Under Pressure (Body Armor #1)(100)

Never.

Cat looked around the van again, Tesh watching her closely as she gathered the facts and sorted through them. One giant question drummed against her sluggish brain and she decided, why not ask? If nothing else, it’d maybe keep him distracted.

“How did you unlock the bathroom door?”

“I took keys from your little friend, Enoch.”

Fresh anger poured through her. “You almost killed him.”

“You had no right to give him your artwork!” Tesh flexed his jaw muscles, squeezed his hands into trembling fists. “All your gifts belong to me.”

“I didn’t even know you liked my work.”

That took him by surprise and he retrenched. Had he expected her to match his loss of control? Not likely. Leese had taught her that winning meant staying calm, staying in control and using what tools you had.

“I love your work.”

His sincerity was as scary as his rage. “Thank you.”

“Since I meant to choke him to death,” he added, “don’t expect me to show remorse.”

“No,” Cat said. “I don’t.” She expected him to rot in prison.

In a show of nonchalance, Tesh removed his heavy winter coat, folded it and placed it on the floor behind him. As if there’d been no interruption, he picked up his story again. “I also got an itinerary that told me about the party tonight. Once I verified that it hadn’t changed, I assumed Platt would show. He’s a twisted fuck who enjoys flaunting his power.”

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Cat just stared at him, encouraging him without words to continue talking—giving her time to think.

“I knew he’d want to rub your nose in it. And if you weren’t there, then of course Platt would have enjoyed tweaking Ms. Silver with what she couldn’t do to him.” He tipped his head. “I assume you confided in her? In your fighter friend?”

“No,” she immediately denied. If Tesh thought she had, it’d put them at added risk.

He glanced down at his shoes, a frown in place, then back up to meet her eyes with icy disappointment. “Just this once, I’ll let you slide on lying to me. But you will quickly learn there are consequences to that type of behavior. For your own sake, don’t let it happen again.”

Cat rolled back her shoulders, doing her best to hide her dread. “Platt wanted me. He’ll kill you when he finds out that you’ve—”

“Both Platt and Webb are dead.”

Her knees buckled and she slumped against the wall with sudden, debilitating remorse. “You killed Webb?”

“Ah, so you do care.” He seemed overjoyed by that, then said, “Not yet, no, but I plan to. Before another day passes, they’ll both be gone.”

Relief made her limbs even weaker. “I don’t understand. Why?”

“You see, Platt was too stupid to realize it, but I’m more powerful than he could ever be, because I know things he doesn’t know.”

Was that possible? She knew Tesh didn’t have Platt’s obscene wealth, but he might exceed him in insanity. “You said his guards work for you?”

“Some of them. Enough of them.” He gloated. “It took very little persuasion on my part to get the info I needed from the guards there tonight.”

Cat tried to look impressed. “You’ve covered all your bases.” She took another look around the van, searching for any weapon she might be able to use. “But why hurt Webb?”

“The backstabbing bastard worked against Platt. Against me.” Tesh ran a hand over his shaved head, rubbed the back of his neck and growled, “Webb was trying to find a way to bury us both.”

Wait... Webb had worked against them? “But I thought—”

“I know what you thought.” Indulgent, he shared his cruelest smile. “Poor little Cat. It’s possible Webb would have tried to protect you. But you ran from him.” He took a step closer. “For a while now, I’ve been suspicious of him, and of course, after Platt bragged about the girl he raped—”

“Georgia Bell.” She had a name, damn it.

“Yes, whatever.” Tesh softened. “She died quickly, if that makes it easier for you to accept.”

No, nothing would ever make it easy to accept. “You personally killed her?”

Confirming that, Tesh inclined his head. “In her sleep. I promise you, Kitten, she never saw it coming.”

Cat struggled for composure and lost. “You’re a monster.”

The insult made him laugh. “She came to the island willingly enough, but then fought the senator’s...appetites. She demanded that he change his plans, and when things didn’t go her way the spoiled twit stupidly threatened to report him. No one would have believed her, of course, but the senator always preferred the easiest route.”

Cat pretended to listen while she thought about Tesh’s revelations. Webb hadn’t been a part of that mess? She’d spent so long condemning him in her head that the sudden switch threw her. “I heard Webb say—”

“That he’d help, yes. What else could he say? Open defiance would have gotten him murdered on the spot.”

“By you?”

Tesh smiled his answer. “In a way, I almost hoped Webb would balk. You would have been mine for the taking, without all this fuss.”