Bloodbound: The Alliance
Chapter 46 - 50

Chapter 46: Chapter 50

Avara POV

We are all seated together at the outside table, enjoying authentic Moroccan cuisine. The slow-roasted lamb dish is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. However, Vance and Landen are not present for this dinner, and that kind of makes me happy. I’m glad they’re having some quality bonding time together. I only hope Landen is behaving himself. Unlikely. After the main course, we’re each served baklava. This sweet and crisp confection is composed of layers of flaky pastry, sweet honey and lemon glaze, and a walnut-cinnamon filling.

Silas frees a loud moan. "This is definitely my highlight of the trip."

Mr Vacheron lets out a curious sound. "And here I thought it would’ve been your sister’s proposal."

Silas pauses with a mouthful of baklava in his mouth, bloating his cheeks. "Why would her fake engagement be my highlight? Perhaps it would’ve been if she actually loved who she’d be marrying."

I release a cough, nearly choking on my dessert.

"Silas," dad snaps in reproach.

Silas huffs, looking like a kicked puppy.

Once we’re excused from dinner. I rush to the glass doors that lead back to the main house, nearly colliding into Luciano.

Luciano backs away with the utmost of drama. "Damn, sorry sis." He gestures to the doorway with an outstretched arm. "After you, please, as long as you don’t shove me again."

I give him a look. "Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be... mean. But it wasn’t Kelsey on the call. That’s why I pushed you away."

He waves it off good-naturedly. "I’m only teasing."

I clap a quick hand on his arm as I pass him, heading upstairs to my room. When I’m inside, I close the door behind me, going over to the bedside table. I grab my phone and I flop over so I’m lying on my back on the bed, calling the last number on my call log.

A few heartbeats pass before he answers.

"Can’t keep away, can you?"

I liberate a laugh. "I’m scared if I don’t check in with you regularly. You might show up in my room again."

A deep chuckle runs down the line. "That wouldn’t stop me. I always come back for what is mine."

"Is that your way of saying you’re going to crash Bahadur’s party?"

A beat of silence.

"No," he says truthfully. "I can’t. I have a lot of... work to catch up on. I’m even scheduled to go overseas in a few hours. But make no mistake, no matter where I am, I’m always watching."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"So if I was in trouble... you’d come?"

"Faster than light."

I move back to slouch up against the headboard, eyeing the curtains of the canopy bed.

"Well, I’m in deep trouble..."

"What’s wrong?"

"I miss you."

He frees a pained groan. "Don’t do that to me."

"It’s too bad... if you didn’t carry around an outdated flip phone... I’d show you just how much I miss you."

He lapses into a fraught silence. One moment becomes many.

"Keep talking like that and I’m going to have to cut my business trip short."

Giggling, I flip over again, utterly restless.

"So tell me what work you are doing?"

He sniffs. "Work."

"What work?"

"I’m not going to tell you."

"Because it’s illegal?"

He doesn’t respond.

"Or...because you think I’d think the worse of you? I hate to break it to you, but that ship sailed when you put a gun to my head."

"I didn’t do that to threaten you," he says in an angered rush. "I did it to teach you."

I fall back on my rear again. "The lesson went over my head, teach. Could you give me the clip notes instead?"

"The lesson was to teach you that you’re going to have to do things you don’t want to do."

My brows draw together, suddenly pensive. "Like what... kill someone?"

"Leave that part to me. Everyone has made you believe that you are a bargain in this alliance. A prized object to be given. But you are the catalyst. That’s why they need you. It’s much more than marriage or money."

I lift myself straight. "Then what? Why can’t you just tell me instead of teasing me with these vague, doom-and-gloom statements?"

"I didn’t mean to upset you."

I slide off the bed. "If you were tasked to watch me years before the alliance... that tells me already that this is more than just a marriage. I just don’t know what. Everyone doesn’t treat me like a prized object... They treat me like a porcelain doll. Even you."

I notice that I’m pacing feverishly between the breadth of the room.

