Deep Under (Tall, Dark and Deadly #4)(6)

“And yet you didn’t f*cking stop her.”

“Stop saying FUCK!” Kara shouts. “Stop. I hate the way you always say f*ck, Blake. And f*ck you! This is my sister. You knew they were doing this and you didn’t tell me. I found your notes. You kept this a secret from me.”

“I was waiting to see what they found out before I got your hopes up,” Blake states. “I didn’t want you to feel everything you’re feeling right now.”

“You don’t get to decide what I feel or don’t feel. You just get to be there to help me deal with it. Do you understand?”

Blake turns her to face him, his hands on her hips. “We’ve talked about this. We’re both too close to this case to be objective. We’re both known by the Alvarez inner circle. I trust my brother and I trust Kyle. Let’s let them handle this.”

“I don’t want to let them handle this,” she hisses.

“If Myla is alive,” he says, “one wrong move and she could be dead. Think about it, Kara.”

They exchange some sort of silent communication, the air crackling around them, before she says, “I need to control this.”

“I know,” Blake says softly, “but you can’t. I have a lead on the Ella Ferguson case. Let’s get on a plane and go to Italy where I think she may be. We’ll find her while they find your sister. Distance will help you in ways you can’t understand now.”

“You have a lead on Ella?”

“I do and it’s solid. Let’s go be the ones who find her, while Kyle and Royce try to find Myla.”

He cups the back of her head, their foreheads coming together, while Royce motions me toward the stairs, and we quickly leave them alone. I’ve only just made it to the top of the landing when my phone rings, and I glance down, then up at Royce. “Juan. I told him I wanted to meet the person I’m guarding before I take the job.”

“A call this soon has to be a good sign.”

“Kyle,” is how I answer.

“That meeting you wanted is on. Back at the Ritz. Come prepared to take over tonight.”

“I haven’t agreed to take the job.”

“Be that as it may,” he says. “That decision happens tonight, and you need to be ready to stay the night.”

“That gives me no time to prepare.”

“Go by your apartment. Get your things. That’s all the preparation you need. I’ll meet you at the hotel elevator in an hour. Don’t be late this time.”

“An hour and a half.”

“An hour,” he repeats, and hangs up.

I shove my phone in my pocket. “Whoever I’m guarding is at the Ritz waiting on me. I told them I want to meet the person first. They’ve agreed, but expect me to come prepared to stay the night.”

Footsteps sound and Blake joins us, stepping between myself and Royce. “We’re going to Italy, but f*ck you both for not telling me you’d found Alvarez.”

“Blake, man-” I begin.

“Fuck you, Kyle,” he says. “We’re brothers. All of us. You don’t f*cking keep secrets like this.” He looks at Royce. “And you, brother. You have a wife. You know Kara changed everything for me. I put Kara before revenge.”

“I also know from having a wife,” Royce says, “that secrets are poison. I didn’t want you to have to choose to keep one from Kara. I wanted to know if this was real before we told you.”

“I have to go,” I interject, and knowing that if Blake hacked our records he knows everything. “I’m meeting the person they’re paying me to guard.”

“So you’re in,” he says, his tone flat.

“I’m in,” I confirm. “I’ll make this count, Blake. If I can find her-”

“I get Alvarez,” he says. “I get to be the one who kills him.”

“Blake, damn it-” Royce begins, and before he finishes Blake is flattening him with a stare.

“Don’t tell me how killing him will blacken my soul or some f*cking bullshit like that, big brother. I’m killing him. And right now, I’m leaving the country with Kara on this job, which will be long enough to save everyone you can before I do it.” He turns around and walks down the stairs.

Royce and I look at each other and I sigh. “I guess that’s as contained as he gets.”

“No,” Royce assures me. “It isn’t. And as I said, I’ll contain him. You just go do your job.”

“Right. I’m leaving, but from this point forward, I’m keeping only the phone line I purchased for this job on me.” And because undercover is what I do well, I reach into my pocket and hand him my company phone I use for about everything, but undercover work. “I don’t want it on me.” He nods, accepting it and I add, “Tell Blake how to reach me and I’m sure I don’t have to say this, but I have to say it. Make sure he knows we’re using only non-traceable lines, from this point forward.”

“Copy that,” he says. “Just for confirmation. All calls will come from a line that will be routed to a disconnected message if called by an unknown number. And all calls made from the line will be automatically purged by our team.”

“Excellent,” I say, turning and heading for the back door, and doing so, with the world on my shoulders. Blake’s world. Kara’s world. And maybe, just maybe, Myla’s life, but that would be a good thing. It would mean she’s not dead and I have the chance to save her. Exiting the bar, the hot air suffocates me, but my adrenaline is pumping, my desire to know where this is headed, high. Clicking my locks open, I have the tingling sensation of being watched.