“You try to kill me on a regular basis.”
“No, I don’t. I could have killed you many times now. I simply kill the things you love. Tell me, how is my sweet Kara? How is her heart?”
Ben had to take a long breath. Staying calm was of the utmost importance. Manny was pushing buttons, trying to see which one would set him off. Manny had tortured the woman he knew as Kara Trent. Manny was well aware of his affection for Ms. Magenta. He’d taunted him with it time and time again. He had no idea that the Kara he’d tortured and damaged was Kala and not Kenzie. “She’s fine. I don’t think your drugs work the way you think they do.”
A chuckle, self-satisfied and arrogant, filled the miles between them. “Oh, I suspect they work better than you realize. They still aren’t letting you in, are they? You’re always going to be on the outside, Benjamin. I find it incredibly ironic since I spent so much of my young life being told to be more like Benjamin.Manny, why can’t you be charming like your friend? Why can’t you get the girls your friend does?”
If there was one thing he was certain of, he wasn’t responsible for Manny’s grandfather’s obsession with him. “Maybe because the girls I hung out with were smart enough to sense a predator was in their midst.”
“Oh, I’ve found for the most part women are dumb animals who are simply looking for some man to protect them. When are you goingto understand that they are only truly necessary when it comes to breeding? Otherwise, a man’s life is far more peaceful without the bleating of those sheep.” The casual misogyny was part of Manny’s core personality.
“Sure. Because you’re going to raise the next generation on your own. You’re going to be right in there changing diapers and feeding your young.” He used the term since any of Manny’s kids would be treated like lions, taught to take as much as they could.
Except for the girls. He would likely throw them away as useless.
Or place them in a situation where they would be trained to make him money.
“I suppose not. I guess I have to keep a few around to cook and clean, but they’re nothing to get upset over. You know she’s your weakness. The way Deanna was your weakness.”
Ah, now he understood why Manny had called. He’d figured out things might be getting serious with the gorgeous operative. But how? Lou and Tim had promised him the sex tape they’d made had been obliterated from the system. Tim had ensured him that Lou had deleted everything from that mission before anyone could have downloaded the content, and then after they’d gotten everything they could, the system had self-destructed. There was no backup.
So the secret about Kara was safe, but they’d been reckless. If Manny knew…
“I think Kara can take care of herself in a way Deanna couldn’t.” He was pleased with how calm his voice was. Just the thought of Deanna and his brain replaced her still body with Kenzie’s.
No matter how she’d lied, he couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t allow her to be hurt. Couldn’t think of a world she wasn’t in.
Even if she was playing him for all she was worth.
“Yes, she can. Benjamin, how do you think I know your number?” The question was a knife made of pure suspicion meant to infect him.
“I think you own a couple of telecom companies. I never said you weren’t capable, Manny. I never said you weren’t powerful. I said you were evil.”
A long-suffering sigh came over the line. “Such a bourgeois word. And naïve. Every dollar, euro, yen, peso, it’s all the same. It’s all blood money, and money is the only thing the world understands. We’ve become overpopulated. It takes a true king of men to see it and dosomething about it. I am doing what I need to do to fulfill my legacy.”
“He’s dead, you know. They’re all dead. You don’t have to prove anything to your grandfather or your father.”
The silence felt like a threat.
“Yes, believe me I understand my father is dead and you’re currently celebrating with the man who started that line of dominoes that ended in my father dying,” Manny pointed out.
“Your dad was trying to steal another doctor’s work. He was literally in league with the bad guys.” It was useless, but he felt the desperate need to point out the truth. “It was a rogue CIA agent who killed him, not Ian.”
“It’s Ian now, is it? Has he brought you in? Made you one of his boys?” Manny asked. “I wonder how much truth he’s told you. I wonder if I know more than you do. Wouldn’t that be delicious? Or perhaps we know the same, but my timing is so much better than yours. I was going to, perhaps, come up with some surprise for Tasha and her new husband, but I think I should let things play out. I think they’ll hurt you far more than I can, and then perhaps you’ll be willing to talk to me. Perhaps you’ll be able to see the light when you realize how much this one has betrayed you and for how long she’s been doing it. Tell Taggart if this one fails, I’ll send another. Or don’t tell him. I suspect your life would seem easier without your whore’s pimp around all the time.”
He hung up.
How the fuck had he gotten the number? Despite what he’d said, this wasn’t a phone he’d gone to the local strip mall to sign a contract on. It was straight from his agency. No one except the people he gave the number to should be able to figure it out.
So it was people from his team, including Tim and Joseph and the support staff, and Kenzie Taggart. She was the only one outside of his highly vetted group who had the number. It was precisely how she’d gotten hold of him and sent him to Wales. He’d been the one to tip her off as to where Zach and Devi were hiding.
Now he wondered who he’d dealt with. Did Kala have his number? Probably. Kenzie would have passed it around if she thought it was good intel.
“Hey, they’re dancing. Like everyone, and the song’s slow, so I was thinking… What happened?” Kenzie pulled her hand away. She’d seemed to be ready to touch him but then he’d turned and she’d seen the look on his face.
The one he always got when he talked to Manny.
She’d gone stiff. He didn’t want to talk about this. He needed to think. It wouldn’t be the first time Manny had dangled some truth in front of him. Manny had ruined and wrecked every relationship he had in some way. Small injections of poison that over time killed the trust between Ben and…everyone.
