“Shut up,” he growls, causing the rest of us to laugh.
She grins sweetly at him. “You’re too easy.”
We all make a plate from the breakfast Micah cooked, eat, and joke around. I didn’t realize how much I wouldn’t miss sitting in my office until I actually started coming around. I thought I felt better and safer there, but now I realize it’s not the place I was in; it’s the people I’m around.
Les slides her plate to the side when she’s done. “I got news yesterday. Where are Evander and Mateo? They need to hear this too.”
“Pool house,” Micah answers, pulling out his phone and shooting off a text. “They’re on their way in.”
Ryder came into my office yesterday getting the folders, grumbling under his breath, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was, just said Les would tell us.
Once everyone is in the kitchen, Micah cleans up, and Gage retrieves the folders she asked for. I can see the seriousness written all over Ryder and Les.
“We have problems,” Les says, flips open a folder full of pictures, and spreads them out over the island.
Micah picks up one, looking closer. “Where did these come from?”
“Zane,” Ryder grits out.
“How did he get them?” Micah comments, and I can see he doesn’t like Zane either.
“I would have thought that it was him,” Les says, shuffling through the pictures and pulling several out. “Except these were in there.” She shoves them across to us, and they’re all of her and Zane when they meet.
“Is this because he has ties to you?” Evander says, putting the pieces together.
Ryder jerks a nod in answer, folding his arms on the island. “I still don’t fucking trust Zane,Il mio sole.”
“I don’t either,” she says, but I can see something like guilt flash across her face before she covers it up. “But he handed us these files for a reason.”
What is she feeling guilty about?
“To get back in your pants,” Gage remarks from sitting on the counter. “What other motive could he have?”
She rolls her eyes heavenward. “I’m not going to keep having this same conversation concerning Zane,” she says in exasperation. “We have bigger issues than that.”
“He’s right, though,” Micah agrees. “He’s been after you since he had no fucking business being after you.”
She angrily points to the folders. “Bigger issues,” she says between clenched teeth. She pulls the other folder out, slapping it infront of him. “Everything about us. Our businesses. Known associates.Everythingis cataloged in those papers. They even have all our information. Birthdays, ages, and social security numbers. Every fucking thing, and you’re worried about Zane?”
“He’s saving our ass. Again,” I say quietly, almost shrinking when every head turns toward me. I push my shoulders back like Ryder taught me. “He saved Les from the middle of a shootout, and he got Leo out before he died. Who cares what his motives are?”
Ryder squeezes my shoulder in support. “As much as I don’t want to admit it because I fucking hate that dick, Holden’s right.”
“This is some serious stalker shit,” Mateo says, ruffling through the pictures. “All these pictures have Alessa in them, but it always looks like she’s looking right at the camera. Like you are looking at the person taking them.” He picks up one with who I assume is Ryder and Les from the heights in their gear when they go out for the Black Demon. “Except this one.”
“If he has that, what else has he seen?” Micah asks.
“I don’t think he took that one,” I comment, putting my hand out for Mateo to hand it to me. I look closer. “It looks like it was pulled from security cameras.”
“How can you tell?” Ryder says, leaning closer to look. I try to ignore his scent wafting past my nose.
I pull another one over for comparison. “See how grainy this one is?” I ask, pointing to the one with the masks, and he nods. “All the other ones are crystal clear; they are taken with state-of-the-art equipment.”
“Why would he have it, though?” Leo asks.
“That’s a good fucking question,” Les says, running her fingers through her hair. She looks at Evander and Mateo. “Might as well get this out now. I’m the Black Demon.”
That truth hits the island in front of us, and all heads turn to them for their reaction. She’s risking a lot by telling them, but I don’t think they’ll ever say anything. I don’t know why, but I immediately trusted them.
