Page 17 of Owned

Laidon looked smug. In fact, he always looked smug. “I was surprised that you chose me to join you. Zevon forced us together before. Are you warming up to me?”

Cylex had no doubt that others found Laidon charming, but he didn’t trust the rebel. However, he had no problem utilizing his expertise when their goals aligned. “Is it important that I like you?” Cylex countered. “Is it not enough that I understand your value and asked you to participate?”

Laidon chuckled. “You’re willing to use me, but that is all?”

Allowing his impatience to show, Cylex met his gaze. “You asked to speak with me. Why?”

Laidon’s features hardened and his green eyes turned cold. “You want directness. I’ll oblige. Jevara doesn’t have Raina. We do.”

Wemeant the rebels. But did Laidon mean that the rebels had rescued her and were preparing to return her to the Citadel? Or had the rebels contracted Kern to kidnap her in the first place? “Kern is working for you, or you snatched her from Kern before he could deliver her to Jevara?”

“What do you think?” Laidon asked with a triumphant smile.

Cylex shook his head. He was relieved and yet furious. He should have anticipated something like this. Kern despised Jevara and had been helping the rebels nearly from the onset of the uprising. The only reason Kern hadn’t severed ties with Jevara was because his access to the emperor was too valuable to the rebels.

Pivoting his seat to face Laidon, Cylex growled out, “Where is Raina and what the fuck do you want with her?”

“She is unharmed. Kern has strict orders not to touch her.”

Cylex scoffed. “Kern only follows orders when it suits his purposes. There is only one person Kern is loyal to and that is Kern.”

“He agreed to deliver her safely to a predetermined location and he agreed not to touch her while he did so. Kern is many things but he will not give his vow unless he means to keep it.”

Gritting his teeth, Cylex glared at Laidon. What the rebel said was true. Kern took vows seriously. If he’d promised not to discipline Raina, he would keep his word. “Where is she?” he asked with more demand. “Is this about ransom or are you trying to create a rebel triad?”

“We will come back to that.” Laidon told him. “While you and I were off rescuing Shalia and Anias, my best operatives were gathering information for me.”

“What sort of information?” Cylex knew Laidon loved the sound of his own voice. His inability to get to the point was one of the reasons they had never gotten along.

“Information on you, of course.” Laidon crossed his legs and pressed back into the seat, looking much too comfortable with the situation.

All Cylex had to do was give the order and Laidon would be clapped in restraints and secured in the cargo hold.

“You have made the acquaintance of nine soldiers since coming to the Citadel,” Laidon went on. “Six of them are onboard this ship right now.”

Guarding the Hays cousins had not given him much time for socializing. “What is your point?”

“When Kern contacted me and told me that he had been ordered to kidnap Raina, I told my contact at the Citadel to get to work. She approached each of the eleven soldiers you had made friends with and bribed them all. It was not hard convincing them to do what I need them to do. You see, no one at the Citadel trusts you.”

Glancing back, Cylex saw the banked hostility in the crewmembers’ gazes and felt the cold rush of trepidation for the first time. “What do you need them to do?” If Laidon meant to kill him, he’d already be dead.

“That is up to you,” Laidon told him. “If you join the rebellion as you should have years ago, you and I will meet up with a rebel ship and begin the induction process. This ship will fly back to the Citadel and the crew will let Zevon know that we have chosen to focus on the Torretian conflict for the foreseeable future.”

“And if I refuse?” This was not the first time Laidon had attempted to recruit him. If it hadn’t been for Neeva, the female Laidon had seduced away from him, Cylex might have supported the resistance. But he would never even consider it as long as Laidon was in charge.

“If you refuse, I will rendezvous with my people and you will never see Raina again.”

Cylex’s gaze narrowed and a red haze settled over his vision. “Where is she?”

“Safe.”

Acting on instinct alone, Cylex flew out of his seat and grasped Laidon by the throat. “Where is she!” He shouted the words, his face mere inches from Laidon’s.

The cool barrel of a pulse pistol pressed against Cylex’s temple. He glanced to the side and found Telias holding the gun. “Release him, sir. He cannot tell us where she is if you snap his neck.”

That fact alone kept Cylex from indulging the murderous impulse. He didn’t bother with a reply. His attention, and animosity, was focused entirely on Laidon. “You murdered Neeva. I will not allow it to happen again.” After squeezing his throat one last time, Cylex released him and straightened. He did not return to his seat.

“I didn’t murder Neeva and you know it. She joined the rebellion of her own free will.”