Alexei: Why do we care?
Me: Because he turned some of the cameras in the house back on.
Viktor: Fuck!
Me: Also, someone’s watching you. Not sure from where.
Alexei: What does he want?
Me: Wants you to stop cleaning. For now.
Alexei: Fuck no.
Me: I don’t trust him either.
Viktor: My mom’s got some of our guys on it. We’re dismantling the camerasnow.
Me: I’m gonna hear him out.
I tuck my phone back into my pocket. Don’t like this one bit. But Ben also holds all the cards. I have no idea if he’s got anything that happened at the mansion recorded. “All right, Callahan. What’s your solution?”
“Why don’t we all go sit?” Ben turns to Zach. “Your boyfriend should go get himself another drink. Have him take his friend with him.”
Zach’s upper lip twitches, and he crowds Ben.
The youngest Callahan doesn’t flinch, doesn’t even back up. Just fucking grins. “No reason for them to get incriminated, don’t you think? Plausible deniability.”
He has a point.
I turn and look over my shoulder. “Eli, you and Merci go take a walk.”
Merci huffs. “Fuck no. I just got back.”
Zach's fingers flex at his sides. “Little Scorpion. Go. Now.”
Merci stands, Eli following, and they walk down the hall. Both keep glancing back—Merci scowling and Eli looking concerned.
Once they’re out of sight, the four of us make our way over to the far corner of the waiting room and sit.
Ben drums his fingers against the armrest. “Gotta say, Walsh, I’m kind of annoyed about what went down. Had this whole elaborate plan, then your father’s lackluster security shows up with your husband.”
I exhale hard through my nose. “What the fuck are you rambling about?”
“Oh, you know. I couldn’t sit back when my father decided to sell my sister off to your family.” His index finger keeps tapping the armrest. “She deserved better than you.”
I snort. “And Damien isso muchbetter?”
His finger pauses, the corner of his eye twitching, and that fucking smile falls right off his face. “Don’t go there. That’s your only warning.”
Well, fuck.
Skinny, defenseless Benedict has some bite.
Jackson rests his ankle on his knee. “Connor married Ryan, so whatever plan you had went out the window.”
“True. But that just caused my sister to end up with a bigger monster.” Ben looks me up and down. “It’s funny how people don’t pay attention to you when they think you’re meager, weak even. But strength—power— isn’t all about physicality. Not now. Not when technology dominates our lives.”
I glance at the clock on the wall. Thirty more minutes before I can see Ryan. “Get to the point.”
