“So what exactly were you doing when Theo was taking out our only potential link to whoever is doing this?”
I’d known this question was coming, but it rankled just the same. “I was standing right beside him.”
“And you just let him kill this guy?”
My jaw locked as I bit back my automatic smartass retort. But I couldn’t say I wouldn’t be asking the same thing if I were in his position.
“No. I made him stop and ask a few questions first.”
“Oh, well, that makes it all right, then,” King said, unamused.
“Look, he wasn’t talking. We didn’t have much time to decide what to do, and in the end?—”
“Theo took matters into his own hands,” he grumbled. “Seems he’s been doing that a lot lately.”
“If you’re referring Istanbul, I thought we’d come to the decision that it wasn’t him.”
“We are ninety-nine point-nine percent sure, but until that last point-one is cleared up, nothing is off the table. Theo is a wild card, always has been. Don’t act like you don’t know it.”
“He might be wild, but he’s not reckless. I just don’t think he’d ever put us at risk that way.”
“I don’t either. Trust me, I don’t want to believe he’s capable of what these videos and messages are saying, but I also can’t take any chances. Not when it puts all of us at risk. I don’t like this any more than you, Shep.”
He’d like it even less if he’d seen the most recent messages to Theo, the images that showedmein a compromising position.Then King would have more than just Theo to worry about—he’d worry I was too close, or worse, thinking with my dick.
“Has Alessio turned up anything new?” I asked, wanting to change the subject ASAP.
“It’s looking more and more like it’s coming from in house.”
Fuck.We’d had our suspicions, but with Alessio now backing them up, it made this even more fucked up. Someone was trying to mess with our organization. Someone from the inside. Not a brother, but a member of the wider Libertines. That meant they knew our secrets. Could expose them…
“He’s closing in on them, but it’s clear they have knowledge the general public would not. They’ve known where you’re at and what you’re going to do next, so I think it’s smart for you to stay off grid.”
I agreed.I couldn’t remember the last time, if ever, we’d faced a threat like this from the outside, let alone the inside. But it was obvious someone had an issue not only with Theo but all of us, and we needed to keep shit as quiet as possible from here on out.
“So we’ll hunker down here until told otherwise?”
“That’s the plan. Only Alessio and myself know where you’re at, so keep all technology off and check in in a few days.”
“Will do.”
“Okay. Keep safe, and Shep?”
“Yeah?”
“Go get some sleep. You look like hell.”
29
THEO
ALIGHT HUMMING sound filtered through my dreamless sleep. I couldn’t place what it was, but it didn’t sound immediately dangerous, so I didn’t bother opening my eyes. It wasn’t until heat crept up my body and a bright light stung behind my eyelids that I got curious.
The concrete walls that Shep had lowered while we slept were rising back up to the ceiling, letting in the sun, and he stood in the doorway of my room, arms crossed over his chest as he watched me. I’d never seen him so casual before, in a tank top and cargo shorts.
“Now that’s different,” I said, my voice coming out a bit rough and scratchy as I stretched my arms up over my head. “You look ready to work up a sweat.”
“That’s because I am.” His gaze drifted over me slowly as he reached for a second pair of shorts—myshorts—and tossed them at me. “And so are you.”
