“Wait,” I say, stopping her at the end of the dark hallway.
I pull my phone out, scanning the camera feeds from inside, noting that Apollo’s looking after Hailey and Bianca while Broadway’s in with Carter, the informant long gone.
“Okay, let’s go.” I open the door, taking another whiff of Bianca’s coconut scent as she pushes past me.
Thirty seconds and three knocks later, we enter the office, both men swinging their heads toward us, perplexed for the shortest moment.
“Look who I found,” I say, leaving Bianca’s suitcase by the wall while she strides inside, heading straight for the boss.
“She took a cab here,” I add, noticing Carter’s suspicious eyes raking over the girl who stops before his desk and extends her petite hand.
“Should I introduce myself?” she asks as the door opens and Koby joins us.
“I doubt there’s a single thing we don’t already know about you, cupcake,” he says, his voice still strained, every step careful, measured, and a little on the limping side.
“You don’t have to introduce yourself,” Carter denotes, taking her hand with a light squeeze. “But I’d appreciate an explanation of how you got here. Or rather,why. We’ve been looking for you.” He gestures toward one of the large sofas, urging her to sit. To my annoyance, she picks a spot opposite Koby who struggles while lowering himself down.
“What happened, Koby?” Broadway asks, leaning to the left of the many monitors on the wall.
“Little trouble here...” He motions with his chin at Bianca, “...kneed my balls.”
Broadway snorts a laugh while Carter’s eyebrow raises slowly, the innocent gesture a nonverbal order to explain.
“He called mesweetheart.” Bianca spits out the endearment as if it’s a chili pepper and she hates spicy food.
“And that’s offensive because...?” Koby asks.
“Because...” She pauses, swallowing hard, eyes falling to the floor. Her fingers wring the hem of her cardigan for a heartbeat. Then, with a roll of her shoulders, the momentary helplessness fades away. “Vaughn’s been calling me that lately.”
9
Bianca
Ishould’ve known the four men in this room would be more than suspicious of my sudden arrival.
I can’t blame them.
Given what I know about the mind games, blackmail, and general fuckery happening between Vaughn, Willard, Noretto, and Grey, it’s only natural they don’t trust me right off the bat.
For all they know, I could be spying for Vaughn. That’s not the case, but my reason for running is stuck in my throat, the truth too traumatic to admit in front of strangers.
I don’t know them. I don’t trust them. I’m here because they’re the lesser of two evils, given Carter’s dating my half-sister.
“Can you elaborate?” Carter asks, the vein on the side of his neck pulsing.
“Not really. Let’s say Vaughn’s been acting weird for a while, and three hours ago he crossed a line.” I pull the tie out of my hair, busying my hands with redoing the messy bun. “Let meask you this: in the last two months, did you get anywhere near finding me and Vaughn?”
Carter opens a liquor cabinet, pours me a glass of white wine, and as soon as it’s in my hand, Broadway steps in, fixing four drinks for the guys.
“No,” Carter says, taking a seat in the wingback chair. “We haven’t stumbled across your trail once.”
“See, I knew Vaughn was acting crazy. He had us moving for stupid reasons. He’s been drinking a lot since day one, and I attributed his paranoia to that. It started with a bottle of whiskey every night, then two, and tonight, before I left, there were three empty bottles on the coffee table.”
“Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” Broadway chimes in, a mixture of shock and amusement coating his tone.
“I’ll need more thanhe crossed a line, Bianca,” Carter says, his glare freezing me in place. “Your sudden arrival raises all kinds of alarm bells.”
“I understand, but I don’t know you. There are things I don’t feel comfortable sharing.”
