Unexpected Kindness

Unexpected Kindness
Iris POV

"Get in the car, children," Mom said, her voice sweet like poison.

I didn't move. Neither did Ian.

"Now," she added, and twenty guns clicked as her men aimed at us.

We got in the car.

Mom slid in beside us, still smiling that terrible smile. "Much better. Family should stick together."

"Where's Alex?" I demanded.

"Safe. For now."

The car started moving through Chicago's dark streets. I recognized some of the buildings, but everything looked different at night. Scarier.

"You can't just kidnap people."

"I'm not kidnapping anyone, sweetheart. I'm collecting what belongs to me."

"People don't belong to other people."

"In my world, they do."

Ian stared out the window. "Where are we going?"

"Home," Mom said. "Our real home. The place where this all started."

Twenty minutes later, we stopped in front of a huge mansion that made Alex's house look small. Guards stood at every door and window.

"Welcome to Kane Manor," Mom said proudly.

"Kane Manor? But Dad lives in a small apartment."

"Your father lives where I let him live. This is where the real Kane family has always lived."

We walked through giant doors into a hall filled with paintings and expensive furniture. But something felt wrong about the place. Empty. Cold.

"It's like a museum," Ian whispered.

"Museums are for dead things," I said quietly.

Mom heard me. "Dead things? Oh, darling, this place is very much alive. It's the heart of my empire."

She led us to a big room with leather chairs and a fireplace. Alex sat in one of the chairs, his hands tied behind his back. Blood trickled from a cut on his face.

"Alex!" I ran toward him.

"Stop." Mom's voice cut through the air like a knife.

I froze.

"Sit down, Iris. Both of you."

We sat in chairs across from Alex. He looked tired and hurt, but his eyes were still fierce.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"I've been better."

Mom walked over and stood behind Alex's chair. "Alessandro and I have been having such an interesting talk about his feelings for my daughter."

"My feelings are none of your business," Alex said coldly.

"Everything about my children is my business." She put her hands on his shoulders. "Tell Iris what you told me."

"I told you nothing."

Mom's grip tightened. "You told me that you've been lying to her. That you don't really care about her. That she's just a tool to use against her father."

My heart felt like it stopped beating.

"That's not true," I said.

"Ask him yourself."

I looked at Alex. His jaw was tight, his eyes angry.

"Alex? Tell me she's lying."

For a long moment, he didn't say anything.

"Alex?"

"It's complicated," he said finally.

"Complicated how?"

"When I first met you, yes. You were useful. A way to get to your father."

The words hit me like a punch to the stomach.

"But that changed," he added quickly.

"When?"

"The moment I saw you jump between those buildings. The moment you asked me brave questions even when you were scared. The moment you chose to save your father instead of yourself."

Mom laughed. "How touching. But actions speak louder than words, don't they?"

She walked to a desk and picked up a folder.

"These are surveillance photos of Iris at college. Alessandro's men took them three weeks before the attack on her campus."

She threw the photos on the table between us.

They showed me walking to class, eating lunch, studying in the library. Someone had been watching me for weeks.

"You were stalking me?" I whispered.

Alex's face went pale. "Iris, I can explain—"

"Explain what? That you've been planning to kidnap me for weeks? That everything you said about protecting me was a lie?"

"It wasn't a lie. Not all of it."

"Which parts were true?"

He looked straight into my eyes. "The part where I fell in love with you."

Mom clapped her hands slowly. "Bravo. Very convincing."

"It's the truth."

"Is it? Then why don't you tell Iris about the meeting you had with my people last week?"

My blood turned cold. "What meeting?"

Alex closed his eyes. "There was no meeting."

"Liar." Mom pulled out her phone and played a video.

It showed Alex sitting across a table from a man I didn't recognize. They were talking quietly, but I could hear every word.

"The girl will be delivered as promised," the man said.

"And our deal stands?" Alex replied.

"Kill Robert Kane, and Victoria Kane will make the Torrinos the most powerful family in Chicago."

"Done."

The video stopped.

I felt sick. "You made a deal with her to kill my father?"

"That video is fake," Alex said desperately. "Or old, or taken out of context—"

"The timestamp says it was recorded yesterday," Mom said sweetly.

"Alex?" My voice was barely a whisper. "Please tell me this isn't real."

He looked at me with eyes full of pain and regret. "Iris—"

"Just tell me. Yes or no. Did you make a deal to kill my father?"

