Maraveet shot the lowly little box a wary glance, but made no move to pick it up.
Frank took that moment to enter the room. His navy suit was streaked with black. His face was sweaty and his hands looked like he’d reached into a hearth full of ashes. Dark eyes, narrowed with more irritation than Killian had ever seen on his face rounded, on Maraveet, who conveniently pretended not to notice.
“Sir, it seems your sister has decided to drop in for a visit,” Frank muttered.
“How are things outside?” Killian asked instead, smothering his own grin.
“Coming together slowly.”
Maraveet nudged the tea box an inch to the right with the tip of her finger, still avoiding Frank’s withering stare.
“I’ll come out with you.” Killian turned to Juliette. “I’m going to go make sure someone hasn’t scorched holes into the side of the house. You can wait upstairs if you’d rather not have to deal with that.”
“Oh, don’t be like that.” Maraveet pouted. “I promise not to eat your pretty bird.”
Juliette laughed. “Go ahead. I’ll be fine.”
With a light touch of his fingers along her arm, Killian followed Frank out of the kitchen. He paused once they were far enough away not to be heard.
“Stay with them,” he told the man. “Make sure Juliette doesn’t kill my big mouthed sister.”
Frank narrowed his eyes. “If you’re sure, sir.”
Killian chuckled. “She does make it tempting, doesn’t she?”
Frank dutifully said nothing.
Chapter 20
“Come closer,” Maraveet coaxed once they were alone. “I promise I’ve sheathed the claws.” She rapped her blunt nails on the marble countertop as though to prove it.
Juliette smiled. “I’m not worried.” She crossed to the island and took a seat on the stool. “Killian tells me you travel a lot.”
“A bit.” She continued to drum her fingers while eyeing the tea box.
“I can make that for you, if you like,” Juliette offered.
“Lord, no.” Snatching up the box, she shoved it back inside the cupboard and shut the doors with a crack. “I’d never forgive myself.”
She was very pretty, Juliette observed, studying the other woman. Not exactly movie star gorgeous, but she had a sultry glow about her, like the sort of women who modeled Victoria Secret lingerie. She certainly had the figure for it. But it was her accent that intrigued Juliette most. It was every country and no country. It was as though every word that left her mouth held a different twang. Juliette had never met a person like that.
“What do you do?” she pressed on, fascinated by the only other person besides Molly that Killian had in his life.
Maraveet seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, because the question gave her a visible start. Her green eyes shot to Juliette with an almost accusatory frown.
“You’re a bit nosy for someone who shouldn’t be here.”
The venom in the comment slapped her across the face. The burn of it stung her cheeks and her jaw dropped. She blinked at the woman.
“Excuse me?”
Maraveet’s piercing stare intensified. Her mouth opened and Juliette instinctively braced herself. But whatever Maraveet was about to say was silenced by the shuffle of feet. A moment later, the same man who had grabbed Juliette up by Killian’s office ambled into the room. Blood was smeared across his chin. It streaked down the front of his dark coat. His eyes still seemed glazed, but he stood before them, sheepish.
“Ma’am, I—”
Maraveet put her hand up, stopping his apology. “No need for that, Robert. You’re fired.”
Juliette was stunned by the calm declaration. But Robert hung his head and staggered back out the way he’d come without a single word.
“That was a bit harsh, wasn’t it?” Juliette remarked, horrified by how cold the other woman was.
“No,” Maraveet said simply. “I hired him to protect me. Instead, he went down with one punch. I expect better of my men.”
While understandable, Juliette still couldn’t wrap her head around how easily she’d done it. It made her think of Killian firing John and Tyson for those exact same reasons.
Maraveet exhaled when several minutes passed and neither of them could think of a single thing to say. “How did you meet my brother anyway?”
“He saved my life.”
“That’s different. How?”
She found herself telling Maraveet the whole story. Everything from being indebted to Arlo to Killian offering her the contract. She wasn’t sure what possessed her to do it. It wasn’t as though it was any of the woman’s business, but once she started, it all just poured out of her. At the end, she smiled softly and gave a little shrug.
“Like I said, saved my life.”
Maraveet seemed unmoved, but Juliette could see thought churning behind those green eyes. She wondered if her story was getting analyzed and dissected, though she couldn’t fathom for what.
“You probably reminded him of her.” It was said so low, Juliette almost didn’t hear it.
“Who?”
Maraveet straightened. Her head turned a fraction in Juliette’s direction, pinning her to her stool.
“His mother.”
Aside from the statue outside the front doors, Juliette hadn’t seen any photos of Killian’s parents. There were no photos at all, which hadn’t seemed odd to her until that moment. But the statue’s face didn’t look a thing like Juliette’s. She was fairly certain they didn’t even share the same height. It made no sense to her how she could possibly remind Killian of a woman that looked nothing like her.
“I don’t understand,” she said at last. “What does his mom have to do with—?”
Maraveet’s expression grew wary. She squinted at Juliette.
“He hasn’t told you about what happened?”
Juliette involuntarily stiffened. “You mean about how she was attacked?”
“She wasn’t attacked!” The outraged shout made Juliette jump. “She was brutalized. She was tortured and mutilated and raped for two solid weeks by a pack of gutless animals who only used her to make a point.”
Juliette shuddered, not just from the image, but from the chill that seemed to be wafting off the other woman the way it rises off a chunk of ice. It swarmed around her, biting and fierce and Juliette shrank back in her seat.
“Saoirse McClary was murdered in the worst possible way any woman could ever die,” Maraveet finished with a slight hitch in her voice.
“The people who…” She didn’t want to say raped. She hated that word. Hated hearing it. The very sound of it felt violating. “Who hurt her, what happened to—?”
“Dead.” Blunt and without mercy. “And the world is better off.”
Juliette nodded in agreement. “Who were they?”
Maraveet averted her eyes, but Juliette saw the fire burning behind the green, turning them to polished emeralds.
“Yegor Yolvoski.” The name spat from her lips the way one might spit out poison. “Inbred son of a bitch and his two good for nothing sons. There were others involved, but Yegor was the one who ordered the kidnapping. He took Saoirse right off the street.”
The lunch she’d eaten hours before churned in the pit of her stomach. The contents felt soured and wrong. But she swallowed it back.
“Why?”
“Because of weapons and greed.” Maraveet shook her head as though the thought disgusted her. “He and Callum, Killian’s father, were in business together for years before Saoirse found out that Yegor was putting guns in the hands of children and her husband was helping transport it. Yegor was one of the most powerful arms dealers in the world. Nobody could touch him. But Saoirse would have none of it. She dragged me and Killian into Callum’s office one afternoon and screamed at him about how would he like it if those were his children being armed, being killed. I had never seen her so angry. Callum just sat there staring at us. Killian and I were eight or nine so I didn’t understand, but Callum broke his agreement with Yegor. He pulled his contract. I’m not sure how, but the coast guard got word of the weapons and Yegor got arrested. For years it was unclear whether Callum had given Yegor up or if his time had finally run out, but Yegor saw it as a betrayal.”