Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 51825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
“You don’t submit.”
“Only to you, my love.”
I laugh. “If only, but that’s another topic for another day. I have everyone on Murphy’s Society team on lockdown.”
“Which is expected. A hit on the whole team would have to be coordinated and in unison to be effective. Whoever killed Murphy was smart enough to know that. It was a now or never situation.”
“True,” I concur. “Any single person I can list as a potential suspect behind this needs us.”
“Agreed,” he says. “We’re the balance of power between the government, the Society, and the cartel.”
“I don’t disagree, but does your father change that dynamic?”
His lips flatten. “Not if I make the right move.”
“Which is what?”
“I’m still deciding, but for the record, I vote to keep your team locked down until we both do some digging. Yes, it’s inconvenient for them, but so is being dead.” He disappears and leaves me considering where we stand.
I don’t believe in coincidences, but I also don’t believe in assuming anything.
Therefore, I have to ask myself—if Kane’s father didn’t order the hit on Murphy—who did? If I swing back to the idea that Kane and I are necessary, then maybe this is really about him and me. What if Ellis wanted, even needed, me to work for him and that wasn’t going to happen until Murphy was dead? He’d have the resources to get to Murphy when someone else might not.
If the CIA didn’t do it, I think again, it’s usually the FBI.
Or Homeland Security.
I walk into the bathroom and text my cousin: I need to know all there is about Director Ellis sooner rather than later, including where he was yesterday. Anything and everything you can get on him, I need.
He replies with: I’m emailing you what I have, which isn’t much and that says a lot. I’m good. Whoever he has sheltering him is skilled, but that makes sense, considering who he is.
“Doesn’t it just,” I murmur before I reply with: Can you find out where he’s staying?
Almost instantly, an address pops into my messages. A downtown hotel.
Perfect, I think. It’s time I pay Director Ellis a visit, only this time on my terms. Perhaps tonight, right as he pulls on his jammies. Yes. I like that plan.
That should be loads of fun.
Chapter Seventeen
My hot man in a suit, a box of donuts he ordered for me, and a steaming cup of coffee he poured, are damn near orgasmic until Kit shows up.
Now it’s Kane, him, and me, sitting at our kitchen island stuffing our faces as we prepare to welcome the new day sure to be filled with lots of fuck stuff. Thus, why I dressed in my typical pantsuit but paired it with a pink blouse, although I always find I overcompensate for the sweet nature of pink by being extra bitchy.
Bitchy is going to be my badge of honor today.
I pause mid bite when I should be enjoying my éclair, impressed by Kit’s ability to all but inhale a donut in exactly two bites. It’s efficient, though hardly enjoyable. I finish off my donut with a delicate, savoring bite. Yes, I can be delicate. So can Jay, who is presently MIA. He’s probably naked with DD, and ready to leave the gangster life, which means I’ve won. I finally saved him.
“The world was a better place without him,” Kit comments of Kane’s father, finishing off a glazed donut and reaching for the last iced chocolate.
“If you take that donut,” I warn, “we’ll find out what the world is like without you.”
“I’ll split it with you,” he suggests.
“Not a chance, asshole, but I do want to offer you a promotion.”
He pulls his hand away from the donut, which I snag.
“I’m listening,” he says.
Kane sips his coffee. “As am I, bella. What promotion are you offering Kit?”
I eye Kane, watching for a reaction as I say, “Kit would be a perfect kingpin. He’s tough and loyal.”
“I’d kill everyone,” Kit replies. “Then Kane would kill me. Let’s pass.”
“He’s right,” Kane agrees dryly. “He’d kill everyone.”
“I’ll help him,” I reply, licking chocolate off my fingers. “Doesn’t that solve at least something?” I don’t wait for a reply. “Speaking of killing people, can you reach Ghost? I think he and I need to have a conversation.
“Already working on it,” Kane replies, “but all I can do is put the word out. You know, he has to decide to come to us, and under the circumstances, he may decide it’s too hot to risk exposure.”
Kit’s cellphone buzzes with a message, and he eyes the screen and then me. “Jack’s at the lobby desk, asking to come up.”
“He’s too stupid for his own good and mine. It’s like he wants to become a martyr and be the next victim. But he did give me this.” I reach for my bag where it sits on the stool next to me and pull out the list of names he gave me. “Do you know how to reach any of these guys?” I slide the paper in front of him. “Apparently, the dark web has them as the top suspects in Murphy’s assassination.”