Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
I needed to know nothing had changed since he’d learned Logan and I still had our dark sides.
Bottom line, I liked knowing my best friend still was my best friend, and I didn’t care how I found that out. Not right now. Everything would be smoothed over later, but Nate didn’t know that.
I heard a beep, and he spoke into the phone. “She said there’s a button on the right side. A tiny button. You have to look at it squarely or you won’t see it. It’s supposed to blend in with the panel. She doesn’t know the code, but if you hit that button, you’ll have thirty seconds to get out of the house.”
His phone beeped.
He cursed, his voice tightening. “She didn’t ask why, Mason. Fuck you, man. That’s my sister. So goddamn good, and she never even questioned me why I was asking that shit from her.”
Logan was coming up the stairs. He raised his chin in question.
“It’ll be fine,” I told Nate.
“I fucking hope so. If she mentions this to Blaise, he’s going to ask why, and when he doesn’t believe my lie or when he checks out my lie, he’s going to raise hell. You don’t know that side of my brother-in-law.”
“They’re in Europe. You have time to evade.”
“You’d never lie to Logan for me—”
“I’d lie to Taylor for you.”
Logan punched my arm, glaring. I shrugged. It was true. I’d lie to her if Nate asked me to. Now, if Sam or Logan himself asked me about it, I wouldn’t lie to them. Maybe it wasn’t quite fair, but I also didn’t care.
“That’s not the same,” Nate countered.
“I have to go. We can fight about this later.” I ended the call before he could say anything more.
“You go first. I know how to arm it.”
Logan’s eyes were narrowed into slits, but he didn’t linger. I heard the garage door go up, and Allen’s truck started. He backed out. The garage door began to lower. I waited until it was on the ground before hitting the little button and taking off, leaving through the side door. That would lock behind me too.
Logan was almost to the street when I ran past him.
I crossed the street to my Escalade, climbed in and followed after him.
The first phase was complete.
26
MASON
There was a soundproofed room inside an empty Kade Enterprises warehouse. I had every intention of looking into why it had been soundproofed, but until I had time, we were going to make use of it.
Once we had Zeke strung up so he wasn’t going to hurt himself, it was time. Logan and I kept our masks on, and I trained the spotlight on him. “Wake him up.”
The room was warm and it smelled weird, but it’d do for what we were about to do. This was not going to be pleasant. Logan picked up the smelling salts and put them under Allen’s nose.
He jerked awake with a cough and a deep groan.
Logan stepped back, disappearing into the shadows with me. We waited until Zeke got his bearings.
After a moment, his eyes squinted against the light. He tried to move, but his arms and legs were both tied in place. Only then did panic start to hit him. He tried to see us, but the light hurt too much. He flinched, twisting and trying to move away. “What the fuck? What the fuck?!” He struggled against his bindings. “Let me go.” He took a deep breath, fighting again. “LET ME GO! NOW!”
Logan started laughing, trying to be quiet.
Zeke froze, glaring at us. “You think this is funny? You fucking sick psychos. You twisted, fucking sick psychos. Who are you? When I get out of this—”
I was suddenly not in the mood to hear any threats. “Shut up.”
He did, but only briefly. His eyes narrowed, and his lip curled in an ugly snarl. “Or what? You’re going to break into my house and kidnap—” His eyes widened, and he froze. “My wife. My kids.” He strained toward us, eyes blazing. “My family, are they okay? If you did anything to the—”
More threats.
His fear was valid, but this wasn’t about his family. This was about mine, and he had put them in danger. A primal-sounding roar escaped me. He shut up for a moment, but still he strained to get free, pushing his body as far toward us as his bindings would let him.
Logan moved to my side. “That’s a good strategy.” He looked up to check on where we’d anchored the chains. It looked solid. “If we needed to keep him here longer than a day, he’d get free.”
My eyes fell to the anchor at his feet. He wasn’t focused on that, but he should’ve been. That was the weak point. I nodded at it, getting Logan’s attention. If Zeke was thinking, he’d twist his body as far forward as possible, taking the pain, because that anchor on the floor wouldn’t hold. It would loosen, and it’d pop out of the floor.