She still said nothing and just stared at him. Discomfort passed over his expression. Her silence was starting to get to him. Good.
“You’ve caused me quite a bit of trouble,” he said.
He hadn’t changed that much. Granted, it looked like he’d had a little work done, just enough to ward off any facial recognition. It had been over a decade since he had “died” so she wondered if he’d had it done right away.
“Nothing to say? Interesting. You were always so full of words when you were younger.”
Her stomach clenched at the fondness in his tone. For years, she had worried if she were like him. He had shown affection in his own way, but now she knew it was a lie. There was no way he cared for her or anyone else. He had mimicked emotions like a good sociopath always does.
“So, I’m guessing you want to ask a lot of questions.”
She shrugged and looked away, dismissing him. She needed a way out of there, or a way to stall him until Ian could come get her. There was no doubt he would. She just had to hold on until he did.
“I take it that bitch Judith taught you how to be quiet.”
She slanted him a look as anger took hold of her. She owed her grandmother everything and she would not let him disparage her. “Don’t call my grandmother a bitch.”
“Finally,” he breathed out, his voice evening out in relief. She wanted to kick herself. “And she was a bitch. She’s the reason my marriage was falling apart.”
She snorted once again. “I think it’s because you’re a malignant narcissistic asshole, but what do I know?”
Lila didn’t expect the slap. That hadn’t been something her parents had ever done to them, so when he backhanded her, shock came first. Then tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back. She would not cry in front of him. She gritted her teeth, promising herself that she would make him pay for all of it.
It had been easy to gain access to the grounds of the house. Underwood had very little protection, which had told Ian a couple of things.
First, the man didn’t trust anyone. Second, he was an arrogant bastard. Most narcissists were, so it made sense. He had had only two people patrolling the grounds. They were knocked out and tied up. As they approached the house, Emily continued to chatter away in his ear.
“I cannot understand how he could have missed this. I mean, if he was targeting you to bring out Lila, don’t you think he would have checked out who handled his security?”
Yes, that was true, but at the moment, he couldn’t question that. His entire focus was on getting to Lila. Why hadn’t he told her how he felt? He had been a coward, not able to tell her he loved her. But there was one thing he would do the moment he got his hands on her, and that was tell her how he felt. Then, she would just have to deal with it.
As Emily kept talking about how stupid Underwood was, he could hear her tapping on the keys.
They were within fifty yards of the house when she squealed.
“Eureka!”
He stopped his forward progression. He had worked with Emily enough to know that she would have information for them.
“Okay, you have three guys left in the house. I’m sure he has more than five working for him, but they’re absent at the moment.”
“Are you sure you haven’t missed anyone?” Seth asked.
“As if, and no. There is no one. I had Charity double check for me.”
Charity Callahan was the forensic tech for TFH.
“You have two in the kitchen, and one in the computer room. And I’ve tapped into the cameras. Underwood has Lila in a room. No other guards.”
She didn’t say anything else, and he sensed she was holding back on him.
“Ian, this is your favorite sister on the line.” Autumn was his only sister. “What she isn’t telling you is that he has a gun.”
Adrenaline spiked as a sense of urgency filled him. He had to get to Lila. He knew their time was running short if Underwood had a gun. This was the end game for him. But that wasn’t about to happen. Ian wasn’t about to lose her now.
“Emily, once we breach, direct Ian to the room where Lila is. Ian, you get to her. We’ll take care of the others,” Seth said.
“Copy that,” he said, determination filling him.
