Bennett Mafia(109)

Kai inclined his head. His eyes cast my way. “If you want in, you have to be in.” He looked back to Tanner, heat forming in his eyes. Finally. After all of that, he let the real Kai shine forth. “You don’t want to be treated with kid gloves, you start acting like a fucking adult. You want in? You take over the Bello Company for Riley.”

Tanner looked for me, and so did Kai.

I stepped forward, crossing the room till I could be seen on the screen.

Tanner’s nostrils flared. “Is that okay with you?”

“Yes,” I breathed out. I didn’t want to be involved, or as minimally involved as possible. “I will announce that I’m alive, and with whatever happens, I’ll take over, then you can step in. You can do what you want with it.”

I didn’t want anything of my father’s.

“Okay.” He rolled his shoulders back. “Then I’ll do it.”

“Good.” Kai touched the back of my elbow lightly. “I’ll see you when you get down here.”

He glanced to the side of the room, and just like that, the image was gone. The call was done, and in a few seconds, the remaining guards had exited the room. It was only Kai and me.

“Are you sure that signal couldn’t get hacked or watched by the government?”

“Yes.” He stepped in cautiously. “We’re safe. I make sure of it.”

He was making sure I was okay with his touch too.

I grabbed his hands and stepped into him. My arms slid around him, and I rested my head to his chest.

He’d fulfilled his promise. In one afternoon, he’d done more than I ever could in an entire lifetime as a Hider.

He’d helped. Even though he was in the mafia, he’d still done well today.

“Thank you,” I murmured, feeling his hands sweep through my hair.

His arms tightened around me, and I felt his lips on my shoulder. A deep, shuddering breath left him. “You don’t hate me?”

I pulled back to see him. “Is that why you brought me in here? To loathe you?”

“No.” He bent back down, nuzzling me. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know why I brought you in here. I wanted you here. I wanted you to understand this world better. I wanted you to see that you don’t have to regret hating your father, in case you did.”

I felt his tension and reached up, my hand cradling the back of his head. My fingers began running in small circles, comforting him.

“Is that what you do? Regret hating your father?”

His body tightened, then relaxed. “No, but you’re better than me. I can see you feeling that. I wanted to line everything up for you and let you deal with your father, but I can’t bring myself to let you go or haul him in here.”

I laughed softly, “So let’s not. Let’s handle him another time.’” I tipped my head back to grin up into his eyes.

He lifted his head, his eyes darkening, dipping to my lips. “That sounds perfect.”

I framed his face with my hands and nodded my head, feeling his arms tighten around me, knowing he wouldn’t let me fall.

His body was riddled with tension and knots. What he’d done just now, pulling all of that off, I could only imagine how much energy it had taken.

“Let’s go upstairs.”

His lips were on mine almost before I finished speaking, and he swept me up in his heat, the tingles already spreading through me, his arms holding me fast. He carried me out of the room, to an elevator, and we rode it to the next floor.





CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE


Kai was standing shirtless at the window, looking out at the lake when I woke up in the morning. He had a coffee cup in one hand, and his other rested against the wall.

Fuck. A magazine cover right there.

I pushed back the covers, reached for a robe, and padded over to him.

He grinned, bringing his arm around me as I fit in next to him.

I slid my arms around him. “Did you sleep?”

A half laugh/half snort came from him.

We hadn’t slept, hardly at all.

There’d been a frenzied need in Kai, a desperation to release whatever demons had been in him through the long night before. The first time had been rough. The second slow and loving. The third had been in the shower. For the fourth, he took me from behind. And still, a few hours later, he reached for me again, pushing inside and watching me the entire time.

I was sore as I leaned against him.

He smoothed his hand down my back, resting it on my hip. “I told you to trust me last night.” He stepped back, his hand finding mine. He set his coffee down on the nightstand and pulled me toward the closet, where he handed me an oversized sweatshirt. I pulled it on, along with a pair of pants. He tugged a Henley over his head and led me to the elevator.

His guards were waiting for him, and they fell in step around us.

We all walked outside, then down to the lake’s edge. There was a small dock with a boat tied to it and two people waiting on it.

As we stepped onto the dock, one of them stood up.

His hood was pulled over his head, but after a moment I recognized him and faltered. It was the first prisoner from yesterday, the guard that had been blackmailed by my father.

He extended his hand, tears glimmering in his eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Bennett. Thank you.” His voice cracked. “This means a lot. You have no idea.”