“I climbed.”
“From the second floor?”
Athena nodded. “Yes. The arrangement of the various roofs made it easy enough.”
Kairo stared at her and then over at Isidore.
“Athena studied gymnastics for years as a child. She has a wonderful sense of balance. She’s also been rock climbing many times,” Isidore quickly reassured Kairo. While he wasn’t fond of the idea of his sister climbing along the roof of the house, he wasn’t overly worried for her safety.
The mercenary sat on his bed. “If you could get out from your window so easily, why didn’t you escape? Go down the mountain and get the police?”
Oh, that was a good point.
“You think I would leave my brother here alone?” Athena gasped. She sat on the mattress opposite Kairo and leaned forward. “Nothing in this world could make me leave Izzie behind. Izzie is the only family I have left. I will never leave him or put him in danger.”
Kairo gave her a very pointed look, wordlessly reminding her that her disappearing act was likely going to get Isidore punished by Vanko. Athena shrank.
Isidore huffed and stopped trying to close his shirt. For the second time, his fingers had fumbled over the little buttons, placing them in the wrong holes so that everything was crooked. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Or I will be fine. Vanko might knock me around a bit, but he’s not going to kill me. He still needs me alive to get the algorithm.”
A soft sigh escaped Kairo and he stood. Isidore’s breath left him in a rush when Kairo started to unbutton his shirt. Isidore tried to stop him, but Kairo simply brushed his hands aside and continued his work while speaking. “Vanko is not allowed to knock you about any longer. Those days are done now that I’m here. I won’t tolerate it.”
“But—” The rest of his argument dried up in his throat at a dark warning look from Kairo while those nimble fingers danced up his chest, sliding each button into its proper hole. Heat suffused his cheeks and burned the tips of his ears. In his lifetime, he’d had plenty of people help him dress, but this felt so very different. Protective and almost possessive. But Kairo couldn’t be those things. That was silly.
And yet he couldn’t rip his eyes away from Kairo’s.
Couldn’t form a single word.
“You will not allow yourself to be a punching bag to protect me or Athena or anyone else. Never again, Isidore.”
“I…” he managed in a choked whisper, but Kairo was already finished with his shirt and turning toward Athena, who was also watching the exchange with wide eyes.
“But I would appreciate it if you would not make my job of keeping Isidore safe more difficult.”
Athena immediately nodded. “Yes. Of course.”
Kairo returned to his spot on the mattress while Isidore fought through the fog in his brain to order his thoughts. This wasn’t right. Not at all. “Wait. This isn’t why I hired you. I want you here to keep Athena safe. Not worry about me.”
“It will be much easier to keep your sister safe if you are safe as well,” Kairo argued, effectively silencing Isidore. That was a fact. Athena had risked her neck climbing up the outside of the house to the third floor simply to see him.
“Is there anything I can do to help you?” Athena asked.
Isidore sat down next to his sister again and took one of her hands in both of his. She was his only close family left in the world. Sure, they had a mountain of aunts, uncles, and cousins, but no one they were particularly close to. After their parents had died, their extended family had been upset to discover that all their family’s money had been left in a trust to the two children. Since they weren’t going to get rich, they were happy to wash their hands of the orphaned siblings.
Athena was going to do great things in this world, and Isidore was prepared to do anything to make sure Athena had a shot at that bright future.
“Not at the moment,” Kairo replied with a shake of his head. “The best way you can help me and Isidore is to stay in your room and not do anything to piss off Vanko. Make him forget that you even exist so that all of his attention is on Isidore and me. We’re still formulating a plan, and it will take some time to get everything in place.”
“He has more mercenary friends who can help as well, but he needs to get a message to them,” Isidore whispered in her ear.
Athena looked from him to Kairo, her full lips parting slightly. “They’ll rescue you?”
“They’ll rescue all of us.” Kairo said it with such confidence, not a single waver of doubt entered his voice or showed on his face. He believed completely in his companions, and something inside of Isidore swelled for him. It was nice that he had people he could depend on like that. Even nicer that they’d work to save all of them before fully understanding the situation. “I’m sure they’re already following what clues they could find to Europe, but I’d like to make their job a little easier if possible.”
There was no time for Isidore to ask his sister more about how she was doing or anything else. The door was thrown open yet again, and Isidore could only heave a soul-deep sigh. Could they not give him just a few minutes to visit with his sister?
Vanko was in the lead, gun out and face red. The bodyguards behind him were a mix of angry and embarrassed. Isidore was willing to bet it was thanks to this tiny woman slipping right past them.
Kairo climbed to his feet first and moved in front of them, blocking Vanko’s path.