From the corner of my eye, I caught the way Archer stiffened. This wasn't going to end well.
"I'm nothing like that pervert," Archer hissed, stepping forward to jab Zane in the chest. "He was a sick, twisted, deranged bastard drunk on power and money."
Zane gave a casual shrug, smug in the fact that he'd pushed Archer's buttons. "Sounds a lot like you, brother. All that money and power has gone to your head. You bought your wife just the same as he bought Ana."
Smack.
Dammit, Archer was fast when he was pissed off. One minute Zane was standing there slinging shit and the next he was on the ground, knocked clean out.
"Fuck's sake," I muttered under my breath, then looked up at Cass. He hadn't moved even an inch from his position by the bikes, but now he just looked annoyed. "Cass..."
He huffed a heavy sigh and slouched his way over to us. "He deserved that," the big guy rumbled, looking down at his gang leader with disappointment. "You okay, kid?" His question was directed at me and only me. The guys might as well have not even existed for all the attention he paid them.
I jerked a nod. "I'm good," I replied. "You?"
Cass's lips twitched in what was probably meant to be a smile. "I'll deal with Zane. You four better get going before he wakes up, yeah?"
Archer said nothing, but clapped Cass on the shoulder in a way that seemed to say, thanks for that, I really appreciate you. Or... something.
My guys started towards our car, but I lingered behind a moment. I had no interest in talking to Zane in private, but I trusted Cass. He'd kept me safe when he hadn't needed to by sending me back to Archer.
"What did he really come here for?" I asked the big, tattooed gangster.
He shrugged. "Fuck if I know, he wouldn't tell me. He found something out that had him excited, though."
I sighed, folding my arms. "Alright, no worries. I'm sure if it's important he'll try again."
Cass jerked a nod, then ran a hand over his short beard. "You really okay, kid? Those boys treating you right?"
My brows flickered up. "Uh, if you're asking about my relationships—"
"I'm not," he cut me off with a huff of Cass-laughter. "I just mean if they're still pulling their bullshit with you, you know what to do. Call me and I'll clean up the bodies."
I laughed properly this time. "Aw Grumpy, you do care. Don't worry, though. I'd just chuck them to the pigs, and no one would ever find the evidence." I gave him a feral grin, and his eyes widened slightly.
"Well shit," he muttered, "that's more like it. Get out of here. Text me and let me know you're home safe."
"Can do," I agreed, heading across the parking lot to where the guys waited with our car. Then a thought crossed my mind, and I spun back around to look at Cass. "Hey, how's your girl?"
The glare he shot me was pure violence, and I just grinned wider. Still unavailable was my guess. When my own drama was all wrapped up, I was going to have to work out who this mystery woman was. She had to be someone pretty cool to have Mr. Grumpy all tied up in knots.
"All good?" Steele asked as I slid into the backseat beside him.
I jerked a nod. "Yep, Cass is cool."
Archer huffed a short laugh as he pulled out of the parking lot, leaving Cass standing over Zane's unconscious form. "Yeah, he's not bad."
"Hell of a lot better than Zane," Kody added. "We should sort that out one of these days."
I wrinkled my nose. "Sort what out?"
Steele shot me a grin. "Zane. He's out-lived his usefulness and is starting to become an annoyance."
"You're going to kill him?" I don't know why I was startled by that idea. Maybe because he was Archer's brother? Or because he'd once loved my mom? I didn't know.
Archer was the one to answer me. "Not today," he said, his tone thoughtful. "But one of these days, he'll push me too damn far. The only reason he's alive now is because I'm grateful to him."
I blinked at him in the rear-view mirror. "For what?"
He gave a small shrug. "He told you what I was hiding, and I'm glad he did."
His gaze held mine far longer than was safe, then slowly shifted back to the road ahead of us. I said nothing back, because he was right. Zane had done us all a favor, whether he’d meant to or not.
19
The next week was uneventful. Too uneventful. By the time the following weekend rolled around, I was jumping at every shadow, flinching at every beep of a phone or knock at the door. Put simply? I was a fucking mess.
Which was why it was such a relief when Leon came strolling into the den with his laptop tucked under his arm. For a mercenary, he was awfully attached to that thing. Then again, what the fuck did I know? I'd never met mercenaries before him and Danny.
"Madison Kate," he greeted me with a short nod. "Your men around somewhere?"
I arched a brow at him, the spoonful of ice cream halfway to my lips. "Why? You have something wrong with talking to me directly?"
There was really no reason to take that attitude with Leon, except that I was all kinds of twitchy and snapping at anyone who so much as looked at me. My stalker had been silent ever since the night of the break in. No packages, no notes, no creepy phone calls. It was like he’d just gotten bored and disappeared.
Leon didn’t take the bait, though. "Actually, I don't want to repeat myself twice. Danny and I have another job to get to tomorrow, so I need to debrief on everything we've sorted out here."
I sat up in a rush, placing my ice cream on the table. "Shit, sorry, I totally lost track of the days. I'll grab them and be back here in five."
Leon just waved a hand like he didn't care, and I scurried out of the room. Kody and Archer were in the gym training—my session wasn't for another two hours, which was why I'd been pre-gaming on ice cream—and Steele was swimming laps in the pool.
By the time we’d all made it back to the den, Danny had joined Leon, and she had a thick folder of papers in her hands.
"Alright," Leon said, checking his watch as we all sat down. "We have five minutes before the next guard passes by this window." He pointed to the one opposite where he sat. "So we'll keep this short and sweet."
"Suits us," Archer agreed. "What have you found?"
"Okay, first of all, you have three members of your security team with fabricated backgrounds," Danny said, handing her folder of papers over to Archer. "Which, as you know, isn't uncommon in our line of work. But we'd suggest removing them as a precaution."
"Done," Archer agreed. "What else?"
"Trevor, your missing guard?" Leon said, opening his laptop and tapping a few keys. "Not missing any longer." He turned the screen around to show us an image of a dead man with a bullet wound between his eyes and at least one to the chest. It was hard to tell with the amount of blood soaking his shirt.
"Murdered?" I gasped.
Danny shrugged. "Not quite. I located him and went for a chat. He didn't want to chat." I raised my brows at her, and she gave me an impassive stare back. "No one shoots at me and lives."