Chapter 37: We’ll Make A Good Team
Kai Hawthorne.
Violet repeated the name in her mind. She searched through the memories of her past life, seeking any information about the man in front of her. But there was nothing.
A few seconds passed and Kai slowly retracted his hand.
It didn’t matter if she refused to shake his hand. What mattered was that she was here, alive and breathing in front of him.
Violet, the woman from his dreams.
For one month, she’d existed only in fragments and appeared in strange, vivid dreams that felt far too real to be dismissed as ordinary dreams.
The woman begging to be saved. The woman running from something only she seemed to understand. The woman who had warned him that the world was going to change.
The night he’d finally seen her face clearly was the night he’d begun searching for her. He couldn’t explain why he’d been so certain that he needed to find her, only that the dreams had become impossible to ignore. They were too repetitive, too detailed, too real.
And then he’d found her, closer than he expected.
She used a false identity to approach the same man Kai had spent months plotting against. The coincidence was almost laughable.
Now that she was sitting before him, his curiosity had only deepened.
There was far more to Violet Sullivan than he had initially suspected.
"Since when have you known? Why did you help me? What do you stand to gain from all this?" Violet asked, one after the other.
Seconds stretched. Kai remained silent.
Then, he glanced at the wine bottle sitting on the table and casually reached for it. He pulled the cork free with a soft pop.
The bottle tilted as he poured himself a glass.
Which question did she want him to answer first? More importantly, how honest did she expect him to be?
"I’ve known from the beginning."
Violet squinted. Impossible. She had been careful, far too careful, and had always ensured all possible holes were covered. "Am I supposed to believe that?"
"You were sloppy." The dark liquid caught the ambient light as Kai swirled the glass. "That bump was too fake, and the conversation that followed proved that it was planned."
His reply greatly unsettled Violet, but she tried not to show it. She remembered pushing the empty glass to him that night. Was that the clue that gave her away? If he knew, if it was that obvious, who else knew?
She flattened her hand on her lap. "Then why didn’t you expose me?" That was the most important question. "Why did you go through the strenuous process of fabricating documents to prove an identity you knew was fake from the start?"
Kai lifted a brow. "Strenuous?" He shook his head, settling his glass on the table. For someone else, that would be the best adjective, but not him.
When he stayed quiet, Violet let out a frustrated grunt. "That doesn’t answer the question, Mr. Hawthorne." Didn’t he set this up so they could discuss in private and he could answer all her questions?
Kai let out a quiet breath.
He wasn’t accustomed to explaining himself. People usually accepted what he gave them and left it at that. But the woman sitting across from him was different.
She didn’t accept half-answers and questioned everything, and strangely enough, he liked that.
"We shared the same goal." Kai rested his elbow against the arm of the chair, studying her. "The cause may be different, and the reward certainly isn’t the same, but the effect..." He paused, his lips curving faintly. "The effect we want is the same."
Violet’s brows drew together, then she asked, "And what might your reward be?" If hers was money, what was his?
Kai’s eyes glinted with amusement. "Want to take a guess?"
No. She wanted to strangle him. She noticed he seemed to have something against being straightforward, and that was becoming a problem.
She pressed one hand over the other on her lap, reminding herself that she needed to remain calm. This man currently holds all the cards. I can’t leave, not yet.
"I’d rather leave you the honour."
Kai’s expression softened, so briefly Violet could have sworn she imagined it.
"Leo took something from me." His expression changed slightly. "Something truly precious."
"Okay... so, umm... you want to take it back?" she questioned. She had accepted the fact that she had to decipher each and every word that he spoke. It was a hassle, but she didn’t mind.
Kai shook his head. "Everything." The cold edge in his voice didn’t go unnoticed by Violet. His jaw locked, and he stared into the space between them. "Everything he deemed important. And more."
Amid the coldness was a deep longing and pain.
Kai balled his fist, digging his fingers deep into his palm as old memories resurfaced. His gaze flickered over to Violet, and she involuntarily shuddered. "So how could I expose you when whatever you did benefits me?"
He didn’t tell her that he had lied to Leo and presented fake research results to him. Violet’s plan would have ended the moment it began if he hadn’t worked behind the scenes. He would not burden her with that knowledge. Not yet. He was curious about something else.
Something he couldn’t ask now. Even after conducting extensive research on her, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to her than she let on.
Violet wanted to ask what Leo took, but it was none of her business. He had answered all of her questions, and she wanted the conversation to end.
"I see." Was all she could say. "I guess I owe you my thanks." She would have been exposed earlier that afternoon without him, and for that she was grateful. "I assume you don’t want a share from the money, right?" she asked tentatively, she needed to be sure because she didn’t want to share with him.
Kai shook his head, and she let out a quiet breath.
"I want something else." He began, and almost laughed at how fast her expression moved from relief to annoyance.
"What?"
Kai remained silent, allowing the moment to stretch. "Let’s work together."
A frown appeared between her brows. "Why should we?" She was done with Leo Kings and Kierra Adams. She appreciated his help, but that was it.
"This won’t be your last time. There will be other targets, other identities, and as you know, two works better than one. We’ll make a good team."
She didn’t want a team. She was fine on her own. So she politely declined his offer. "No, thank you." It would be better not to associate with him.
"Why? Surely you have a good reason."
"I don’t owe you an explanation," she deadpanned.
"I didn’t expect a reply from you tonight. I’ll give you time to think about it. But keep in mind that if I protected your identity once, I can do it again, as many times as you want."
He was confident that he could be incredibly useful to her, and that was a fact Violet couldn’t deny. However, she was still at a stage where she couldn’t trust people.
Who knows how deep the wound will be when he stabs her from behind?
Besides, he looked too dangerous. The faint smile and playful glint in his eyes were a facade to hide something grand.
She shook her head more firmly. "I don’t want to. There’s nothing to think about." He answered her questions and she offered her gratitude, so the conversation was over. They had no reason to meet again.
Kai didn’t expect her to give in easily. It would definitely take a few more attempts to convince her, and he was fine with that.
He nodded. "I won’t force it, then." He resigned. He drank from his glass, emptying its contents. "Let’s have dinner, then." He looked around for the closest waiter, ready to beckon him over.
"Maybe some other time. I have to take my leave." She pushed her chair back and rose to her full height. "I hope you keep your word and this stays between us," she said, reaching for her purse.
"Of course," Kai said.
Violet inclined her head slightly and turned around. She could feel his stare burning a hole in her back, but she totally ignored it.
Kai knew he wouldn’t be able to stop her, so he merely watched her leave, curling his finger over the bottle.
This wasn’t the last time they would be meeting. She herself had mentioned dining with him another time.
Cold air slapped Violet’s face as she stepped out. She puffed out air from between her lips; a huge weight had been lifted off her chest.
Since Jen was away for the night, she had taken a taxi over and had to book one back to the suite.
She brushed some strands of hair blocking her eyes. She pulled out her phone and was about to open the screen when a rough hand pulled her from behind.