Bennett Mafia(38)

“NO, Riley!”

I stepped forward.

The second camera snapped to my position. I stopped, my arms out, and because I hated just giving in, I raised my middle finger.

The back barn doors burst open, and all those guards from the warehouse came streaming out. Kai was in the middle, walking at a more sedate pace. His gaze landed right on me. He wore the same mystified expression as before.

Two of the guards grabbed Blade, another two headed for me.

I held my hands out. “If you grab me and shove me to the ground, I will kill one of you.”

They paused. One glanced back to Kai, who nodded, still walking forward.

“I’ll handle her,” he said. He nodded to Blade. “Take him.”

They put Blade in one of the SUVs.

Kai took my arm. He walked me to another SUV as the other one pulled away at high speed.

“Was that all a setup?”

Kai glanced at me as the door opened. I got in the back, not fighting, and slid over. He got in beside me. The door closed, and we took off. We only had one guard with us.

Kai was becoming more and more lenient with me. That was good, very good. I glanced over at him.

He was on his phone, typing, but said, “Marcus, can you put the heat on full blast for Miss Bello? She’s chilled to the bone.”

I refused to feel anything for his thoughtfulness. He was the reason I’d been out running. It was nighttime. It’d been raining. I was soaked.

He finished whatever he had to do on his phone, put it away, then reached behind him for a blanket.

He put it over my lap. “Get warm with this.”

I eyed him, pulling it up to cover myself.

There was no anger. There was almost nothing on his face, but there wasn’t the wall I’d grown used to seeing.

Without looking at me, he rested his head against his seat. “We let your friend keep his phone. He tucked it next to his junk. He doesn’t think we knew it was there, but we did. He walked through a full-body scan. We thought he might use it when you ran for your escape.” He stopped and looked at me now. His eyes were piercing. “Did he?”

My mouth dropped.

This was why it hadn’t felt right. It wasn’t just the cameras.

Goddamn him. Goddamn him!

My nostrils flared. “Were you watching the whole time?”

No hesitation. “Yes.”

“The woman? Was that a show?”

Still no hesitation. He answered freely. “No. She’s the head of a victim’s advocate group. She’s been after us for years. Her son died in a shooting. She thinks we’re to blame for her son’s murderer having his gun in the first place.”

“Was she right?” I bit out.

“Maybe.” His eyes dipped before coming right back up. Still no emotion. “There was no serial number. We don’t typically transport those guns, but we have in the past. Her son was murdered by his lover. I have no idea if we’re to blame or not.”

Why was he telling me this? This was more than I needed to know.

Then I knew. “Did you put a tap on me? You heard Blade tell me about her, didn’t you?”

His eyes enlarged, just a fraction of an inch. “No. We were given confirmation that she approached your friend, not the other way around. He didn’t even know her, did he?”

I shrugged, my jaw hardening. “Does it matter? She’s dead. You killed her.”

“She got one of our guns—”

“Bullshit! I know you don’t make mistakes. She was allowed to grab that gun.” I shouldn’t have been yelling, but I was. Too much had happened over the last few days. “You wanted a reason to kill her, and she gave you one. Self-defense. Your only mess-up is that I saw it.”

I quieted.

He didn’t reply.

And then—fuck. “You meant me to see that, didn’t you?”

Of course he did. I closed my eyes, my head hanging forward. I felt a headache coming.

“You wanted me to see because if I hadn’t, I would assume it was a blatant murder. Blade would’ve said the same, but we both saw, and if need be, we’ll testify it was self-defense.”

Of course.

My God, of course.

Not a goddamn thing happened without Kai’s calculation behind it.

He was cold, ruthless, and not human. No one with humanity could plan all of this out to the umpteenth detail.

“Did you have cameras in the woods?” My voice was dull, bleak. It made me cringe, just hearing myself.

“Yes.”

Honesty. That was one good trait he had. Maybe the only one.

“Of course, you fucking bastard.”

There was no fight in me anymore. Those words left me on a surrendering sigh, and I turned toward the window. We were moving fast. The trees rocketed past us. Here I was, locked in this vehicle. I was warm, but moments ago, I’d thought I was running for my life.

What a fool I’d been.

“You thought if you let us go, Blade would call for help.” I already knew that was the plan. I was starting to catch on to his methods. Slowly. “You were going to trace the call and see if they led you to Brooke. Weren’t you?”

A pause.

I felt him watching me, but I refused to look at him. I refused even to search him out in the window’s reflection.