Dead Drop (The Guild #2)(109)

I’d stopped in the foyer, listening at a distance, and movement on the front door security camera drew my attention. I silently moved over there to take a better look and frowned at what I saw on the screen.

Pulling my hard shell around me as tightly as possible, I pressed the intercom before our visitor could press the buzzer.

“Tito,” I said, puzzled. “Why are you here?”

Carlos’s bitchy assistant sneered up at the camera. “Delivering your fucking plant, bitch. Carlos said he’s done with your shit and wants nothing to do with your drama anymore.”

My jaw fell open in shock. “What? No, he didn’t.”

Tito smirked into the camera. “Then how’d I know where to find you, hmm? How’d I transport your fucking plant here? Tell you what, puta, I’ll just leave the whole damn van here at the gate so I don’t break a nail unloading the stupid thing.” He flipped his middle finger at the camera, then swaggered away down the street with his phone in hand. No doubt he was already calling an Uber, and good fucking riddance to him. But… what the fuck, Carlos?

“Who was that?” Kai’s deep rumble behind me made my spine stiffen.

I sucked a deep breath through my nose, pulling my walls tight once more. “Tito, Carlos’s assistant. Apparently, Carlos decided that protecting Stanley for me was too much to ask, so they’ve sent him back to me.”

Kai’s eyes widened and his lips parted with… I dunno. Fuck, I didn’t care, either.

“What?” Leon asked, crossing over to check the video feed. “And he just left him there at the gate?”

I nodded, feeling flat and hollow. “Yep.”

“I’ll go check it out,” Kai offered, disappearing back into the living room, then reappearing with a gun in his hand. “Just in case it’s a trap. The van could be rigged with explosives or something.”

That idea made me give a bitter scoff. Carlos didn’t need to send explosives… he didn’t need to. This said it all. He sent Stanley back. He knew how much I loved Stanley.

“Something’s wrong, isn’t it, mon cœur?” Leon asked me, his voice quiet and serious.

I swallowed my feelings and plastered a neutral expression on my face. “Did you know?” I asked in return, watching through the open front door as Kai jogged down the driveway to collect the van containing Stanley. “You did, didn’t you? That’s why you were so vehemently against me taking the Ares contract in the first place. You knew he was the one who killed Layla.”

Leon nodded. “I knew.”

I frowned my confusion, almost letting my shell crack. “How did you refrain from killing him the minute you got an opportunity? The other night at Meow, you could have…” I trailed off, looking away. What did it even fucking matter?

“I haven’t killed him,” Leon said quietly, carefully, “because you asked me not to.”

I gave a bitter scoff. “Like it’s ever that easy.” In the distance, Kai must have decided the van looked safe, because he was driving it up to the house. “I need to check on Stanley.”

A flash of jealous rage flashed across Leon’s face when I glanced at him, which I assumed was to do with Kai returning to us. It only made my heart sink further, confirming the conclusion I’d just come to. There would be no happy ending for the three of us. Not like this.

Pushing aside my bleak thoughts, I headed outside to meet Kai as he pulled up in the shitty old van that Tito had dropped off. No wonder he was so eager to leave it and call an Uber; it was a piece of crap.

I trusted that Kai had checked it over thoroughly, so I rushed down the steps to check on Stanley.

“Danny!” Leon shouted after me, “Wait! It might be—”

I threw open the back of the van, not waiting to hear whatever else Leon needed to say. There in the middle of the rusted box, and held in place with multiple straps, was my overgrown houseplant.

“Stanley, my dude, I missed you,” I said, feeling a whole rush of emotion welling up in my throat.

Leon gave a shocked noise from somewhere close behind me, so I cleared my throat and pushed aside the urge to fall to pieces just because my plant was here with me.

“That’s Stanley?” he asked in a strangled voice.

I arched one brow. “Yeah, why? Did you expect something different?”

Leon ran a hand over his face, seemingly at a loss for words as he stared at my Stan. “Stanley… is a plant?”

Kai snorted a laugh. “Did you think Stanley was a person, rabbit?”

Leon flashed a look of pure loathing in Kai’s direction, and I stifled a sigh. “Let’s head back inside. We can deal with Stanley later.”

I closed up the van and started back up the steps with Kai close behind. Leon hung back, though, eyeing the van with suspicion. “I’m going to check this over,” he muttered, “just in case.”

Kai grumbled something about how he had already checked it thoroughly, but I didn’t care for mediating their drama anymore. Not after that shit I’d overheard. So I just continued on inside and scrubbed a hand over my face.

“I need coffee,” I mumbled, heading for the kitchen. Kai said nothing but gently grabbed my wrist as I headed for the coffee machine, tugging me to face him.

“Are you okay, Siren? You seem… different.” His searching look made me shiver, like he could see inside my head. So I gently extracted my wrist from his grip and turned away.