207. THAT'S IT

207. THAT'S IT
KADE
"Hana," Rowan repeated. “I heard you have adopted her. She is not your blood. Yet, we are ready to make her a Verrick. Alexander is quite young, too. By the time Hana becomes eighteen, he will be in his early twenties. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
Nothing happened.
For one second.
Two.
Three.
The room remained completely silent.
Then Dante stood.
Not slowly.
Not carefully.
Instantly.
The table nearly tipped over.
Beside me, Zaley's boredom disappeared for the first time in months.
Alexander finally looked uncomfortable.
Smart kid.
Very smart kid.
Because he had just realised his grandfather had detonated a bomb.
A very large bomb.
I stared at Rowan.
Certain I had heard him wrong.
"You want what?"
The old man didn't flinch.
"Hana."
My chair scraped loudly against the floor as I stood.
Across the room, Dante slowly took one step backwards.
Then another.
The bastard knew exactly what was coming.
"Hana."
I repeated the word carefully.
Slowly.
Giving him every opportunity to realise his mistake.
He didn't.
"Yes."
Something inside me snapped.
Not violently.
Not loudly.
Quietly.
The same way ice cracks beneath someone's feet before they realise they're already falling through it.
The old man was still talking.
Still explaining.
Still discussing alliances and peace treaties and future stability.
I wasn't listening anymore.
Because all I could see was Hana.
Hana arguing about food.
Hana following Seline around the house.
Hana sitting with Storm while doing homework.
Hana asking me not to disappear again.
Twelve-year-old Hana.
And this old man was sitting across from me, discussing her future like she was territory to be traded.
When I finally spoke, my voice came out terrifyingly calm.
"So let me understand."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
"You admitted your organisation targeted my wife."
The old man remained silent.
"You admitted your consiglieri tried to use my family against me."
Still silent.
"And your solution..."
I laughed.
A horrible sound.
Even I heard it.
"...is to ask for another member of my family."
For the first time since entering the room, Rowan looked uncertain.
Across from me, Alexander closed his eyes.
Like he knew.
Like he had known this would happen.
And somehow that made me even angrier.
Because, unlike his grandfather—
The kid had enough sense to realise he had just declared war again.
“She is not your direct family.” Rowan still doesn’t understand the mistake he made.
“She. Is. One of us. You don’t look at her. You don’t think about her. You don’t dare to utter her name.”
Rowan still looked confused. “So you still wanted to continue the bloodshed?”
I smirked. “If you kill you both now, there won’t be any bloodshed in future.”
“Your real threat will stay alive then.” The kid talked for the first time.
I still don’t understand why his father hid his age, and how Kai once convinced me that he was going to marry Seline.
I need to kill him for that, too.
“We don’t know who is digging into your past. You killed my uncle before investigating it.”
I took a step forward. His jaw ticked.
“You really think I was that reckless?” I asked him, my voice low.
Dangerously low.
Alexander shook his head once. “I think you are a tad bit slow. Because the person you are looking for is in my basement.
I think you found out the person my uncle is conspiring with. I think that’s why you ordered the kill.”
Dante looked at me, offended, probably thinking why I hadn’t shared that information with him.
“I think,” Alexander continued, “You wanted to delay his death. Give him a painful one. And I have him. I caught him not to extract information but to present you. I am not my father. I—,”
“You had him killed by Mateo and made everyone believe that Seline did that.”
“No. It was all Mateo. If I could reach Seline, I could have asked her to kill my father. I couldn’t. You have your guards everywhere around her. Hence, I asked Mateo. I thought he would take Seline’s help, that they would do it together. It’s a smart plan. I get to get rid of Alonzo and Seline, and Mateo gets their revenge. It’s Mateo who betrayed her. I am here, offering peace. I don’t wanna lose my men.” He looked at his Rowan.
“My grandfather didn't know better.”
The room fell silent.
I stared at him for a long moment.
Then laughed.
The sound echoed through the room.
Cold.
Humorless.
Dangerous.
Across the table, Rowan looked relieved.
That relief vanished quickly.
Because I wasn't laughing at the situation.
I was laughing at him.
At all of them.
At the absurdity of sitting here discussing peace after everything that had happened.
“You really don't understand.”
The old man frowned.
I sat back in my chair, giving every person in that room enough time to understand that my anger had somehow become worse.
Much worse.
“You think I came here because I wanted a treaty.”
My eyes shifted toward Alexander.
The kid remained silent.
Watching.
Listening.
Learning.
Smart.
“Then why are you here?” Rowan asked.
I smiled. “I came here because I wanted answers.”
The room remained quiet.
“I got them.”
Alexander's jaw tightened slightly.
Not enough for most people to notice.
Enough for me. “You have the man?”
“I do.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You can have him.”
Rowan immediately looked at Alexander.
Clearly surprised.
The kid wasn't.
Meaning he had already planned for this possibility.
Interesting.
“I don't want anything in return. I will hand him over to you.” Alexander said calmly, like he genuinely meant it.
That was probably the first honest thing anybody from his side had said today.
I nodded once.
Then stood.
The meeting was over.
At least for me.
“Kade—”
“You haven't told me whether there will be peace.”
I looked at him.
Really looked at him.
At the old man who thought wars ended because two people signed a piece of paper.
At the old man who thought family members could be exchanged like assets.
At the old man who thought Hana was a negotiation point.
“There won't be peace.”
Rowan's shoulders dropped.
Beside him, Alexander didn't react.
I think he expected that answer from the beginning.
“There won't be friendship.”
Silence.
“There won't be alliances.”
More silence.
“There won't be marriages.”
That one was for Rowan.
The old man looked away.
“You stay on your side.”
I pointed toward Alexander.
“We stay on ours.”
The room became still.
“If your people don't touch my people—”
My voice dropped lower.
Dangerously lower.
“—I won't touch yours.”
That was the closest thing to mercy I was capable of offering.
The closest thing to peace.
My eyes landed on Alexander.
“You seem smarter than the people around you.”
For the first time, the kid looked mildly surprised.
“Keep them in line.”
Then I looked at Rowan.
“Because next time I won't be sitting across a table from you.”
The old man swallowed.
“You should stand on your word, then,” Alexander said. “I will hand over that man to you. You stay on your word. We are no friends. No enemies either. No more attacks.”