“Pix is right; Razor snuck in.” Digits hits his keyboard in a flurry of keystrokes, and the middle, large monitor fills with a camera shot.
The security cameras at Hedon were useless because someone had jammed them. This shouldn’t have been possible given Digits’ level of encryption and the failsafes he’s embedded in the system, which means we’re working against someone with top-tier skills or tech that’s better than his currently is.
The large monitor fills with footage from a CCTV camera. It clearly shows Razor walking through the nondescript door for Hedon, greeted by…
“The fucking bitch.”
Anais.
Bane side-eyes me with his arms crossed over his broad chest. “You know her?”
“Yes,” I say through clenched teeth. But how did she come in contact with Razor? Is it just a coincidence?
I immediately dismiss that. One, because I’m trained to behighlysuspicious of things labeled as coincidences, and two, because Razor isnotAnais’ type. Add in that she’s territorial of me and was obviously jealous of Leeva, and that’s just another bullet in the chamber against her.
But how did she even meet Razor, and why would she be working with him?
Pix stares at the screen. “That’s the bitch from Vixen’s.”
I turn to her with a frown. “You had left before she did, so your paths wouldn’t have crossed inside.”
Her jaw shifts, and she looks embarrassed. “I didn’t leave right away. There’s a place across the street with bubble tea I like.” Digits snorts a laugh, and she whips her head at him, glaring. “I saw her outside on the sidewalk.”
“She made an impression on you? Why?” Ash asks.
Pix turns to stare at the picture of Anais wearing a black, skin-tight dress, holding Hedon’s door open for Razor. “I didn’t like her. Definite cunt vibes from that one.” She jerks her chin at the screen. “She’d skin a puppy if it meant she got what she wanted.”
Bane eyes me. “And let me guess…she wants you, Army.”
I nod and explain my past with Anais and how I ended our very casual fuck-buddy non-relationship.
“But the time is too tight,” I reason. “She came to Vixen’s this afternoon. That doesn’t give her enough time to hatch a revenge plan, find a contact in the MC who hates me, and bring him to Hedon.”
“Unless she had contact with Razor prior…” Ash muses.
I shake my head. It still doesn’t feel right that she would do this without excessive reason. Even after her stunt in my private room at Hedon last week, she still thought she had a chance with me up until today.
“I overheard her talking on the phone.” Pix glances at the screen again and then back to me. “I was crossing the street back to my bike, and she was walking away from Vixen’s. She said, ‘Apply the boot; he’s not being reasonable.’”
I stiffen.
Apply the boot…
Guerilla always tried to keep me down, with a boot on my neck. It’s the analogy I always used to describe how he constantly tried to undermine me and strike at me. It was one he himself would taunt me with after his plan had worked.
If Guerilla has been back in town without us knowing, and if he’s aware of our role in Hedon, as well as my being with Leeva…
That’s a lot of ‘ifs’; however, this is the exact shit he’d pull to strike at me. Never coming at me directly or having the balls to come at me face-to-face, but with quiet manipulation and surprise attacks.
“Digits, I want everything you can pull up on Anais Martin. Including any connection she could have to my bastard brother.”
His eyes behind his glasses widen. “You think?”
I pace, needing to move as I think this all through.
“The hit on Hedon with the fake accusation of human trafficking came too quickly after Leeva got back.” Ash’s mind has gone where mine has.
“Which means Guerilla might have been back longer than I think, or he’s been in contact with someone here to work against us.”
