The Lies You Told Me

Chapter 21

Katana's POV

After Kai left, I sat up and winced, and I felt a burning pain down my side. I knew both him and Yelena would tell me to rest, but I couldn't just lie there. 

I got up, groaned, and looked down at my clothes. I was still in my clothes from yesterday, and they were covered in blood and dust. I slowly limped to my room, and grabbed some clean clothes from my wardrobe. It turned out to be a slow, painful process, especially as my limp was acting up, but eventually I had changed. I went into my bathroom, washed my face and my hair, brushed my hair, and tied it up in a quick ponytail.

I didn't know what to do now. Dante wouldn't assign me anymore missions, and most people in my family didn't want to talk to me. I eventually decided to go to the garden. I hadn't been there in months - I didn't get much time for it anymore.

 I walked outside fairly slowly, and went and sat in my favourite part of the garden - the overgrown swing. It hurt, but I gently swung myself, and I felt... Peaceful. I took a deep breath, and smelt the lilies that grew up the side of the swing. I could feel my still damp hair leaving water dripping down my back I sat there for a while, forgetting the real world, and just living in this garden.

 A rustle in the bushes brought me back to reality. Kai's head peeked through the leaves. His dirty blonde hair was messy, and had fallen into his face, casting a shadow over his olive skin and chocolate eyes, and his shirt had come untucked.

 “You’re supposed to be resting.” I laughed in reply.

 “This is actually the most relaxed I’ve felt in months.” I paused and laughed to myself.

 “It’s funny. I’ve been shot, my entire family hates me, and I’ll probably be kicked out of my family, but I feel so… Calm.”

 “You and I have a very different definition of funny.”

 He came and sat down on the swing next to me. I stared at him, suddenly forgetting everything. It was just me and him, sat on the swing. I leaned on his shoulder, and pushed his hair behind his ears. He smiled, and put his arm around me. In that moment, I felt safe. Kai’s arm was like my safety blanket. Whatever happened, I’d be okay, because Kai was next to me. Then, I sat up, so I was level with Kai. I cupped his chin in my hands, and pulled his face towards mine. Our lips brushed together, and I felt my whole body start to burn up. I pressed harder, and fell into Kai’s arms, our lips still touching. He pulled me close, and I stayed there. I wasn’t scared, I didn’t shake. I finally felt whole. We stayed like that until we heard someone walking through the garden, when we promptly untangled, and Kai stood up. 

Yelena's head peeked through the bushes, and she smiled as she saw us. She raised her eyebrows at me - she clearly knew something was going on, but didn't say anything, and sat down in the grass in front of us.

"Okay, so bad news, I couldn't find anything from the call. But, I have an idea."

"Great, let's go to your office. We can discuss it there." 

"It might actually be better out here. It's one of the few places without a camera. So when I was looking through some of the security footage to see if Dante had been doing anything dodgy, I came across some deleted footage of the interrogation room. I'm guessing there was something Dante didn't want anyone to see, but he might still have a disc with the footage in his office."

"So... We break into his office, find the disc, expose him, and kill him? Sounds easy." 

Kai, who had been silent the entire time, finally chimed in.

"And how exactly do we do any of that?"

I looked over at Yelena, and she nodded.

"Probably drug him. Same as I did to you. That'll be the easiest way."

"We can't get close enough for a syringe though, and he'll be too suspicious to accept a drink from you." I groaned. Yelena was right, of course.

“I might have a dart gun somewhere. We can use that.” I suggested.

“You just happen to own a dart gun?” Kai asked, incredulously. I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah. This is the mafia. People tend to own guns.” Kai stayed quiet. 

“Okay, Kat, you go into the vents with Kai, shoot Dante, see what’s in his office. Hopefully they’ll be something there – a disc or something, that we can use to expose him. We don’t know what he’s been doing, but hopefully we’ll find something.” Yelena smiled, and walked back inside.

I stared at Kai, and he looked up and met my eyes. I sheepishly smiled at him, before following Yelena.

"Goodbye Kai."