White Rabbit: The Rise (The Kingmaker Saga Book 1) Read online

  A treat for when she deserved one.

  And there was no better time for sweets than when avoiding a jail sentence.

  It wasn’t the arrest, necessarily, that had bothered her the most over the past couple of weeks since it happened, but rather the fact that she still didn’t know whether the police had caught her there by chance, or if it had been by design.

  Either way, she wanted to see Uilleam.

  She wanted to know whether it has been his doing—if he ever intended for her to get any evidence against Paxton or if he only wanted her out of the way. Had the police been there because it was a part of his plan all along?

  She had so many questions and not enough answers.

  But there was no way she could get anything when she couldn’t actually find him.

  Until then, she would just enjoy breakfast.

  She followed the hostess through the restaurant and out the side door that led to a patio with more than a dozen of tables, the majority of them already taken. She found a vacant one just to the left of the middle, but as she took her seat, her phone chimed.

  Camilla had already suggested—demanded, really—in that no-nonsense way of hers that Karina should take some time off after everything. It was left unspoken that Camilla thought she had gotten too close to this one, and she hadn’t been able to admit as much until after Paxton was arrested and she felt like her work was done.

  It was something she didn’t want Karina to repeat again.

  But Camilla didn’t know that, in part, it was because of Uilleam that she had stayed on it so relentlessly. And though things had gotten a little muddled in the middle when she had been far too focused on one-upping Uilleam, in the end, it had still been about Paxton going to prison.

  So if it wasn’t work calling, then there was only one other person it could be.

  The one phone call she really didn’t want to answer.

  She reached for it but changed her mind at the last moment. Katherine would just have to wait until she was in a better headspace to explain what all had happened.

  The ringing tapered off, just long enough for the waiter to come and take her drink order before disappearing again.

  The silence of her phone had her breathing a sigh of relief.

  If only for a second.

  Because not even a moment later, her phone was ringing again.

  Once was forgiven, but she knew better than to ignore it a second time.

  Karina plucked the phone from her bag and answered. “Hello, Mother.”

  Even though the rational side of her knew that the woman on the other end couldn’t possibly see her since she was home more than three thousand miles away, she still sat up a little straighter and smoothed her hair back off her shoulders to make sure not a single strand was out of place.

  Appearances are important, her mother would say.

  “Karina, darling. It’s been a spell, hasn’t it?”

  Only Katherine could load a seemingly innocent question with meaning. Her tone didn’t have to change for Karina to know her mother was disappointed in their lack of contact.

  She should have called her at least once over the past few months to keep her informed of the work she did here in New York or what she might have heard, considering Paxton’s very public arrest.

  That quickly, she didn’t feel like an adult working and in control of her own life, but rather the same little girl she had once been.

  For a moment, she was back at Ashworth Hall, her head tucked forward in shame, too afraid to meet her mother’s stare, but she also hadn’t wanted to see the looks the other girls would give her.

  One of her greatest weaknesses—she cared too much what others thought of her.

  “The paper has kept me busy,” she answered simply with as much of the truth as she was willing to admit to at the moment.

  Because while she thought she might have garnered some strength and power during her interactions with Uilleam, one conversation with Katherine would have her believing she had not only made a complete fool of herself, but she had gained nothing in return.

  Worse, she knew she wouldn’t be completely wrong.

  “Too busy to let your poor mother know how you are?” she asked, and though Karina wasn’t in front of her, she could almost imagine the quirk of her brow as the question hung between them.

  “I’ve spoken to Isla,” she returned softly, her gaze scanning the immediate area, wishing the waiter would return to give her an excuse to end the phone call.

  Though Katherine enjoyed her lectures and would much rather hold her here until she answered all her questions, she would frown upon anyone on the phone in a restaurant.

  Manners were most important her.

  “I’m aware,” Katherine said, to her surprise. “She keeps me updated.”

  While she might have attempted for that to be used as a slight, the admission came begrudgingly. Isla might have called her, and had probably mentioned her and Karina speaking, but she had her own reasons for keeping their mother updated with all the sordid, seedy details of her life.

  If only because she knew it got a rise out of her.

  “I promise to call when there’s something worth calling about,” she said, though she wasn’t sure when this moment would be exactly.

  She had thought that call would center around Uilleam and everything she had found out about him, but he had managed to slip through her fingers much too quickly.

  “I’ll be expecting it in two weeks’ time. Otherwise, I might have another business venture I want to put you on.”

  Karina couldn’t dignify that with a response.

  At least not one that wouldn’t get her into trouble.

  Forcing a smile, Karina nodded to herself. “I’ll call you, Mother.”

  “Looking forward to it, dear.”

  She was so focused on ending the call that she hadn’t noticed the shadow that fell over her table until the seat across from her was pulled back and a man wearing an impeccable suit and opaque sunglasses sank down in the chair across from her.