"Even me?"

My eyes fall on the balcony. "Yes..." I walk over to the double doors, opening only one to pass through. "Even the slightest pressure will make me break. Whatever my father is doing for the Yakuza, he has roped my brothers into it like it’s some kind of family business. Everyone knows everything but me. Only I’ve been left in the dark. My dad even admitted it because I guess I’m too innocent, too naive, too weak."

"You are anything but weak," he says sternly, like he’s offended for me.

I hold the phone between my shoulder and ear as I move to push myself onto the thick ledge of the railing. I shift to lean my back against the wall, extending my bent legs on the head of the ledge, overlooking the starlit garden under the ceiling of the cosmos.

"You have a strength in you that you’re yet to discover. I see it... every time I look at you. And one day, you will see it, too."

My heart fills with warmth, my insides turning into a furnace.

"Don’t think that cute sentiment will get you out of this. Where are you going and why?"

He chuckles again, the sound like distant thunder billowing across the sky.

"My Bella, I give orders. I don’t take them."

"Oh yeah?" A smile tugging at my lips. "Not when it comes to me."

"I was told that Bahadur booked out a hotel for his guests. However, I was also informed that you were all taken to a secondary location. A private estate."

"Wow. Maybe I should tip-off Mr Vacheron so he can hire a new team? One that’s not compromised."

"I’d only infiltrate it again."

I grin, shaking my head amusedly. "He literally bought a whole mansion just for this trip because apparently six-star hotels are beneath him. So... I’m doing a fitting tomorrow morning for the party tomorrow night. Apparently, Mr Vacheron had my dress custom-designed weeks ago."

Botan says nothing.

"Gosh, I can even feel the jealousy from the screen."

"I’m not jealous."

I scoff in disbelief. "No?"

"No," he says icily. "What I feel is something much darker."

My eyes widen at the mere intensity in his voice.

"I’m going back to Japan," he discloses with a tightness in his voice. "I’m going there to be briefed on my next operation. And because Haru wants to see me, personally."

"Does that happen often?"

"No, that’s why I’m obligated to go."

"How long have you worked for him?"

"My whole life. I’m only devoted to two people in this life. He’s one of them."

I hum considerately. "Who’s the other?"

"You know the answer to that."

We keep talking, and time unravels around us, slipping unnoticed into the quiet spaces between our words. I have no idea how much time has passed but it must’ve been a lot because in the distance. I see headlights flashing from the other side of the gate. I watch from the balcony as two cars journey inside, rounding the water features before they pull up to the staircase. The car door flings open, unleashing a riot of drunk laughter.

"Bobo, I’m gonna have to go..."

"Bobo?"

"You get to call me Bella. I get to call you Bobo."

"No."

"Oh, yes." I pull the phone away to drop it near my lips, making a kissing sound. "Goodnight, Bobo. Call me again when you’re safe in Japan."

I end the call, hopping off the ledge. I walk out of the balcony, tossing my phone on the bed on my way out. I scamper down the staircase, hurrying to the open front door with staff members nearby, not knowing how to intervene if they should render aid but still remember their place.

"Seriously?"

Landen has collapsed on the bottom step. Vance is laughing hysterically, half hanging out of the backseat of the BMW. I beckon the guards to help me with them. Two hulkish men march over. The one hoists Landen to his feet like he weighs nothing. The other scrapes Vance out of the car, letting him wrap his arm around his shoulders to lend support.

"Your father is not going to be impressed."

Landen laughs, allowing himself to be hauled up the stairs. "That’s why I did it."

I watch from behind as they take the boys to their bedroom. A drunk Vance is another person entirely. He’s like a really oversized toddler, giddy, goofy and grinning. I’d be amused if I didn’t fear their fate once their father gains knowledge of this.

"You should come with u–us," Vance offers from over his shoulder, hiccuping. "And we can have a sleepover! Just the three of us."

"Ooo," Landen cheers from the front. "That’s a naughty idea—I love it!"

I gape at the thought.