Once the establishment was secured—armed agents were everywhereand most of thebratvawere on the ground—Mason Payne walked in donning his regulation navy blue FBIjacket. I glared at him, trying to murder him with just my thoughts. How darehe dangle a carrot in front of me and then rip it away just when I started tobelieve I could catch it.
My stomach twisted when I realized he’d probablyfollowed me here. He’d tricked me. He’d used me. I stared at him, daring him toread my mind.
Liar. Manipulator. Asshole.
I would never trust the feds again.Leastof all this guy.
His smile sickened me as it stretched again. He spunin one, victorious circle and twirled his finger in the air. “You know what todo, people. Round ‘emup!”
And so began the arrests. They started with Roman, whowalked with his head high and his shoulders squared, despite the handcuffssecuring his hands behind him. He winked at Sayer as he walked by, but that wasthe only change to his otherwise stoic expression.
The other brothers weren’t here, which was lucky. Andneither were the two spies or Ozzie or my dad. But there would be plenty forthe FBI. For them, this was a fantastic day.
They started moving guys from the back first, walkingthem out to the armored transport vehicles. We stood there with guns pointed atus, waiting for our turn.
“Is it that time of the month again, Payne?” Sayergrowled.
“It’s Payne’s time of the month,” Gus chuckled darkly.“Take some Midol, buddy. It might help with the rage raids.”
Mason turned to them and grinned like the cat that atethe canary. “Laugh it up, Augustus. You’ve got some fun charges coming yourway.”
Gus’s eyes narrowed and his smile turned cynical.“Looking forward to watching you try to make them stick.”
Mason shrugged. That was it. He just shrugged. He didn’tcontinue to argue or throw out ambiguous threats. He just shrugged.
The tension between the five of us shot up, our bloodpressures going with it. My mind spun. Did I have anything to worry about? IfMason had used me to get to Sayer, had he also lied about charges being broughtagainst me?
Wait, he would have needed a warrant first, right? Andhe couldn’t have gotten one between the warehouse and now. Not unless he hadthe judge on standby.
Maybe he did.
Sayer dipped his head, closer to my ear. “We’re goingto be okay, Six. Just like all the times before, this is going nowhere.”
I wasn’t sure that was true. I turned fully to facehim, holding his gaze and begging him to just get it. Leaning in, I dropped myvoice and whispered, “Let them help you.”
He jerked backward, his eyes growing wide as he let mywords sink in. He didn’t ask me to repeat what I said though. He just stared atme like I was a ghost.
Turning around, I caught Atticus’s eye. He had beenwatching us. Shit. My heart started hammering harder, faster. I was sure hecouldn’t have heardus,he was all the way across thetable.
Mason watched us too. He caught my gaze and raised aneyebrow, silently asking if I’d talked to Sayer. Which was really nice of himsince he’d given me so much time. I wanted to punch him in his smug face. Instead,I turned to look at the wall and lifted one shoulder to scratch my ear,signaling that I hadn’t.
I didn’t risk looking at him again, so I didn’t knowif he had a reaction or a thought or a feeling of fucking guilt. But it didn’tmatter anyway. Soon enough it was our turn to be marched outside.
Mason motioned for his men to start with Gus, puttingme at the end of the line. I didn’t know if he planned it that way on purpose,or if it was spur of the moment as I walked past him.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered under his breath, steppingin front of my path to fidget with my handcuffs. His head dipped and I had tostrain to hear his whispered confession. “I didn’t know we were moving untilafter you left. We had to wait for the warrant.”
Fury burned in my blood, clouding my judgment.Twisting my neck, I hissed, “Save it. You’re a fucking liar.”
“That’s amazing coming from you.” He stepped back andmotioned for one of the other agents to take me outside.
I didn’t say another word to him, which ended up beinga blessing. At the edge of the dining room, Atticus had moved behind Sayersomehow. He had eyes for Mason in a way that made me nervous for the federalagent.
We didn’t speak until we were outside, but we had towait in line while they loaded us one by one. Atticus turned to me, paranoiadarkening green eyes. “What did he say to you?”
I let out a longsuffering sigh. “Who?”
“Don’t play dumb, Caro. It doesn’t suit you.”
