My eyes scanned, calculating how I could get to Brinley before Kent had time to react.
Then shock hurled from my lungs when I found my piece-of-shit father itching in the corner.
Confusion almost bowled me over.
A near faceplant into a vat of rage and disgust and hate.
I was stuck there for a prolonged beat, a storm of horror and devastation ripping through me as I stared at his worn, leathery face, trying to make sense of what the fuck he was doing there.
Kent released a condescending tsk that drew my attention back to him. “Silas Mercer. So predictable, aren’t we?”
His head canted to the side as he looked me up and down.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t stood before him before.
Pretending like my MC was interested in running his poison across the Northwest in an attempt to infiltrate his inner circle.
I let my eyes dip to Brinley for a beat.
Just needing to look at her.
To see that she was breathing.
Before I forced my focus back to Kent, knowing it was stupid to draw more attention to her.
Not sure what Kent knew. If he had any idea that she’d been in my compound and under my protection for the last few weeks.
Whittling her way into my heart for the same amount of time.
Air puffed from his pompous nose. “It took me a minute, you know, to figure out who you were. The president of this insignificant motorcycle club playing hard to get. Acting like he was above running my goods. One minute all in and the next withdrawing. Asking too many fucking questions. I thought you were trying to make a play. Strike a better deal for yourself.”
Locked aggression buzzed through my body, and my fingers tingled with the need to finally put an end to the monster standing in front of me.
But I waited. Searching for the right moment. Trying to calculate how I could take all three of his guards out and get to him without anyone else being hurt.
Minus my father.
I didn’t care if killing him did steal the last bit of my humanity. Just his existence was inhumane.
“So, I thought I’d have a little fun with your sister…” Kent continued.
Violence screamed across my flesh, and Brinley whimpered, knowing this beast who’d hurt her in the worst way possible had also tormented my sister.
“Put you in your place and show you who actually is in control,” he snarled.
His expression twisted like he had a hard time putting a finger on it. “It should have been impossible for you to get her out, to know exactly how to get in here and extract her. That’s when I knew something was amiss. That I had a rat in my midst.”
I refused to glance at Dereck, even though it was clear Kent already knew. Clear he possessed knowledge that he shouldn’t have.
Not because of Dereck flipping on us.
But because of my father.
Kent paused and glanced at the pathetic fuck who was sweating near the wall before he swiveled back to me with a malicious grin. “Then your father knocked at my office door. Telling me he had something I might want.”
Air puffed from his nose. “Such a funny thing, he recognized this pretty brunette from a job I had him on with me five years ago.”
I had to stop myself from bending in two.