  It was all she could do not to look surprised by his sudden presence. As if the mere thought of had conjured him. Worse, she had been so distracted with Katherine that she had stopped paying attention to her surroundings, which even allowed him to get so close in the first place.

  A mistake she couldn’t make again in the future.

  “Radiant as always, poppet.”

  God, that pet name. “What do you want?”

  Her eyes dropped to his mouth before the question fully left her mouth.

  The troubling thing about Uilleam was that he had a beautiful smile. One that radiated warmth and genuine amusement, and every mischievous thought in his head.

  Even as was impossible for her not to feel something when she saw him, she at least wanted that feeling to be anger. Because while she might not have been forced to stay in jail, she had still been arrested and left to sit at a desk for nearly an hour.

  “I thought you would be happier to see me,” he commented thoughtfully with a casual tilt of his head.

  “Do the tormented ever feel joy when they’re faced with their tormentor?”

  “Is that what you think this is?” he asked, his movements far too graceful for a man like him. From the way he unbuttoned his suit jacket as he sat to the way he rested his hand on the table, offering her a clear view of the antique-looking silver ring on his finger with an engraved R in the center of it. “Torment?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “I don’t ask about things I don’t care about,” he answered back bluntly. “It’s a waste of time.”

  She shrugged, fully content with not giving him an answer at all.

  But he didn’t seem to like that very much. “I thought it was clear by now that everything where you’re concerned matters to me.”

  That … was not the answer she was expecting from him. “You had me arrested,” she reminded him as if he even needed it.

  He nodded
in understanding. “Ah, is that what you’re upset about?”

  Did she really need another reason? “Do I really need another reason?”

  “I considered that a choice, poppet. I didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want. It would completely defeat the purpose of the deals I make.”

  “Pet names aren’t going to win you any points with me, Uilleam. And the way I see it, you didn’t make a deal with me.”

  “Yet this one made you smile all the same,” he responded just as quickly, only addressing the first part of her statement.

  Was this what it felt like to be annoyed yet utterly charmed by someone? She couldn’t say whether she liked it or not.

  “You had me arrested,” she repeated dryly.

  “Were you?”

  “It’s something I don’t think I’ll forget.”

  His smirk was still firmly in place as he looked just past her, lifting his hand ever so slightly before giving a nod of his head. She only managed a couple of seconds of regarding him before she turned to look over her shoulder, curious who he was gesturing to.

  Her answer came in the form of a rolling trolley carrying a number of dishes, all of which she was pretty sure she hadn’t ordered. It was only after her waiter returned with both a drink for Uilleam and the bottle she had requested did she finally gather that he was the reason the waiter came back so late.

  Of course, he wouldn’t find anything wrong with his actions.

  “Just how long have you been here?”

  “Long enough.”

  She glanced past him, looking for any sign of Skorpion. “Have you been following me?”

  He picked up his glass and took a sip, the muscles in his throat working as he swallowed. “I suspect you and I both know the answer to that, don’t we?”

  Of course, but what bothered her most was that she hadn’t known he was there.

  She was sure she’d recognize a face like his even in the midst of a crowd. Yet she hadn’t seen him until he was ready to make his presence known.

  “Yet you still haven’t told me what you wanted.”

  He merely arched a brow, his silence speaking for him.

  He wanted her—his presence here confirmed that.

  “I’ve come to make you an offer.”

  “Yeah, right … After what you just pulled?”

  He gave a slight wave of his hand. “I gave you what you wanted, no? Your article has been featured everywhere, and Paxton has been arrested.”

  “You had me arrested!” she hissed at him, careful to keep her voice low.

  “Were you really, or had you just appeared to be detained?”

  That … made her pause

  So it had all been by design.

  A product of his own making.

  Some part of him had known they would end up here.

  “You don’t think you should have clued me in to that fact beforehand?”

  Instead of responding, he gave her another of those shrugs. He was impossible.

  They were interrupted by the waiter returning one last time, now setting a tray of warm croissants in the center of the table before disappearing again.

  “I want you to go out with me.”

  Karina sort of froze where she sat, staring across at him. She almost believed she hadn’t heard correctly. “You’re not serious.”

  Maybe this was just another part of his game …

  “Why wouldn’t I be interested in you?” he asked with a little tilt of his head as if the answer evaded him.

  That shouldn’t have made her feel as good as it did.

  “We’re opposites, for one. You help people break the law—I make sure they get what they deserve. Those two sorts of people don’t mix.”

  “Yet we’ve been getting on quite well. Don’t tell me you haven’t enjoyed this back and forth between us.”

  She wanted to say there was nothing between them, but as she hesitated over her answer, she realized that wouldn’t be quite true.

  Whether she was ready to admit it to herself now or not, there was something between them.

