Chapter 134
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Sam shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Her ville kykes made her look song and our of plane, and could tell she was trying not to feel it. She had come here asking for owhey and deb maleh water to sear
I let my hand drift slowly, casually, to my pocket, bw my beat was trying to boet oor of my card twicet in my hair and slid the phone out just enough to see the SETREH,
The text was from an unknown number, but I knew
[Unknown); * Law enforcement. Interesting,”
The air left my lungs
So, he’d seen Sam arrive,
But she wasn’t in uniform. So she’d probably driven her personal car
So not only had he seen her.. he knew who she was, Somehow,
It was like a cold finger tracing down my spine. He couldn’t have gotten that from surveillance. He had files. He had context
He knew every move we could make before we made it, Or, at least, he wanted me to think he did
I glanced up. Logan was locked in a stare–down with his father. Ledger was frowning at his laptop screen. Sam was wartly watching the two Nash men. Viktor was gazing out the window with his hands clasped behind his back.
A weird, cold calm settled over me. The fear was still humming in my blood, but it was being drowned out by defiance
My thumb moved quickly over the screen, tapping out a mewage.
* Yeah. Does that bother you? *
I hit send. The message whooshed away. For a second, there was nothing just the heated argument 6lling the room. Then, tremor ran through the phone in my hand.
(Unknown): She won’t save you.
His words were simple. And for a second or two, they worked. My stomach dropped through the floor.
A vision flashed behind my eyes. Sam Andrews tied to a chair, like in my nightmare. Her observant eyes staring at nothing Another casualty of my life. The guilt made me sick.
But the feeling only lasted a heartbeat. It was replaced by a hot surge of rage.
He thought he could predict me. He thought he could scare me. He had no idea who he was creating
I glanced up one more time. Logan was jabbing a finger at a point on the map. His attention was completely consumed.
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9:42 am P
Chapter 134
My thumbs flew across the screen again.
You think I need her to save ine. Interesting.”
I sent it.
He saw me as a damsel. A tool. A prize to be won or a victim to be eliminated. I was letting him know he was wrong
I slid the phone deep into my pocket and sandwiched my hands between my knees to keep both of them from shaking 1 willed my breathing to even out.
I looked up, trying to paste a look of concerned attention on my face. Listening to the probably furile plans being made to hunt the bear I’d just poked.
But their conversation swirled around me like smoke. It couldn’t break through the adrenaline ringing in my ears. I nodde at what I hoped were appropriate intervals.
Sam was saying something about jurisdictional boundaries and Logan was scoffing.
My hand crept back to my pocket to ensure the phone was securely tucked away. That was when I felt the weight of a gaze
My eyes lifted from the scuffed toe of Logan’s boot and travelled across the room. Talon wasn’t looking at his son or the police officer.
He was looking directly at me.
Or, more precisely, he was looking at my hand, which was still hovering near my ass.
Shit. How long had he been watching me?
Time seemed to slow. The argument between Logan and Sam became an even more distant murmur. I watched Talon’s piercing green eyes track the path of my hand as I pulled it back into my lap.
Then his gaze lifted. And met mine.
There was no anger there. No accusation. Why would there be? Unlike Logan, he had no reason to be suspicious of me usin my phone. Did he?
His look was more… appraising. Like the look a hunter gives to a hoof print in the mud. Assessing the size, the direction, the freshness.
It only lasted a fraction of a second, but it stretched into an eternity inside my head.
A hot, betraying flush spread across my cheeks and swept down my neck. I could feel the blood pounding in my ears. It was stupid and revealing, and I hated myself for it.
But then Talon’s eyes shifted away from me, back to his son, and he grunted something I didn’t catch, re–engaging in the conversation as if our silent exchange had never happened.
But it had. The warmth in my face was the proof. I looked down at my lap, screaming at myself in my head. “Idiot. You fucking idiot.” He’d seen me. He hadn’t seen the screen, he couldn’t know who I was texting, but he’d seen enough
In a room discussing life and death, the VP’s old lady was secretly on her phone.
An hour later, I sat on a bar stool next to Logan, staring into an untouched glass of ice water.
9:42 am P
Chapter 134
Sam was gone. She had slipped out with a promise of more information and a look in her eyes that said part of her regrette ever stopping by.
Logan hadn’t said much since we left the office. He’d sent a few of the guys out to do recon, then planted himself beside me with one boot hooked on the rung of the stool. He stared into the middle distance, clenching and unclenching his jaw
The confrontation with his father had left a bruise on him that wasn’t visible on skin. I could feel the heat rolling off him. itching for a fight.
My secret sat like a shard of ice in my gut. Anatoly’s silence was purposeful. He was making me wait for his reply. Letting th anticipation curdle.
Logan’s phone vibrated on the bar top, skittering next to his half–empty beer. The sound was like a gunshot in the quiet. He snatched it up to answer it.
“Link.” His voice was a gravelly bark. “Talk to me.”
He didn’t put it on speaker, but I was sitting so close our shoulders were almost touching. I could hear the faint timbre of Link’s voice.
“We’re at the location,” Link said. “The Faber building.”
Logan leaned forward and ran a hand through his curls. “Good. What’s the layout? How many guys? Exits?”
There was a long pause on the other end, full of the staticky sound of strong wind.
“Logan,” Link’s voice came back. “There is no layout. The place is gone.”
Logan went rigid. “Gone? What the fuck you mean, gone?”
“I mean it’s a pile of smoking rubble. It’s still hot. Smells like a chemical fire. Looks like it’s been burning for a while.”
The words hit me hard, but not as hard as they hit Logan.
–
The hope – the sense of purpose he’d built around this lead was gone in an instant. The color drained from his face. His shoulders slumped forward.
“What the fuck.” he muttered under his breath.
“Nothin‘ here but ashes,” Link said. “We’re checkin‘ the perimeter, but… there’s nothing to see, brother. Whatever was here.. it’s gone now.”
Logan was quiet for a long moment. I could hear the faint sound of Link saying his name, asking for instructions.
“Come back,” Logan finally said. His voice was hollow. “Just… come back.”
He ended the call and dropped the phone onto the bar. He didn’t look at me. He stared at the wall of liquor bottles behind the bar, but I knew he wasn’t seeing them.
The cold certainty I’d felt earlier had turned into a lead weight in my chest.
This was a message, and it was more eloquent than any spray–painted taunt. He wasn’t just watching us run in circles. He was the one designing the maze. *Round and round.
The bastard was laughing at us, and the sound was the crackle of a dying fire miles away.
9:42 am P
Chapter 134
But if this maze didn’t have an exit, I’d carve one myself.
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