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Her voice is soft, tentative, like she’s trying to gauge where my head’s at. But I can’t tell her everything. Not yet. Kir’s her family. And I won’t taint that until I know for sure what the fuck all of this means.
“Orwe could just go to bed,” I growl quietly. “And I don’t mean to sleep.”
Freya grins, her lips curving in that way that always gets to me, and for a moment, the world feels lighter. But even as I hold her, my thoughts return to The Lindqvists and Kir. William’s vendetta. There’s something I’m not seeing yet.
“Hey,” Freya whispers, her hand sliding down my chest. “You’re distracted.”
I exhale slowly, brushing a thumb over her lips. “Just thinking.”
“About?”
I could tell her. Shearguablydoeshave a right to know, considering that this is tangled up in both the toxic family she was born into and the one she found later.
But, no. I bite it back, locking it away with the rest of the shit I haven’t told her yet.
“It’s nothing,” I lie. “Just dumb work shit.”
But deep down, I know this isn’t over.
The past never stays buried. Italwayscomes back to haunt you.
It’s only a matter of when.
39
FREYA
“Freya?”
I startle from my thoughts, glancing up over the rim of my coffee to Kir and Damian, sitting across the table from me. We’re sitting outside a little coffee and tea shop near the Philosopher’s Path bridge, between Kyoto University and Higashiyama Jisho-ji, the famous Zen temple.
Kir and I are sipping coffee. Damian has a neon pink bubble tea sitting in front of him that looks ridiculously comical against his formidable and downright dangerous appearance.
Kir arches a brow at me as I blush and clear my head.
He and Damian are leaving for New York today. Part of me feels bad that I haven’t spent as much time as I could have with them while they’re here. Even when I have—like right now—it’s been hard to focus on anything else when Mal is so deeply rooted in my thoughts.
In myeverything.
“The server…yeah.” I frown, setting my cup down. “Itdoeslook like someone definitely tried to get in. They didn’tfullysucceed, but the fact that they even got close is concerning. Whoever it was, they’regood. Really good, actually.”
I scowl. I mean IbuiltKir’s network, from the ground up, layering his cybersecurity myself. For someone to even be able toattemptto breach it is troubling. Maybe I’ll reach out to Cain and see if I can bounce some ideas off her.
“Did they get anything?” Kir asks quietly, his voice laced with tension.
I shake my head. “Nothing was copied or downloaded that I could see. But I’m going to massively reinforce everything. Whoever it was, they’re good. I’m not taking any chances.”
Kir lets out a low breath, his shoulders relaxing just a fraction. “All right. Keep me posted.”
Kir excuses himself to the bathroom. Damian stays silent, his purplish gaze stabbing into me until I can’t take it anymore.
I exhale with a sigh. “Okay,what.”
His brows furrows. “I’m not going to hold back, Frey.”
I smirk. “Do you ever? Fine. As if I don’t already know what’s bugging you: proceed.”
“Okay, fine. I don’t like your psycho fucking boyfriend, there-I’ve-said-it.”