  Something that had made him turn against his own client.

  Something that had him helping her when he had absolutely no reason to do so. In reality, the decision would have harmed him had she been someone else.

  Something that had her doing things she never thought she would.

  And maybe that was it.

  Had either of them been someone they weren’t, she doubted the pair of them would be here now.

  “So tell me,” he said a moment later, raising his drink to his lips. “Where would you like to go?”

  “Not anywhere with you.”

  “Without me,” he returned easily.

  He wouldn’t be so easily deterred.

  Karina could think of almost a dozen different restaurants off the top of her head that she had wanted to try, but she wanted to save those though she couldn’t put a reason to why just yet.

  Instead, she blurted out the first outlandish place she could think of. “Paris,” she said a moment later. “If, for whatever reason, I was going out with you, I’d want to go to Paris.” She paused, long enough to watch that answer sink into his mind.

  “A beautiful city,” he agreed with a nod.

  “And blue roses.”

  “Sorry?”

  She rested her elbows on the table in front of her, leaning forward, smiling a bit at the way his gaze dipped down her front as if he couldn’t help himself.

  “Blue roses,” she repeated. “If you’ve ever seen them in person, you’ll know how beautiful they are. Unique. And only certain florists get the dye just right so they look natural.”

  She wasn’t sure when her obsession with the flower had started, but from then on, they had become her favorite.

  He smiled as if he were charmed by her. She liked the softness of his expression, and the way it made him look younger.

  She’d suspected he was young already—certainly younger than she’d originally thought before she’d put a face to the name—but when he smiled like that, showing off the dimple in his right cheek, she thought he was closer to his early to mid-twenties than older.

  “Duly noted.”

  “So, you see—”

  “Paris can be arranged.”

  Karina practically choked on her drink. “Sorry, what?”

  “When would you like to leave?”

  He said it as if it had all been decided already.

  “Paris?” she asked, unable to hide her disbelief, still holding the breadstick suspended in the air. “It was just a suggestion.”

  Of all the things in the world he could have said, that didn’t even factor on the list. Sure, some part of her had thought—wondered—whether he would ask her out, whether he had that type of interest in her.

  An interest he’d been all too willing to show her that night in the club.

  But beyond that, he hadn’t made any other advance toward her. It had all been rather … businesslike between them.

  “And I want to make it a reality. It’s beautiful this time of year,” he said, sounding as calm as she was astonished.

  He didn’t seem to think anything of the offer either. As if it was nothing for him.

  “I … I can’t just go off to Paris with you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Even if I ignored what I do know about you, there’s a lot that I don’t.”

  “Let’s see about changing your mind where I’m concerned.”

  That shouldn’t have thrilled her at all.

  Not even a little.

  16

  Promises are Promises

  Her mind was a powerful thing even when she wasn’t conscious.

  Because deep in the throes of her slumber, she dreamed of him. Saw the sardonic curve to his lips. Could almost even feel his fingertips when he’d skimmed them over her jaw.

  The promise of darkness in his eyes was an aphrodisiac she didn’t just want to see. She wanted to taste it
. Feel it.

  In her dreams, it was always offered as a choice.

  He extended a hand and waited, daring her to accept everything she didn’t know and more still.

  She needed to embrace the black world he lived in.

  The only thing she had to do was take his hand …

  Karina woke with a start, lurching up, her heart in her throat, the pounding force she felt in her chest echoing through the rest of her. Waking up nerve endings she hadn’t felt in a long time.

  She blew out a heavy breath, shoving the slightly damp strands of her hair back out of her face while trying to get herself under control.

  The last threads of the dream finally loosened their hold on her and slipped away. She was alone in her apartment, and everything was as it had been the day before and the three that came before it.

  Uilleam had disappeared, as he was prone to do, and despite his surprising presence at the bistro, she hadn’t heard from him since.

  Something akin to regret swept through her as it had the moment she’d declined his offer. She hadn’t known that would be the last time she’d see him. If she had, maybe she would have answered differently.

  She didn’t like admitting to herself that she was a bit too enthralled by him. Too curious. Too eager.

  Especially now that it was all over.

  She put it to the back of her mind as she got ready and headed to work, resisting the urge to check her phone every few minutes.

  But standing in the back of the elevator, watching the numbers tick by on the monitor in the upper right-hand corner, she wasn’t sure how she would get any work done with this distraction she felt.

  As the doors opened, she settled in for a long day ahead—for as long as it took her to notice the pop of blue resting on the corner of her desk.

  A little voice niggled at the back of her mind, but she refused to listen to it as she ventured closer, his gaze focused solely on the vase of blue roses that were waiting for her next to her computer screen.

  They almost didn’t look real with the deep shade of blue that seemed impossible, but when she reached out to touch one, feeling the buttery softness of the petals, she knew they were real.