The Revenge (The Insiders Trilogy #3)(82)

Once his body stopped trembling, he let go of me.

My feet hit the tile with a muted thud, and before I could muster something to say, his pants were up and he was turning. He was walking.

The door shut a second later, a soft click, and I didn’t need to look. He was gone.

I fell back against the shower wall, sliding down to sit, and I pulled up my knees to my chest. I had no clue what had just happened, but him leaving wasn’t good.





FIFTY-THREE

Bailey


I had tugged a hoodie over my head and slipped my feet into some shoes when there was an abrupt knock on the door.

My head lifted. I was expecting Kash, but Matt shoved through, his hand covering his eyes. “I can’t wait for permission. Tell me you’re decent, but we have to go.”

His voice stopped everything.

He was scared and panicked.

“What’s going on?”

“Can I look?”

“Yeah.”

His hand dropped and the terror in his eyes had me paralyzed.

“Where’s Kash?”

“I—What?”

“Kash. Where is he?” Matt’s voice rose up. “Have you seen him?”

“I—” I looked at the bathroom. “Yeah. He was just here.”

“But he’s not now?”

“What’s going on? ”

“Where’s Ka—”

“He’s not here!” I stepped toward Matt. “What is going on?”

“Feds,” he clipped that word at me, some of the panic easing. “They’re here for Kash.”

Oh no.

“You think…” Our eyes caught and held.

He shook his head at my question, the question that I couldn’t get out. But I noted his response and it was slow. He wasn’t sure.

“I’m assuming our alibi will hold up unless they ask to look for the club’s security tapes,” he said.

A whole litany of curses went through my head. I was loath to hack again. I’d been doing it too much, and too often.

“They threatened Kash.”

“What?” His eyebrows pinched together. “When? Threatened how?”

“I might’ve … done something. They might’ve … I don’t know.” I looked away. I’d been so rushed that night. I’d been desperate to find Chrissy. “I don’t know if they can prove it. They’re here for Kash?”

We had driven to the house, but we hadn’t left the car. I was able to remote hack into their system, and then we tagged a passing car with the signal. I had them following that car until it was far enough away that I knew Kash and whoever he’d gone inside that house with had time to get away.

“There’s no way they can prove anything,” he said, almost in a daze.

Right.

Well.

We couldn’t go on the run.

“Let’s go.”

“What?”

“Let’s go. Let’s see what they have to say.”

“They’re looking for Kash. ”

“I know. You told me. Like, four times.”

“He’s not here.” It came out as a statement, but Matt was more making sure that he was correct.

I nodded. “Yes. He left.”

But where had he gone? He could’ve just gone to the office he used here, but this was Kash. He would’ve known the feds would come here. He would’ve had a plan.

“Let’s just go and see. I mean, we can’t do anything else.”

“Right.”

Matt agreed with me, but he didn’t move.

Neither did I.

We had to go, though.

I had a feeling. Dread. Something bad was about to happen; something worse.

We walked down to the sight of my father in handcuffs.

Agent Bright had him turned toward the door, his hands behind his back and her hand on his back. “Peter Francis, you are being arrested for cyberterrorism.”





FIFTY-FOUR

Kash


“You have to appreciate the irony, right?”

My brother was annoying me. He’d been annoying me since I slipped away from the Chesapeake, jumped in our car, and the four of us took off. Me. My brother. Josh. Scott. No one else was with us. Fitz was ordered not to leave Bailey’s side, along with four other men. We took Scott’s personal car.

We were now walking into a cabin an hour outside of Chicago. It was remote, off the grid, and had been purchased with cash, through a third party, so there was no trail leading back to me unless people got creative with their searching.

I ducked inside, dropping one of the backpacks in the corner, and shot him a look. “Shut up.”

He smirked, snickering, and came in behind me with another backpack on his shoulder.

He started to scan the interior, but a fire was blazing in me and had been the whole time.

“Wait. No.”

My brother stiffened, hearing my tone, and turned. I saw a wariness flicker in his eyes—and good. I liked that. I liked that a lot .

“Chase, right?” I bit out, that flame in me just building and building.

His eyebrows dipped low. Oh yeah. More wariness flashed and he eased back a step. He lowered his own bag, but moved slow and cautious.