What he wants, I get him.
Not that anything I do for him is ever sufficient.
My stomach knots with the ever-present, low-grade ache of being the unacknowledged son who’s never good enough, no matter how many merits or accomplishments I collect.
Resentment rots my insides. Resentment toward myself, toward my mother, my father, theworld?—
Gritting my teeth, I shake the unpleasant sensation off. I’ve got more important things to focus on.
As I trail Trinity across this sprawling Pacific Coast campus, her brother once again surfaces in my thoughts. He must have expected retaliation when he sent Kellin here and infiltrated our business, but he probably never fathomed we’d target his own half-sister.
Well, fuck you, Finn.No matter how beautiful or fragile she appears, Trinity’s about to become collateral damage in my father’s war.
When Declan briefed me on this mission, he claimed his intel suggested that Finn has a soft spot for her.
But the file’s wrong.
First, if she were really Finn’s soft spot, getting to her would be like clawing through armored walls. As far as I can tell, her security detail consists of two bodyguards, and they don’t even stay close. They flank her from the shadows, entirely too easy to avoid. If she truly were his soft spot, Finn would never leave her so poorly guarded.
During weeks of surveillance, I found a woman who’s deliberately alone. She doesn’t move in cliques or frequent bars. As far as I can tell, she doesn’t have any friends at all.
The girl’s a lone wolf. Watchful, self-contained, solitary.
In the time I observed her, she neveroncespent money on anything frivolous. No shopping sprees. No spa trips. Only food and the occasional coffee from the corner café. Not even a fancy one.
She worked shifts at the campus library, and after that, she climbed into her beat-up old Toyota Camry and drove herself home. One night, I followed her to a local bar and watched her nurse a glass of red wine for two hours as she tapped her foot to the band.
A few other evenings, she played the piano in one of the soundproof music rooms. She left the door cracked the last time. Down the hall and out of sight, I soaked in the gloomy tunes, more at peace than I’ve been since I was a kid and Maeve sang me to sleep.
In all honesty, she’s the most solemn college student I’ve ever witnessed. Not a soft spot. A variable. An equation I can’t solve.
I squint as Trinity veers left at a fork in the paved campus walking path instead of her usual right. A muscle in my back twitches.
I already don’t like this. Doesn’t matter, though. My job remains simple. Secure this beautiful VIP hostage to turn the tide of war my father’s way and finally earn his approval.
I follow from about eighty paces behind. She steps right off the path and starts marching across the grass in a different direction.
Is she onto me? Trying to throw me off? Isolate me?
A lone woman is an easy target. Aconfusingwoman could spell problems.
Just where the fuck is she going? I know for a fact her car’s parked in the other direction.
Stopping by the campus post office immediately after snagging her diploma was weird enough, though I did clock the small package she held as I waited across the street, eagle-eyed and patient. Now, I have no clue where she’s headed.
Time to let the guys know about a change in plans.
Jed and Marko linger nearby, waiting on my signal. Like me, they’re enforcers, though I technically outrank them. Marko’s a decent guy, but Jed’s an idiot whose personality could curdle milk. Unfortunately, he’s also pretty decent in a fight, so he’s my backup on the hunt while Marko drives the van.
I outlined different possible abduction points around campus, depending on which path she took after her graduation, but she’s gone completely off script.
Change your position,I type hard and fast to Jed.East toward Blodgett Hall.
Premonition crawls across my skin like a centipede. My nerves tingle as I skirt the perimeter of a campus bakery, out of sight but parallel to Trinity’s movements.
A message from Jed.In position.
I start to reply.Take her in two?—
