“She needs to activate it first,” he says.
The hope that was sparking, gutters out. “Strider, we need to know her plan.”
“We? Are your brothers with you?” Strider asks, making it clear that he knew exactly who I was without the formal introduction.
I stare at the phone rather than the three sets of eyes on me. “That’s debatable.”
A shadow falls in the empty space by my side. “We’re with him,” Mace says.
Chapter 27
Quinn
Itake in a lungful of dank air as I’m carried towards consciousness. The ground is hard and cold against my back. I must have fallen asleep in the woods surrounding the log cabin. I remember getting lost, and I must have tired myself out trying to find my way back to Reid. But that can’t be right. The noises that break through my dreams don’t belong in nature. A rhythmic thump. And sobbing. Lots of sobbing.
I go to cover my ears, but my hands are bound in front of me. My eyes snap open. I’m lying on a thin mattress in a small, windowless room with a bare light bulb. No, not a room, an airless cell. It reminds me of the so-called stalls in the stable Barrett had built for Ilya.
Slowly, I piece back my fractured memory. I’ve been taken by Ilya’s men. I let myself be taken.
Strider had tried to talk me out of it, but my options were limited. As much as I valued Blake’s life above anything else, I wasn’t going to willingly subject other women to the same fate. And I don’t think my sister wouldwant me to. She’d been a sweet, caring, young woman before Ilya corrupted her.
I had to come up with a plan, something that wasn’t an outright refusal so that Ilya wouldn’t take it out on Blake. My first plan of attack was to rile Reid up so much that he’d take his brothers’ advice and step away. If I didn’t have access to him or his family, Ilya couldn’t blame me for failing. But Reid hadn’t rejected me. I knew he wouldn’t. It was always going to be Plan B.
When I’d convinced Reid to let me travel with him to the office, it was on the understanding that I’d stay in the car and return to the hotel with Levi. It was only when I refused to let go of his hand that he decided I wasn’t in a fit state to be left alone. There’d been no playacting on my part. Fear and guilt had been eating me up, and I was locked in a state of heightened fear and anxiety, knowing this could all go horribly wrong.
Maddie and Lily were so nice, which only made me feel worse. Even if my plan worked, I was still deceiving them and I couldn’t exclude all risks. At least the Griffins’ distrust of me worked in my favor and they insisted their women had a security detail, including a personal bodyguard. I thought the Griffins were big men, but Simon was on a different scale.
Simon and Levi had sat at a nearby table, while Maddie and Lily interrogated me about my relationship with Reid.
“And please don’t spare the details,” Maddie insisted. She tipped her head to Lily’s cell phone lying face up on the table, then whispered in my ear. “Mace will be listening in, and we need to make him squirm.”
Perfect, I thought, although I was still shocked that Mace’s intrusion didn’t bother them. “You don’t mind?” I asked Lily.
“It’s complicated,” she said. “I think of it as a comfort blanket. I had a bad experience once.”
I didn’t ask more, but we did have an animated discussion about the ins and outs of contraception, literally. I basked in the other women’s friendship, however short-lived. What I was about to do was unforgivable.
It was when Maddie and Lily convinced themselves that it wasn’t too early for a bottle of rosé, that my nerves really kicked in. The hardest part was not having a glass of wine too. It might have eased my nerves, but I needed to keep up appearances that I’d spiked their drinks.
Although Ilya hadn’t specified a particular time or location for the hit, he’d said his men would be ready to pounce whenever I was able to separate Maddie and Lily from the Griffin pack. I had to assume we were being monitored, and kept glancing over at the counter.
Ruby’s coffee shop was tiny, and thankfully there weren’t many other customers. My heart thudded in my chest when I noticed the young woman behind the counter disappear into the kitchen and not return. And I hadn’t seen the server for a while either. This was it.
Aware that Simon’s eyes were on me, I put my hand in my pocket and wrapped my fingers around the glass vial. Lily was in the middle of telling me how Mace proposed and married her on the same day. It was some story, but I had to interrupt.
“Please. I need you to listen very carefully,” I said, putting my clenched hand on the table. “You’re in grave danger and you need to leave. When I say go, move fast and get out of here.” I set down the vial so it was clearly visible. “Go! Now!”
There was the scrape of chair legs as Simon shot out of his seat, but Maddie and Lily were already up. They didn’thesitate in running for the door, which was a good thing too. Simon and Levi only managed to draw their weapons seconds before a dark figure came barreling through the kitchen door. It was Mikhail, but he was too late.
Maddie and Lily had made it onto the sidewalk. Maddie turned back and shouted for me to follow, but she was already being bundled into the waiting SUV and didn’t see me shake my head. Tires squealed, rubber burned, and then they were gone. They were safe.
“Everybody out!” Levi shouted to the scattering of customers, some of whom were already on their feet, others frozen in shock.
“You heard him. Leave!” Simon’s voice boomed.
More of Ilya’s men appeared, and suddenly there were guns pointing in every direction. Simon and Levi positioned themselves in front of me, instinctively protecting me despite knowing what I’d done.
Mikhail jabbed a finger in my direction. “She comes with us.”
