Within sixty seconds, they had breached the home without alerting the three guards inside the house. All due to Emily suppressing the warning. They were also watching a video loop of the security cameras. Money could hire your security, but unless you checked them out, there was always a chance you would get idiots. More muscle didn’t mean they were better at their jobs.
Seth and Rami took out the two guards in the kitchen, knocking them out cold without either of them making a noise. Ian moved on as Kap and Nikki breached the security room. He registered the man opening his mouth to shout, but Kap leveled a weapon at him.
Well, they were definitely not ready to die for Underwood.
“You’re gonna go down that hallway, Ian. It’s the last door on the left.”
He moved his way down the hallway, determined to save Lila or die trying.
“It was her fault. She was always whispering in your mother’s ear.”
How did she not see what he was when she was a girl? She had always thought he was brilliant, if a little off. His dismissal of Adam had hurt her heart, but she hadn’t had the emotional maturity to understand just what was happening at the time. A lot of people didn’t like dealing with her brother and his eccentricities. She didn’t care. She had loved him with her whole heart.
“So, nothing is your fault?”
The anger smoothed out from his face. “I knew you would understand.”
“It had nothing to do with the crypto you stole?”
His face went blank. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Jesus, even now, when you are about to kill me, you can’t be truthful with me. I know you embezzled it. And you set up Hiller to take the fall.”
There was a long beat of silence, then his mouth curved. The smile he gave her had nothing to do with humor, just madness. It shown in his eyes. Michael Underwood was a freaking nut. And she was related to him. What kind of monster did that make her?
“I thought it hilarious that his uncle actually thought he was interested in your mother. I mean, shouldn’t the CIA know he was gay?” He shook his head.
“So, you used his body and did something in the computer systems to change the DNA.”
He nodded. “It was pretty easy. We were about the same height and sort of the same build.”
Why had she not even picked up on this during all her time investigating? Her blind spot for her father could end up with her death. Worse, he could have hurt Ian over the last few months.
“So, it was my grandmother’s fault that you suck.”
Even though she was braced for it this time, the slap still stung. She rose from the chair when he pulled a gun out from his waistband in the back of his pants.
“Did you think I would come in here without being armed? You’re the granddaughter of Judith Eddington and I’m not an idiot. Sit down or I’ll shoot you.”
“Go ahead. It’s not like I didn’t think you would kill me.”
“I’ll shoot your kneecap.”
She wanted to fight him on the order, but the gun changed things. Her head was still a bit fuzzy, her muscles loose from whatever drug they had given her, and she was still smarting from the slap.
She plopped down in the seat hoping against hope that Ian was close to figuring out where she was. She had to survive some way.
Lila tilted her head to the side. “Do those idiots know you’re going to kill them?”
“Why would I kill them?”
“Because you won’t want any witnesses left.”
He gave her that same smile that chilled her blood. God, the man was a menace with that freaking smile.
“They are stupid, aren’t they? But they’re good servants.”
“They’re local, but you won’t want anyone to know that you were here. If you leave them behind, they will get snapped up for something else. So, why not tell me everything you have planned and then you can kill me.”
