Chapter 35
Jina’s expression turned as if someone had just hit her stupid. I almost laughed.
She shook her head and then closed her eyes, groaning dramatically. “I want to hate this guy!”
“Yeah… you can try. Tell me if you succeed,” I said.
“He did this because of you?” she asked, her expression turning serious.
I nodded.
“He is… n man, he is obsessed with you. But does that mean he’s on our side?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you trust him?” she asked carefully, watching my every expression.
“You’re not going to protest?” I asked.
“He’s a powerful man on our side. What’s there to protest? But I would suggest we don’t let our guards down,” she said.
I nodded.
“But there’s another thing…” She waited until she had my attention. “Mila, do you like him?”
I blinked. My heart pounded. I wanted to protest that conjecture with all my might. After knowing everything, after seeing what he could do, I still felt safe with him. Unintentionally, he gave me something I had been missing all my life–a sense of freedom. A feeling that I could do anything.
My silence stretched as I looked at Jina, and she nodded as understanding dawned on her.
“What’s the second thing you wanted to tell me?” she changed the subject.
The second thing was about Patronus. I showed her the live CCTV footage of Patronus and what Killian was planning. The Mengs were our next problem- the fact that they were after KJM’s owner could lead to a lot of trouble. I gave her a rundown of what had happened at the club.
“I think we should move up the date for retrieving Patronus,” she said. “We should do it before your birthday. A few days won’t make a difference, but at the same time, we can move you to a secure location–just change the date.”
I was thinking the same thing, but changing the date meant completely depending on the fact that Killian would retrieve Patronus.
“And a few of us can cooperate with the Shadow Knights to make sure there’s someone you can completely trust on that side.”
“I don’t want him to know about this place,” I said. “I can trust him with me, but I won’t feel at ease if all of you get involved too.”
“Don’t worry, we can handle ourselves.”
“You can?” I asked, not believing she had said that now.
“Just me and Tong,” she said.
“You know Devil’s Lair wasn’t even that heavily guarded, and you were scared out of your wits,” I jabbed. I took back my laptop and shut it.
“I thought I was walking toward my death. Do you know what people on the dark web say about Shadow Knights?” She shivered.
“Why didn’t you think of that before going in alone?”
“I knew if I told you, you would walk in exactly like you did. We just happened to be lucky that Killian Knight has a thing for you. One day, I want details.”
1/3
Chapter 35
She was right, but I didn’t give her the satisfaction of admitting it. I got up from my seat and opened a drawer, taking out a small leather pouch and putting it in my bag with my phone. I packed everything up.
“So, will you talk to Killian?”
“Let’s see what I can do.” I zipped up my jacket, slung my backpack over my shoulder, and checked the clock. If I got there by 7, there was a chance my absence wouldn’t be noticed.
“One more thing I want to ask,” Jina sain ang in her chair as I walked toward the door.
“What?” I turned to look at her.
“Why Killian Knight?”
I gave it a moment’s thought and then sighed. “Whatever he is, sometimes I can’t believe it, but there’s something real about him when he’s with me,” ! said. “I think Theed something genuine.”
I walked out, leaving through the back entrance.
When I reached Anderson Mansion, the sun was up,
, and Josh was waiting for me at the backyard wall I usually climbed over when sneaking out.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Ma’am, I’m just here to inform you that you can go through the front.”
“The front? What about the cameras?” I frowned.
“They have been taken care of.”
“You can’t always disable the cameras, Josh.”
“Do not worry, ma’am. There will be no suspicion.”
I looked him up and down. “What about the residents being awake?”
“That has also been taken care of.”
Now I was curious about what they had done, but I knew with their/polite and short sentence structures, it would take time to get a full explanation. Sol didn’t bother. I had to see for myself. He escorted me all the way to the front porch. I nodded at him, and he left.
As I stepped into the lobby, there was no one–no housekeeping staff, not even my father, who usually woke up at five and by this time would be taking his morning coffee. It felt eerily like everyone had been abducted by aliens. Without any hindrance, I got to my room. Well, that was easy. I needed easy after the night I had.
I took a long shower, letting the hot water relax my muscles, and when I went to bed, I told myself I would just take a 10–minute break. Then I would go down and have breakfast. Everything would be normal. All I needed was 10… I yawned.
I turned over, my eyes flickering open as I glanced at the digital clock on my table. It said 10:50 AM. Oh…
oh!
I sat up, wide awake, looking around. No one had banged on my door! If it were any other day, even if I was late from 8:00 to 8:05, someone would be nearly breaking down my door. What happened today? Did Killian really kidnap everyone?
I quickly got dressed and went downstairs. The staff was setting up the breakfast table. Franny, Nicolai, and Adeline were all sitting there, holding their heads, sipping juice, and even the staff looked a bit out of it, with deep dark circles under their eyes.
“Franny.” I went to her side, and she looked up at me, rubbing her eyes and then her temple.
“My head… it hurts,” she moaned and put her head on my shoulder. I patted her head in a comforting manner.
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11:25 Thu, 10 Juli * O
Chapter 35
“What’s wrong?” I asked, confused.
“We probably came down with something. We all just woke up now,” one of the staff members said.
Just woke up now?
I got a déjà vu feeling. Hadn’t this happened before? At the beach house, when everyone woke up as if they had been… drugged. I restrained my expression as realization hit me.
That’s why no one was there when I came in. That’s why… that night… no one heard us.
I bit my lip and picked up a juice glass near me, taking a sip to hide my face as it heated up.
Killian Knight was truly… truly unbelievable.
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“It will pass, sweetie,” Adeline reassured Franny. Honestly, when she talked to her, it was the only time she truly sounded like a mother. “Anyway, Mila,” she tried to sound stern, but her words were still groggy from the drug’s effects.
“Yes?” I put down the glass and picked up a tissue, wiping my mouth.
“The service for your orphanage guardian is tomorrow. We’ll be leaving at 11.”
All the amusement drained from me.
I made a quick excuse about having a headache–it would be suspicious if I didn’t come down with something too, so it was kind of perfect–and went
back to my room.
25
At night, I set up my lower table on the balcony with a lamp, keeping all the lights off in my room. I texted Jina about tomorrow, letting her know I had to attend Grace Milton’s service.
Her reply came quickly. “Why doesn’t Killian just shoot Adeline and put us all out of our misery?”
I nearly spat out my wine.
I shut my laptop after reading the reports on the new trainee program. The moment I opened it, I saw all the added reports, even the ones they had deleted. OOP–Order of the Phoenix.
I shook my head. Kevin would make it too easy for people to detect things about us one day.
As I worked on repairing my cracked phone, I suddenly heard a creak in the air. I turned quickly, gripping the screwdriver like a weapon, my heart in my
throat.
A figure climbed over the railing and landed on my balcony. As he straightened, the dim light illuminated a familiar face.
“Killian!” I sighed in relief.
