A comfortable silence carried us through the ten-minute ride to Sylvia's apartment building. Usually Sylvia would fill it with useless rambling, but maybe that part of her didn't kickstart until she had her coffee. I wasn't stupid enough to bring it up though. I preferred the silence.
"Thanks for the ride. I'll see you at the office."
"Yup, see you soon." I waited until she scanned her way into the apartment building before I drove off.
I thought about my current predicament on the drive to my townhouse. No matter which way I looked at it, things were going to suck. If Lex was in fact the dead body they found today, Alexander was going to be scrambling to get Mason out ofprison. It was either that or the Dunkin crime family was going to be pushing for a new heir. From everything I knew about them, Alexander was an only child, so that only left Mason.
By the time I pulled into the driveway, I was no closer to figuring things out. Maybe a workout would do me some good. Most people liked to listen to music while exercising, but I preferred to run through my cases.
I paused before opening the door. Earlier, when I’d come home, I had felt the change in the air. I knew even before stepping into my place that something was off. That feeling was no longer there, but it didn't stop me from raising my gun and sweeping the house before I felt comfortable enough to put my weapon away.
Damn Anita for making me feel uncomfortable in my own place.
What I needed was a damn good workout to work through my thoughts. My mind was always clearer after I pushed my body to the limits.
With each new rep, I felt myself relax. I got into a groove that allowed my body to work by muscle memory alone, while I considered my current predicament.
Lex was dead. Allegedly.
Murdered? Most definitely.
Mason refused to testify against his family.
Alexander was going to be out for blood now that he’d lost his heir.
The odds of Mason being whacked were higher than ever.
And then there was Anita. An enigma if I ever saw one. I didn't know what to make of her. She hated me; that was for sure, and I couldn't blame her. I came into her life at a time when everything was imploding. Her best friend was gone. The person she blamed disappeared despite my assurances he wouldn't. Mason made me out to be a liar, and that alone pissedme off. But seeing the hurt and disappointment in Anita's eyes had haunted me all this time.
The hurt was gone though, and all that was left in its place was anger.
I wanted to help Anita as much now as I had in the past. A contradiction really, considering each time we crossed paths, she attacked me. A sane individual would steer clear, but that wasn't me. I wanted to find a way to get in touch with her. I wanted to help even if I would never admit that to her.
I wanted her.
What the hell did that say about me?
CHAPTER SEVEN
ANITA
There was something immensely satisfying, knowing that I was about to torture a sick son of a bitch.
Hakan's helicopter was less than five minutes away, and my team was ready to take his small army out just as soon as it landed.
"Lilith, do you have a visual on the guards?" I asked over our comms. Lilith was perched on the roof of the barn. Getting past the guards and onto the property was too easy. Hakan needed to train his men better. He wouldn't get the chance though because no one but Krista and us were leaving the property alive.
"Copy that. Half of the men are still in the bunkhouse. There's been no movement in the house, and the ones walking the property are too busy on their phones or smoking cigarettes to be a threat to us."
I shook my head. What was the point of hiring security if they didn't do their job? It was likely Hakan paid shit, and the guards didn't actually give a fuck. If given the chance, they would probably run or switch sides just to save themselves. My teamwasn't about to give them that option though. They secured their fate the second they chose to rape women.
"Two minutes until landing," Sloane advised us. She was in contact with Hawk who was tracking the helicopter.
"We don't move until they are a safe distance away from the helicopter," I reminded them. "Lilith, be ready to take the chopper out." We didn't want to give Hakan the opportunity to escape.
We managed to slip onto the property and disabled the vehicles during reconnaissance. The only reason we didn't eliminate the guards before Hakan landed was because we didn't want to chance someone radioing him that his house was under attack. This needed to be a coordinated attack, once we had visual confirmation Krista was alive.
"I have eyes on the chopper." Lilith confirmed what I knew based on the sound of chopper blades approaching.
