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He shrugged, his playful expression suddenly hidden behind barely concealed frustration. “With Kieran and your dad out of town for a few days, Kieran wants me to do a couple things for him today and tomorrow before my normal shit. I probably won’t be around until after the meeting on Sunday, but Conor will be outside.”
I stared at him for a few seconds, and saw when he understood.
“You didn’t know he was gone, did you?”
“No.”
He heaved himself forward and pulled me into a bear hug. “I’m sorry, Lil. Just don’t give up on him, okay?”
I didn’t respond. There was no point telling Beck that it was already too late.
“If I say the bitch is alive, then she’s alive.” The man’s natural cockiness gave way to frustration at being asked again. But he wasn’t able to hide his nervousness. His pulse was visible in his throat from where I was standing.
I grabbed Einstein’s tablet from off the desk, then walked calmly to where the man sat, guarded by Johnny. I pretended to look at the picture I could recreate in my sleep for a few moments then turned the tablet so the screen was facing him.
“What exactly did you expect us to do with that? You said you had a picture proving she was alive. This is just a shitty attempt at Photoshop.”
He gestured to it,
his anger growing. “That’s her. Ask any of the guys, they’ll all agree.”
“They’ll agree it’s a girl with blonde hair.”
“It’s the girl I have to put up with on a daily basis,” he said with an edgy laugh as he grabbed a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.
Despite how nervous he’d been ever since I’d had Johnny pick him up and bring him here, that was the first outright lie I’d caught.
“Lie,” I said on a low growl.
His eyes darted to mine as he placed a cigarette between his lips. “She’s in that house every day, all day unless she’s in a meeting with us. She’s at that window most of the time.”
“And yet, she wasn’t there.”
“Not my fault you idiots don’t know how to play fetch.”
Johnny twitched from behind the man, wanting to inflict pain I knew he’d been dreaming of. But this guy was only running his mouth because he was trying to seem like more than he was.
“Or maybe she wasn’t there at all,” I said, hinting he’d led us on a wild goose chase. “Maybe there was supposed to be a trap you forgot to set. Do you want to know what I do to people who set me up?”
For the first time since he’d been thrown in here, his pupils dilated and brow started to sweat.
“Truth or dare,” I continued when he didn’t speak.
“Uh, I . . . I-I—”
“Truth,” I answered for him. “Did you set us up?”
“No, n-no. I’ll h-hand deliver her to y-you,” he said, stuttering over himself. “I’ll do it personally.”
If I wanted her brought to my feet, I’d send the twins to hunt her down.
“I don’t want her delivered to me,” I said with a sneer, then bent so I was face to face with him. “I want to rip her away from the walls she’s been hiding behind. I want to watch fear fill her eyes before the light fades from them. Now get back to the hole you crawled out of before you piss yourself in my chair. Next time you see her, call me.”
I watched as he scrambled to leave, then met Johnny’s shocked glare.
“You let him go?” he asked, disgusted.
“He has access to what I need,” I replied with a weighted breath as I tossed the tablet back on the desk.
