Azadeh—Age 29
Present Day
“You know Dariyus is going to kill you for not calling him instead of The Cinders, right?” Zeke whispers in my ear as we get off Lev’s private plane.
“Briar is having a baby. My brother doesn’t need to be worried. We’ve got this. Besides, Alaric is good at all the espionage stuff and has more connections than Lev.”
Zeke laughs. “Don’t let Lev hear you say that.”
We were briefed in the morning before we piled into the jet. The group holding my sister was called SALT, a religious cult that kidnapped children and young women. They didn’t take Mona for their usual reasons. Mona was being leveraged for money. We still didn’t understand how they got her since Lev’s house is secluded and has a state-of-the-art surveillance system. There was nothing on the monitor to show it was even them who took them.
“Why did you think I was working for The Cinders in the first place? Alaric’s connections from the club have come in handy. He’s made some strong connections with the black market in Iran. I wanted it. Besides, they’re fantastic guys who were in a shitty situation.”
Zeke chuckles. “Good guys don’t fuck their stepmother and kill all her husbands.”
I glare at Zeke. “It’s complicated. Trust my judgment, okay? They aren’t that bad. Besides, without them, I doubt we’d have a concrete plan. Lev has blueprints, but Alaric has a way in. Apparently, the leader is a frequent patron of the club. Into some funky shit, too. If the man has a cult, why is he bothering to find services that cater to his brand of crazy?”
“The cult is pretty new,” Zeke says. “Maybe he’s in the good guy stage. Not that I’ve accumulated enough power to show you all the crazy I’m about.”
“We’re going to see Markus Issacson,” Alaric states. “He’s the one in charge of Mona’s care.” He turns to Lev. “You have the money?”
“Yes,” Lev says. “One billion dollars.”
My heart drops to my stomach. “One billion dollars? Lev, do you even have that kind of money?”
Alaric laughs. “Levinston is worth one hundred billion dollars. You don’t know who his parents were? The Cartwrights were filthy rich. Generational wealth in astronomical amounts.”
I’ve always understood that Lev had money, but apparently, he has God-like amounts of money.
Zeke bends and whispers in my ear, “You were a kept woman and didn’t even realize it.”
I glare at him. “Pardon me?”
Zeke laughs. “Who do you think paid for you to go off and save all those women?”
If someone punched me in the face right now, it would feel less shocking. “What do you mean? I was working with various organizations. Ex-military and martial arts experts. I worked with humanitarians.”
I looked at Lev, standing with one of Alaric’s hired guns.
“He paid for it all, Az. He said that if you were going off to do foolish things, he’d ensure you were safe. He gave them all explicit orders to leave you alone unless you were in danger. Their entire purpose was to protect you. He’s spent billions over the years.” Zeke drapes his arm around me. “I told you, you’re his security blanket. He was mostly fine until you went to Iran. That’s when he lost his mind and made some unfortunate decisions, like taking Mona.”
“I wish he’d shown Mona his face. She might not have run off if Lev had told her it was him the whole time. I have no idea why he didn’t.”
Zeke kisses my cheek and pulls me close. “Love makes people blind, deaf, dumb, and stupid. He couldn’t see anything other than you. He regrets his choices. You probably won’t be able to forgive him, but you should. His broken pieces are a little more complicated. Besides, he didn’t have you to help him like I did. Not when he was young, scared, and alone.”
Lev stands straight as he speaks with Alaric. He’s focused, and I know that deep down, he’s kicking himself for what he’s done. If we get Mona back safe and sound, I won’t hold it against him. As much as a part of me wants to make him beg and wallow, a bigger part of me loves him too much to deny him. I’ll find other ways to punish him, but refusing him my love will not be part of the equation. I won’t break his spirit like his mother did.
A black limo pulls up to the hangar.
