The earpiece crackles, then goes silent, and my heart stops beating.
I’m completely blind in here.
After a few deep breaths, I make my move, sliding along the walls and walls of bookshelves, gently stepping around the large, ornate displays of antiques barely visible in the low light of the moon through the windows.
“Wow,” a sarcastic voice fills the quiet room. “They weren’t kidding. You do move like a fucking ghost.”
I don’t say anything, waiting for them to continue. If this person knows who I am, they’ve been expecting me, and this is a setup.
A lamp in the far corner flicks on, illuminating a man I don’t recognize sitting in a chair beneath it. Dark brown hair sitting on the collar of his exorbitantly ridiculous sweater. It’s a bit dark to tell, but from here, it looks like his eyes are either blue or green.
Doesn’t matter. They’ll be closed permanently soon.
I don’t say anything or move, staring silently back at the man, mentally cataloguing everything about him that could be a weaknessor advantage. The Glock sitting on his lap certainly doesn’t help my situation, but he can’t be the first person to point one at me over the years.
“Do we know each other?” I ask, glancing again at the gun sitting on his thigh, half expecting him to start petting it like the villain would a cat in a cheesy spy movie.
His eyes narrow, and the smile drops, “Youreallydon’t remember.”
I scoff, “I don’t know why people keep being surprised by that.”
“Well,” he barks out a horrid laugh. “Let me clear it up for you. I’m the guy whose fucking life you ruined.”
One of many, I’m sure.
“That doesn’t sound like me,” I poke at him.
“No?” his teeth grind together. “You know, it’s a lot less fucking fun finally getting my revenge when you don’t even know what it’s for.”
“If you’re the one who nearly beat me to death, some would argue that’s revenge enough,” I shrug, leaning against the wall behind me. Surely Skyler has some kind of plan in place for when shit like this happens. He said Leo and Tate were down the road.
A single dark laugh slips from his mouth as he stands, walking to turn on the overhead light.
The brightness hurts my eyes, but I don’t dare close or squint them, not when someone with a grudge has a gun in their hand.
I have one tucked into my waistband, but unless something distracts him, I don’t think I’ll be able to get it before he can pull the trigger.
“You haveno fucking clue,do you?” he laughs at me through gritted teeth, his amusement tainted with a rage that makes it all the more sinister. “I didn’t touch you. Didn’t have to. Steele was all too happy to do it after you assholes almost got us killed for failing to deliver product.”
With an eye twitch, he steps forward, and I inch closer to the window. I’m already caught, already have a weapon pointed at me. Ashattered window would be the least of my concerns as long as it gets me the fuck out of here.
“You cost memillionsand half of my distributors,” his eyes are crazed, furious.
Flitting through the random bits of information I’ve learned since getting home and the small, seemingly unimportant details from my time in the hospital, I try to piece together what the fuck happened to bring us here.
That’s the robbery gone wrong that the cop asked me about in the hospital. The one Sky mentioned offhand weeks ago.
Morrison and Steele set the whole thing up.
And when we derailed it, he pivoted, taking credit for the bust instead.
I shrug, trying to steal some of Skyler’s nonchalance, “You don’t seem to be hurting for money, Mr. Morrison.” I gesture around the opulent room.
His eyes narrow, “So youdoremember.”
I feed him the same lie I did Steele, “It comes in bits and pieces.” Letting them believe I’m completely clueless won’t do me any favors. If I can at least pretend to be competent, it might give me a fighting chance. “So you’re telling me that there weretwoof you, and you still had to attack me from behind like a couple of fucking cowards? Too chicken shit to face me like a man. You can’t even hold that gun without shaking. No wonder your old man didn’t want you to take over. Bet you attacked him from behind like a coward too.”
Maybe baiting him into attacking isn’t my best idea, but if he’s angry enough, he won’t be thinking straight.
