She looks over at me, and our eyes meet and hold for a brief second.
I know she’s thinking the same thing I am.
The crash wasn’t an accident.
How the hell did they get to you so fast? Only a handful of people knew about tonight, and two of them are with you.
It’s not Katia. She wouldn’t betray you, but even if she did, she would go for something far more subtle. Crashes aren’t Katia’s style.
Whoever did this wanted a show.
It would’ve been the perfect setup, too, with the pouring rain and no witnesses.
My blood boils at the thought of what I’m going to do when I find out who’s responsible.
“We’ve got company.” Carlisle’s voice barely carries over the sound of the rain. “They’re only a few minutes out.”
I curse and rifle through the bodies, retrieving a few more guns.
I toss one to Carlisle, one to Katia, and keep one for myself.
“There’s been an attack on one of the warehouses,” Carlisle adds as he steps beside me. He grimaces and shifts his weight again. “There are men on the way.”
I wipe the gun on my pants and roll my shoulders. “We’ll just have to make sure we give them hell. I want everyone driving by to hear their screams.”
Carlisle nods.
Katia appears by our side, her hair pressed to her face. She steps closer, and I see a figure huddled behind her. It takes me a second to place the face, but as his hat and button-down shirt shift into focus, I point the gun at the driver and let out a stream of curse words.
He shrinks and hides behind Katia, who offers him a disgusted look. “I figured you’d want to deal with him yourself.”
Slowly, the driver raises fear-filled eyes to me and swallows. “Mr. Payne, please. I didn’t have a choice. They were going to hurt my family—”
“I don’t care if they held a fucking gun to all of your heads,” I interrupt. “You should’ve thought twice. I’m going to make it my mission to hunt down your family once we’re done.”
His eyes widen, and he wrings his hands. “What if I gave you the name of the person responsible for all this? The guy who’s been pulling the strings behind the scenes?”
I stare at the man for a few seconds and weigh my options.
He’s a lower-level hire, a nobody in the grand hierarchy, but there’s something about the hint of panic in his voice.
He’s telling the truth, or at least he thinks he is.
Katia pulls him by his hair and forces him to his knees. She presses the knife against his throat and scowls. “Speak.”
“I… I don’t have a name.” The man is trembling violently. “But I do know it’s someone close to you.”
I glance over at Katia. “How fast can you get rid of the body?”
“It’s a Payne.” The man’s words chill my blood. “I didn’t catch the first name, but it’s another Payne, I swear.”
I nod to Katia, and she releases the man, who lands face-first on the wet ground. His eyes are filled with relief when he looks up at me, but the relief is quickly replaced by fear when he sees the gun still pointed at him. The protest dies on his lips as I pull the trigger.
Katia steps over him to stand next to me. “We’ll hold them off.”
I stand up straighter. “Paynes don’t run from a fight. Just make sure it hurts.”
“We will,” Carlisle vows. “Those fuckers are going to pay.”
