NINETEEN - Thorn

NINETEEN

Thorn

The two garnets perch at the end of my desk, one diseased, one whole. Unfortunately, at the moment, I'm only drawn to the broken one. The other one is rich with red and black tones. While garnets are more beautiful after being cut and polished, they're more powerful in raw form.

Like me.

Angry ants march just beneath my skin, making my entire body feel too tight. Alana is out there, away from me. In danger, or at the very least, hurt. I blame Mathias for that.

I blame myself, as well.

The primal urge to track her down nearly has me rising, but first I need to determine her location. I hadn't figured on letting her go, so I currently lack the supplies to chip her. I won't make that mistake again and have already ordered Mrs. P to obtain the materials for me. Alana has only posted once, right after her father drove her away, and it was to smile and wink at the camera.

I turn and gaze out at the angry Pacific. Rain slashes the water hard enough that whitecaps spurt up as if ready to fight. Thunder claps with a harshness that rumbles through the stones of my dark castle, and the wind gusts a ghostly wail around my property.

Even the heavens are pissed I let her go.

Oh, she was mad.

I couldn't tell her about my illness. It's too early to expect full loyalty from her, and I'm sure she would've told her father. I can't have him learning of my weakness if he doesn't already know.

Justice strides in and plunks a mug of coffee at my elbow. "Feel anything with the new garnet?"

"Not yet." I'll take it to the servers later.

Justice turns to the full-screen plasma on the wall, where I have Alana's Aquarius Social account up. "Dude."

Did he just call me dude?

He leans against the doorframe, wearing his customary jeans and thick T-shirt. If he ever takes over this business, he'll have to step up and wear a suit. The thought cheers me. He drinks deep from his mug. "We'll find her and bring her home. Don't worry."

"What are you doing?" I ask.

He lowers the mug. "Supporting you. Being here for you. Being your fucking brother."

"I don't need support," I return.

He shrugs. "You do need a brother. Somebody who has your back no matter what." Leaning against the wall, he still appears deadly. "Alana is right. Your own brother shouldn't knock on your door."

Rumors had gotten around the boys about Alana saving Dermot's life by begging, and Kaz had reported in that several of them have started following her on Aquarius Social. We have their phones tapped just in case.

A couple of days here, just a couple, and she's leaving her mark. What will she do with decades? I grasp my mug and take a drink. Even that doesn't taste as good with her gone. It's like the light has deserted the entire property.

Justice cracks his neck. "Should we have put a hood on her head when we drove away from here? She was unconscious when we arrived."

"Yeah. Right. She knows she stayed in a castle by the ocean. Any helicopter can find us, Justice."

A frown darkens his face. "I'll up the security detail."

A new video loads on Alana's page and I stiffen, my heart speeding up as I turn to my laptop and prepare a tracing algorithm that I'll insert as a comment.

She smiles, now wearing a light yellow summer dress with sparkling aquamarine jewelry. Her hair is a free-flowing mane around her shoulders, and my fingers itch for a touch. "Hello, friends." Her throaty voice goes right to my dick. "I do apologize for being missing in action the last couple of days. I'm sure you heard rumors about a kidnapping at Martini Money's the other night, and they're true." Her eyes widen, and the green flecks stand out. "But I was rescued." She places a hand over her heart.

Justice straightens. "No. She won't—"

I can't determine much from her background and wait for the video to stop before loading my program.

She leans closer. "And guess who rescued me?" Her eyelashes flutter, and she looks every inch the ingenue. The damsel in distress with a sense of humor and more intelligence than most realize.

It's her joke. Her inside joke with her followers. They know it. They see it. They realize she's having fun and playing a part.

Yet I didn't. Oh, I saw her beauty and courage, and even her sense of humor. But not the obvious glint of genius in those eyes. No. I'd missed it, blinded by the absolute perfection of her form. And the taste of honey.

"Thorn Beathach, the reclusive owner of our rival, Malice Media, ripped me away from the flying bullets," she says with a flourish, her chin lifting in what my body takes as challenge.

My cock goes harder than any rock.

"She didn't," Justice breathes.

I sit back, my body humming. Misplaced amusement tickles through me along with awe. In one video, she's telling me, her father, and the Sokolov family to go fuck ourselves. While looking adorable and gaining energy like a tornado. Her feed is blowing up with exploding stars as her followers ignite.

She tilts her head. "I was with the reclusive billionaire for two full days, and boy, do I have a lot to dish." She winks. "Please explode-star this video so I know you want to hear more, and I'll return later today."

So many stars explode that they become a mass of sparks on the screen.

Justice yanks on his ear and chuckles. "She's using you to gain followers."

"And energy," I drawl, suddenly galvanized. The fact that she speaks Gaelic still stuns me. When did she learn? It's not in her school records. But she loves my library. Did she teach herself different languages just so she could read more books? It's possible.

"Let's get out ahead of this." He starts to pace. "You're an enigma to the world. A fantasy figure hidden away with your money and brilliance. Now you're a hero. We post about you now. On Malice Media, and take the moment away from Aquarius."

