“Do you love him?”
“I don’t know that I even fucking know what that means, Xav, but I think I do.”
“Do you think about him more than you don’t?”
She nods.
“Do you want to be a part of his life forever?”
She nods again.
“Can you see a future with him, if you really think about it, an actual life, Vic?”
She nods.
“Then you love him.”
“Do you love Shelley?”
“I think I do.”
“What do we do now, Xav?”
“We fucking destroy him. We fucking destroy them all!”
She nods and lets out another shaky breath. I grip her tighter. There’s only one way we get what we want, and that’s to burn their world to the ground—with them fucking in it.
Vic
Chapter XVII
I know I fucked up. I know I shouldn’t have antagonised Father, but he pushes my buttons, and he’s the only one who can get a rise out of me. I head out to carry out recon for a new job, and I call in on Jacob. I’ve received a notification that one of his parcels will be delivered in the next hour, and I want to see his face.
As I hover behind the neighbouring house, the delivery driver turns up. I see Jacob shake his head, but it clearly has his name and address on it, so he signs for the package and then rips it open on the doorstep. It’s one of the books. He pulls it out, smiles, and then digs for the note. When he pulls it out, he reads it, and his smile drops before he glances around like he’s about to be jumped and steps back, slamming the door. I frownbut then smile. He was so happy when he saw the book, genuinely happy.
I grin to myself, and I head on to the job. I’m surveilling a lawyer. I have an appointment with him for my ‘impending divorce’ from my abusive husband. It turns out that lawyer David Montague-Jones is one of the good guys. He takes no-win, no-fee cases from women trying to sue rich husbands for what’s rightfully theirs; he only takes a cut if he wins, and he generally does, but he was recently in court against one of The Collective’s grandsons. He won the wife a six-figure annual salary and full custody of the children. The grandson was seething as his lawyer led him to believe he had it in the bag, and although there will be a hit on the wife eventually, it’s too new at the minute, so they’re sending me after the lawyer instead. It won’t achieve anything. The case has been won. The grandson wants retribution, and this is what I’m here for.
I walk into the office of David Montague-Jones. It’s a modest building with a cosy office and a wall of thank-you cards. “Ms Renet, please take a seat.”
I lift a finger for him to wait and pull the device out of my bag. I raise my finger to my lips and then tap my ear. He looks confused but watches as I slide the device around the room. It starts to click, and as I scan, the clicks get closer and closer till it’s a continuous noise. I pull the picture frame away from the wall and remove the bug from the back of it. I walk over to his desk and drop it into his mug of coffee.
“Ms Renet,” I cut him off with the lift of my finger again. Shaking my head, I continue around the room, surveying everything. I find seven bugs and two video cameras. I pull out my phone and call Xav.
I hold my finger up to David again when he answers, “Seven bugs, two cameras.”
“On it!” Then the line goes dead.
I walk over and slide into the seat opposite David.
“Mr Montague-Jones, may I call you David?”
He nods.
“I need you to be extremely calm and listen to me. Do you understand?”
He nods again.
“You recently won a case against a very powerful man, well, a very powerful man’s grandson. Johnathon Vale.”