For the longest moment of my life, he said nothing.

Then, quietly: "Yes."

I felt something break inside my chest. "Why?"

"Because I thought I didn't have a choice. Because she threatened to kill you if I didn't agree."

"So you chose to kill my father instead?"

"I chose to buy time. To find another way."

"By lying to me. By making me trust you. By making me—" I couldn't finish the sentence.

"By making you what?" Mom asked with fake concern.

"By making me fall in love with you," I whispered.

Alex's face crumbled. "Iris, please. Let me explain—"

"Enough." Mom clapped her hands twice.

Four men came into the room.

"Take Alessandro back to his cell. We'll deal with him later."

"Wait!" Alex struggled against his ropes. "Iris, you have to listen to me!"

But the men were already dragging him away.

"As for you two," Mom said, turning to Ian and me, "we have work to do."

"What kind of work?"

"The kind that will make our family whole again."

She walked to the fireplace and pressed something on the wall. A hidden door opened.

"Come along, children. Time to meet the rest of the family."

We had no choice but to follow her through the secret door.

It led to a room full of computers and maps and photographs pinned to walls. At least twenty people worked at desks, all of them looking up when we entered.

"Everyone," Mom announced, "meet my children."

A woman at the nearest desk smiled. "The famous Kane twins. We've been waiting for you."

"Waiting for us to do what?" Ian asked.

"To take your rightful place in the family business."

Mom walked to a huge map of Chicago that covered one wall. Red pins marked dozens of locations.

"These are all the places your father's FBI friends think they're safe. Tomorrow night, we're going to visit every single one."

"To do what?"

"To deliver a message. To show Chicago who really runs this city."

She turned back to us, her eyes bright with excitement and madness.

"And you two are going to help me do it."

"We won't help you hurt innocent people."

"Innocent?" Mom laughed. "Oh, sweetheart, there are no innocent people in this game. There are only winners and losers. Predators and prey."

"Which are we?"

"That depends on the choice you make right now."

She walked over to two desks that had been set up side by side. Each had a computer, a phone, and a gun.

"Sit down. Both of you."

We didn't move.

"Sit. Down."

The people at the other desks all stopped working and looked at us. Their hands moved toward weapons.

We sat down.

"Good. Now, you're going to call everyone you care about. Your aunt Elena. Your friend Marcus from the FBI. That sweet old professor who taught you art history."

"Why?"

"To invite them to a party tomorrow night. A farewell party."

My stomach dropped. "A farewell party for who?"

"For them, darling. Before they die."

Ian stood up so fast his chair fell over. "We won't do it."

"Yes, you will. Because if you don't, I'll have Alessandro's throat cut right now. And then I'll start on everyone else you care about, one by one, until you change your minds."

She pressed a button on her desk. A screen on the wall lit up, showing Alex in a small, dark room. A man stood behind him with a knife.

"You have ten seconds to decide," Mom said calmly. "Help me kill your friends quickly, or watch me kill Alessandro slowly."

I stared at the screen. At Alex, who had lied to me and betrayed me but who I still loved despite everything.

At my mother, who was willing to murder everyone I cared about to get what she wanted.

At Ian, who looked as scared and trapped as I felt.

"Five seconds," Mom said.

I reached for the phone with shaking hands.

"Iris, no," Ian whispered.

"Four seconds."

On the screen, the man with the knife moved closer to Alex.

"Three seconds."

I picked up the phone.

"Two seconds."

I started to dial Elena's number.

"One second."

But before I could finish dialing, every light in the building went out.

Emergency alarms started screaming.

And through the windows, I could see the entire Chicago skyline going dark block by block.

"What's happening?" Mom demanded.

A man at one of the computers looked up, his face pale in the glow of his screen.

"Ma'am, we have a problem. Someone just shut down the entire city's power grid."

"Who?"

"Unknown. But they left a message."

"What kind of message?"

He turned his computer screen toward us.

In big, bright letters, it said: "The game has changed. Victoria Kane is finished. - A Friend"

Mom stared at the message, her face twisting with rage and fear.

"Find out who sent this," she snarled.

"We're trying, but—"

The computer screen went black.

Then every computer in the room went black.

Then every phone stopped working.

In the sudden, complete darkness, a new voice spoke from the shadows near the door.

"Hello, Victoria. Miss me?"