I like being obscure. "You want to put this ugly mug on our platform?" My scar alone makes me hideous to most people. Since I don't like most people, I'm fine with that fact. "We want more followers, not fewer, Justice."

He shakes his head. "Come on. Wounded badass in a suit? They write novels about guys like you."

Yeah. "It's called horror fiction." I dismiss the idea immediately. "No matter what she says, she didn't get any pictures." Nobody knows who I am, and I like my life that way. It occurs to me that when I take Alana again, for good this time, she'll need to acquiesce on that score. "She'll gain followers and interactions, but I have no doubt we'll earn interest as well." I explode one of her stars and plant my program, which quickly starts running on my laptop.

Oh, most people, even the US government, can't track her through the platform.

I'm not most people, and I channel the energy in Malice Media through our currently working garnets to give the algorithm an edge. Aquarius's programmers are good, and they'll spot it after it succeeds, then quickly close the door so I can't try again. I just need once. "How about you start an account and post your pretty mug for all to see?"

"No," Justice says. "I can't do my job if people know my face."

True enough. Justice is the best assassin in any of the organizations. I nod. "Very well, but we need to counter Alana's videos." She has the upper hand because of Aquarius's emotional-intelligence platform and her ability to project emotions. And now she's using me. However, we still have a better system because our neural interface allows users to share thoughts and emotions directly in real time. "She'd be unstoppable on our platform," I note.

He nods. "How about we pay the Rendale sisters a shit ton of money to debunk her claims about you rescuing her on our platform? We can say that she's lying to gain attention, and the Rendale sisters can look innocent and say they're posting on our social media system to set the record straight just because it's the right thing to do?"

The only threat to Alana is me. Nobody else. Period. "No, that would also help them out, and TimeGem is on our tail, and they're a bigger threat than Aquarius, by far."

Plus, if I am to demand her loyalty, she deserves the same.

The computers ding and I integrate a series of commands and locate Alana at Aquarius Social headquarters. Interesting. I would've bet she'd seek out her friends rather than dealing with business. Her father must not be giving her a choice. "She's at Aquarius. Send two details to cover her the second she leaves."

He lifts a hand. "Whoa. You sure you want to pursue war?"

"I'm just going to watch and protect from afar. I'm not giving the order to take her." If I know she's safe, I can focus on fixing this fucking garnet problem and the curse. My feet have frozen over, and I curl my toes to force blood into the tips. "Do you have plans tonight?"

"There's nothing on my calendar until we cure you," he says grimly.

A rare moment, a thump of emotion, shocks my heart. He's a good brother. "Then let's take the new garnet to headquarters and see what we can do." Nobody is as good with the interface as am I, but he's getting there, and just in case, I need to bring him up to speed. "I've already changed the language of the charter and the ownership percentages."

His shoulders go back. "I'm fine with my twenty percent."

"Too bad. Now you own thirty." If he has to take over with the garnet, I'll give him all of it. If not, it's still time to award him his due. "You're my only brother, and the only person in this world I trust, even if you do knock on my door before entering my home."

My computer dings again as the Aquarius techs no doubt find my plant. My connection shuts off abruptly. "I still have to head the Irish mafia, but you should take more of a role just in case the garnet kills me. I want you firmly in place so there's no challenge." The mafias make good foot soldiers for the four families. For mine, anyway. "Be ready to go in an hour."

"Copy that." He strides out of the room, his phone already at his ear as he barks orders.

I look at the frozen image on my screen and Alana's soft eyes before bringing up a feed from the video cameras in my library this week. She spent a lot of time in there. More than I realized. She's adorable when she reads. I zoom in and note that during her time with me, she read books in English, Gaelic, Latin, Chinese, Russian, French, and Spanish. And I'd thought her not a rocket scientist. She's smarter than all of the rocket scientists on my payroll right now. The woman must've taught herself multiple languages just so she could read more books.

The urge to jerk off takes me, and I shove it away. The only hand I want on my dick is hers.

I lift my phone to my ear and order it to place a call.

"Hey, Grumpy." Alana surprises me by answering, her voice a light sugary treat that zips through the phone line and into my mouth.

My blood heats. "Nice romantic swill you posted online earlier. Stop it, now." It's only fair to give her warning.

She snickers, and swear to the saints, my balls draw up tight. "Why? Which of your precious commandments have I broken?"

"All three of them." I settle back in my chair, my temper simmering. "You lied, because I'm no hero, and while here, you hid the fact that you speak and comprehend Gaelic." Which is both impressive and irritating as hell. "With your current video teases going on, you're obviously playing the rebel and thus defying me."

She sighs, and honey fills my mouth. "So that would be rules number one and three. Guess I missed the second one, huh?"

"Oh no, beautiful. Number two is to keep yourself out of danger. Pissing me off and challenging me is waltzing right into the cyclone's path. You're in danger, now."

I don't expect her to heed my warning.

She doesn't. "I suppose I'll be safe enough soon. Considering we're such good friends now that you're helping Aquarius Social by being the focus of my swoon-worthy emotional videos, I guess you should be included in my social events. Where would you like me to send your invitation to my upcoming nuptials?"