I could lie. A lie for a liar, right? But it’d serve no purpose. “Safe. She’s at the Ranch.”
“The . . . Ranch . . .” she grounds out.
“Alone. Hayden’s away on business.”
“Oh my God. Thank fuck.”
“Yeah, thank fuck.”
She stares at me. “After she drugged you, you tracked her to that motel?”
I nod.
“Did Franco’s men . . . hurt . . .” She can’t even finish her sentence.
“No.”
“How about you? Did you—”
“Fuck, no,” I snap, wanting this conversation to end.
For a second, she keeps staring at me, trying to read me—good luck, sweetheart—before mercifully moving on. “You’re like a dog with a bone. Figures you’d be the one to show up,” she scoffs, sticking her bloody nose in the air in that familiar know-it-all manner of hers that always seems to get under my skin.
She’s been expecting one of us. Damn her.
She grabs my arm to support herself. “You seem surprised. I always said you focused too much on Sabrina’s How to Shut Down Emotionally lesson and not enough on Reading Your Enemy.”
Yeah, Kylie’s always been smart. A master manipulator—better than Sabrina, the hired psychologist that trained us…almost as good as Hayden. With a penchant for pissing everyone off. Except Jaxson. No, Jaxson had thrived on the challenge of Kylie.
And she now has his blood on her hands.
“Are you my enemy?” I ask, curious what she’ll say. I move past her and further into the room.
“Do I have a reason to be?” she murmurs softly.
Damn it. I thought her shirt was red to match her horribly bright hair. It’s not. Her cotton top is completely soaked in blood.
I study her face, searching for any sign she’s in pain. I don’t find it. But what I do see, pains . . . me.
Jesus. Despite the hair and the damage done to her face, she bears a strong resemblance to Madelyn. Similar baby-blue eye color. Similar high cheekbones and smooth, delicate skin tone. Similar fullness of her lips, though granted Kylie’s is busted open. I scowl, the thought of what these men could have done to Madelyn . . .
“Okay, now you have me terrified. You’re always so aloof. Cold. Impenetrable. Yet right now I can read your expression. But is that sadness I see, or regret?” Not waiting for an answer—my lucky goddamn day—she sighs and relaxes her shoulders. “Do I look that bad?”
I don’t reply. I can’t trust myself to speak. Fuck, I’m here to kill her. Yet all I can think about is Madelyn.
I don’t want to hurt her.
I don’t want to goddamn lose her.
“You look like you need a stiff drink. Sorry I can’t offer you one.” She shrugs her shoulders. “Some of the blood’s mine. Most of it’s Franco and his men’s. Stupid fools. Pills? A needle would have worked much better.” She puts her hands on her hips and her eyes meet mine. “So what’s the plan?”
“We take them out. All thirteen motherfuckers.” I bend, pull out a third smaller pistol I carry in my sock, and hand it to her.
“And then?” she prompts in a whisper. Yeah, she should be afraid, quaking in her shoes.
“I haul you out of here as ordered.”
“Well, you don’t beat around the bush.”
“Why should I? You know the score.” I cock the hammer of my CZ 75 pistol and thumb the safety.
She snorts. “What makes you so certain I won’t shoot you before you get to me?”
I raise my eyebrow at her.
“Figures Hayden would send only his best after me. Predictable.”
“Why didn’t you tell Franco’s men about TORC earlier if you’ve already sold us out?” I demand.
“Jesus, Declan. Isn’t it obvious? I didn’t.”
“That’s not what Hayden believes. Someone talked. Franco’s gone ballistic and his asshole partner, Novák, shut down his compound and is now conducting business underground.”
Kylie sways on her feet, then steadies herself. “I’m going to kill that Prick Novák,” she grounds out.
“Hayden’s livid. You screwed us over, making it impossible to gather information. It’s all-out warfare now. We’re lucky if we manage to terminate a few of Novák’s men whenever they show back up in Shelby for business.”
“I was there.”
I frown.
“Five is an ugly number. Who did you think took out the fifth Prick that day at the diner?”
“Diego.”
She rolls her eyes. “The diner would be completely gone, flattened out from his handiwork.”
It’s my turn to shrug. “We’ll never know.”
She surprises me by crouching over, her hands on her knees as she breathes deeply.
I almost feel sorry for her.
“Jaxson,” I hear her say. “I was late.”
“And you’ll pay for it. Setting him up. Getting him killed.”
“I didn’t . . .” She sucks in another breath. “I was late.”
“Late?”
“You heard me.”
“Because of Madelyn…”
“Yeah. That night, Franco sent his men to our trailer.”
“I know.”
Kylie straightens. “You . . . know?”
“I was there when they arrived. I terminated them and dragged their bodies into the woods. Hayden ordered me to watch you.”
“And to kill Franco’s men?”
“No. I did that all on my own.”
“Then you returned the following night and did what? Watched over our trailer?”
“Yes.”
“You killed two more of Franco’s men.”
“Yes,” I snap, not liking where this conversation is headed.
“And the next night you went in search of Madelyn, didn’t you?” She frowns, trying to put the pieces together on my twisted psyche. Good luck with that.
Enough. I change the topic. “The plan is to take out thirteen men.”
“Seven for me. Six for you.”
I glared at her. “Six for you.”
“No. Seven. I want Franco.”
Fuck, why argue with her? “Fine.”
She moves slowly to go sit on the bed.
I pull a chair over next to the door. When Franco opens it, I’ll be behind it. My favorite place for a surprise ambush.
We wait. I can feel her eyes on me but I ignore her. Ignore the way she sits, so primly on the bed, her shoulders square and her hands clasped across her lap. So freakin’ familiar to the way Madelyn holds herself.
Madelyn. Who’ll be crushed when this is all over.
Crushed . . . and long gone.
We patiently wait, each deep within our own mindfucks.
If there was ever a time or ever a place when I wished I were a better person, it’s now. Madelyn loves the traitor.
And I love Madelyn. Yeah, I do.
But actions have consequences. I have my orders. And Kylie’s dug her own grave.
“Promise me he won’t hurt her. You’ll take her somewhere safe. Somewhere away from all this.”
Promises. Like the one I made to Jaxson. Give her a chance.