Down to My Soul (Soul Series Book 2)(99)

“You have no idea what my life was like. It certainly wasn’t easy.”

“Whatever.” He shrugs, deliberately casual. Falsely calm. “At least I f*ck your women first. If that’s my only concession, I’ll take it.”

Gep grabs my arms, but I shake him off, staring back at Drex without making a further move toward him. This idiot thinks he knows my buttons? He has no idea.

“Here’s the deal.” I step directly into Drex’s line of vision. “Like Gep said, you recorded Kai without her consent. It’s illegal.”

“And I wonder what the cops would find on your laptop?” Gep keeps his face straight, playing along since he knows I have no intention of bringing the police into this. “If we got a warrant to seize your cloud, would there be other women there recorded without their consent? We could build quite a case, and you could do some real time.”

Drex’s jaw clenches, and fear thins his lips.

“What do you want?” he asks after a few moments to contemplate that possibility.

“First, I want any and every copy of that tape so I can destroy it,” I say immediately.

“I don’t have it anymore.” Drex leans back into the cushions. “I don’t have any copy. I told you I’m not the one who’s been threatening her.”

“Who?” I try to keep my voice free of panic. Whoever has the tape could do anything with it. They just threatened Kai days ago. They could release it at any time. They could release it while I sit here with this idiot. “Who has it?”

Drex sits back and remains silent, looking around the cabin like it might offer some escape, but it doesn’t. There is none.

“And we know this place is owned by John Malcolm,” Gep continues. “How’s he involved? Tell us everything or we get the cops in on this, and it gets messy.”

Drex’s eyes drift from me to Gep to Marlon and then back to settle on me. He heaves a sigh.

“Fuck it. I gotta save myself here.” He shrugs. “When things blew up between you and your girlfriend, and she signed with Malcolm, I saw . . . let’s call it an opportunity.”

“Go on.” Gep folds his massive arms across his chest.

“I called Malcolm and said I had something on his bright new star artist that I’d release unless he signed me, too. Got me some gigs. Gave me a shot.”

I already see where this is going, and the thought of Kai being caught in their disgusting cross hairs makes me sick. Makes me furious.

“To my surprise, he wanted the tape for his own game.” Drex laughs. “What’d I care? He told me to lay low for a few months because they’d be looking for me when he started threatening her.”

“Why’d he threaten her with it? Why keep them apart?” Marlon demands, confusion on his face. “I don’t get it.”

“He didn’t want Kai with me,” I say softly. “He knew I wouldn’t let him control her. He knew I’d get her away from him.”

“He figured when she didn’t take you back, things would die down. You’d give up and move on, and he’d have Kai for the next two years at least. Just another break up.”

“But it wasn’t just another break up.” I shake my head. “Not to me and Kai. He underestimated us, I guess.”

“Well, I don’t even have the video anymore,” Drex says. “He made a hard copy and deleted it from my cloud. I couldn’t release that video now if I wanted to.”

“And in exchange?” I demand.

“In exchange, I have a new record deal.” Drex smiles, a grimy spread of his lips. “And even shows in Vegas this summer.”

I don’t have the heart to tell him that will never happen. Or maybe I’m just saving that for dessert.

“Call him.” My words land in the room with atomic force.

“What?” Drex frowns. “He’s never been up here. He’ll suspect something’s wrong. What will I tell him?”

“I don’t care if you tell him he needs to come because the Easter Bunny has his eggs. You get that piece of shit here as soon as possible.” I flick a glance to my security guard. “Or Gep here will call some of his friends. Did I mention he’s ex-CIA?”

Our eyes lock, and he can hardly disguise his malevolence toward me. That’s fine because I can barely check mine for him, so we’re even.

Reluctantly, he grabs his phone and makes the call.





“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK you’re doing, calling me?”

John Malcolm’s voice in the living room booms loud and irritated enough to reach me in the bedroom.

“What’s so urgent you broke protocol? Why am I here?” he demands of Drex.

“I had an emergency I couldn’t discuss over the phone,” Drex says, his voice as nervous and tentative as I’ve ever heard it. “Something that could jeopardize the whole plan.”

“What?” Malcolm snaps

I step into the living room, Marlon and Gep right behind me.

“Not what. Who. Me.”

I lean against the wall and slide one hand into my pocket, leaving the injured hand hanging limply at my side. The pain is nearly unbearable. It is obviously beyond the power of Aleve, and as soon as I handle this monster, Dr. Mason is waiting to tell me exactly how bad the damage is.