“I have art,” John added, pulling me from the thick clouds. “A few pictures that might help.”
“Email those to me. Will ya? A new email address.”
“You got it. Anything else?”
“Yeah, when the shit hits the fan, stay far away and act like you barely know me.”
“Now you have me curious.”
“Thanks, John. I owe you.”
“What was that all about?” Reese asked from beside me. With a casual glance, the ache in my balls started all over again. I was beginning to call my reaction the Reese effect.
The pull and desire was stronger than ever. “Let’s just say this will be over with soon. Very soon.”
The squeeze of her hand on my leg made it nearly impossible to concentrate, but we needed to play this through. My gut told me, given the group already had wind someone was onto them, panic should have started. That meant mistakes would be made.
And I was all for it.
Honor.
Reese had tossed that out like the word hero. Even though she’d point blankly asked how far I was willing go and I’d been truthful with her, it hadn’t dissuaded her insistence that I was one of the good guys.
Even after everything Reese had been through, she still believed in the best in people. I’d lost that ability a long time before.
There were no words to describe the sense of relief in learning the girl at the morgue hadn’t been Briana, but the sense of urgency had quickly replaced the momentary peace. The warning had been clear. Stay the hell away. Not a chance.
The nagging in my gut was getting stronger. The vicious game Franklin was playing would soon begin to unravel, forcing his hand. My only fear was that he’d try to lash out at the one person who truly knew who he was. Reese.
In this scenario, what he did or didn’t know about me meant nothing. I couldn’t care less if he and all his dangerous friends came after me. Their threats meant nothing. Maybe I was ready to accept that for the last ten years, I’d been going through the steps of life, not living it. Maybe I was a danger junkie because there was some innate excitement in facing the devil in hopes of winning.
And that’s who the Privileged were. A repulsive reincarnation of night crawlers.
The thought of the bastard possibly hurting her had twisted a knot in my stomach much like the way my grip on the leather steering wheel was sliding back and forth. I was angry, so much so my thoughts had drifted completely away from any concept of following the letter of the law.
Now it was time to end on a predatory note, destroying the functionality of their organization.
“Maverick has officially blown up social media. Nine million likes, and fifty-seven thousand comments on Instagram alone and all wanting to know the identities of the Privileged.”
Hearing the lilt in her voice allowed another laugh, one coming from deep within. Not from the kind of jovial feeling from a joke told or a comedy hitting all the right spots. It was one that included a need to cause pain in one of several ways. “His popularity is increasing because my partner in crime is brilliant.”
“Yes, I am. Do you know he offered me two hundred thousand dollars a year to be his assistant? Do you know how much more that is than I currently make?”
“You are not allowed to take the job.” I grinned after making the statement.
“Jealous?”
“I’ll never admit to it.” A flash drew my attention. I’d tossed the phone onto the dashboard. Seeing Maverick’s number kept the corners of my mouth upturned in sheer delight. “We were just talking about you, Mav. You’re even more famous than before. However, she’s not for hire.”
Maverick followed my jovial tone, laughing as I’d just done. “We’ll see about that. I must be pretty famous since I’ve had four calls from unknown numbers today.”
“I would venture a guess Franklin is feeling hot under the collar.”
“No doubt. So you’re aware, Chase might have caught a break with the warehouse. He and his team are on the way. Ruger managed to do some cross-referencing with properties sold by Devonshire to a holding company that only exists on paper. Gabriel is in the process of trying to dig up anything he can on the stock owners. Please tell your lovely guest that her father still has it. Within two hours, he was able to get out a lockdown on the software so no one else can access it. And he’s coming close to breaking through the firewall and discovering all the hidden gems of information.”
“Baby,” I told her, still on the call. “Your father is brilliant. We’re in.”
I did so love seeing a smile slowly slip across her face as vile and wicked thoughts invaded her lovely mind. I had a feeling with a little tweaking, she could become a damn good vigilante herself. She had that kind of verve.
