To his credit, Kage only froze for two seconds before he recovered.
He straightened and faced me, his mouth relaxing into an easy smile. “Christian. What are you doing here?”
Despite his casual tone, I saw the emotions play out in his eyes.
Surprise. Panic. Fear.
“I had some free time. Decided to check in on my best employee.” My smile matched his.
His eye twitched at the word employee.
We stared at each other, the air taut with the scents of rusted iron and brewing violence.
Now that we were face to face, I allowed my emotions free reign for the first time since I saw Kurtz’s email.
Kage was my oldest employee. My right-hand man.
Once upon a time, he’d saved my life, and he was one of the few people I’d trusted.
His betrayal twisted around my insides like barbed wire and squeezed out drops of blood.
One drop for every meal we’d shared, every conversation we’d had, every problem we’d tackled together and every tough situation we’d pulled each other through.
The crimson pool filled my stomach with acid and ate away at my armor until grief and another twinge of regret over what I had to do peeked through.
I eased a breath through my lungs.
The armor rebuilt itself and trapped my floating emotions back in their cage.
Five seconds. That was the longest I allowed sentimentality to stay.
“What was it?” I broke the silence. “You wanted a higher salary? More recognition? A fucking thrill because you’re so goddamned bored?”
Kage dropped the playing dumb act.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about you.” Resentment leaked into his words. “If it weren’t for me, the company wouldn’t be where it is today. I’m the one who runs the day-to-day operations while you jet set around the world with your fucking private plane and fancy hotels. Yours is the name on the door. You’re the one everyone fawns over. You’re the CEO, and I’m a fucking employee. I’m not your partner. I’m just a soldier in your command. Every time I go somewhere, people only ask me about you. I’m sick of it.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I was almost disappointed the reason for his betrayal was so pedestrian. Envy and resentment were as mundane as I used to think love was.
But that was the thing about humans. Their most basic emotions were the most dangerous.
“More recognition, then,” I said mildly. “Enough that you would run to our biggest competitor and fuck over your friend and what you said you helped build. You could’ve talked to me, but you fucking didn’t. That doesn’t make you a hero, Kage. That makes you a goddamn coward.”
Kage had helped me in the company’s infancy, and he played an integral role in the company’s operations. I’d compensated him extremely well for both those things over the years.
However, Harper Security flourished not because of its operations but my contacts and the cyber arm I’d built. Kage had little interest in networking and even less knowledge of cyber development. His reasoning was flawed.
The only thing he was right about was my distraction. I would’ve caught onto him sooner had it not been for Stella.
I’d had a tiny inkling since the Deacon and Beatrix accounts, which he worked closely on, but I’d brushed it off in lieu of more important matters.
“At least Sentinel appreciates what I’m doing for them, and I got to see you brought down a notch. It’s been fun playing spy. Sabotaging you from the inside and you didn’t even know it because you were so caught up with your fucking girlfriend while I kept the company running.” Kage’s smile iced over. “You haven’t treated me like a friend in a long time, Christian. You treat me like a dumb lackey you can just order around. Like you wouldn’t be lying dead with a bullet in your head if I hadn’t saved your ass.”
The memory flickered in front of my eyes.
Colombia, ten years ago. Things got messy with an arms dealer and I’d found myself in the middle of a shootout.
I still remembered the sweltering heat, the rapid-fire gunshots peppered with shouts, and the force of Kage yanking me out of the way milliseconds before a bullet pierced the back of my head.
He’d been guarding a corrupt local businessman, and we’d shot our way out of an impossible situation.
Now here we were, a decade later, on the brink of another shootout.
My eyes were on Kage’s, but my attention was lasered in on the bulge in his waistband and the press of my gun between my hip and the small of my back.
“Personal is personal, business is business,” I said coolly. “When we’re working, you are an employee.”
Kage’s eye twitched again.
“I assume the Deacon and Beatrix accounts were also your doing.”
“I did what had to be done. Sentinel was getting antsy after Magda turned out to be a dud.” He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t suppose you’ll tell me what’s so special about that painting after all?”
“Keep it a mystery. Makes life more interesting. The question now, of course…” My voice softened. “Is what to do with you.”
I did not tolerate traitors. I didn’t care if they were friends, family, or someone who saved my life.
Once they crossed that line, they had to be dealt with.
Silence pulsed for an extra beat before Kage and I pulled our guns and fired at the same time.
Gunshots exploded, followed by the clang of metal striking metal.