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I pulled back, returning to green eyes as she stayed focused on my face. One nod. Confident. Assured. Ready.
“First word: rest. The phrase will be clear. You won’t miss it. When you hear my cue, this is what I want you to do.” I turned Kody to face the table, moving back down to her ear. “You’re going to obey, stand, and go to my room. There you will take off your clothes and go into my closet. Along the top, you will see a small pillow. Beside it, there will be a tool of your choosing. What will you do then?”
Kody’s chest rose with her deep intake, and I could feel the heat leaving her face. She turned to look back towards me, her cheeks flushed as she began to whisper.
“I will choose, kneel, and wait.”
“For however long I make you.”
“Yes.”
The certainty in her answer was as good as a stamp in a passport. Kody’s sureness never wavered. She seemed to want this. Whether she still would by the time I got done with her was yet to be seen. I wouldn’t go hard, but she had to at least get a glimpse of what she was in for. Maybe that time wouldn’t be tonight, but it was coming, and she had to be prepared.
“Good. Time to eat.”
A smile briefly jerked her lips back as she leaned in.
“Eat. Can that be a phrase in the future as well?”
“On this table right now if you don’t get your ass in that chair.”
“Tempting.”
I didn’t get a chance to say more. Kody wasn’t risking my threat with Rian present. She nearly jogged to her seat, sliding in.
Brat.
Rian picked up his fork, glancing directly across the table at Kody.
“Tiffany is awaiting your call when we’re finished. They’re settling in now. She sounded okay. She knows you want her safe.”
“Let’s not pretend this was my idea. Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Taking her may seem innocent enough, but you weren’t there when she first laid eyes on me in the hospital. You didn’t see the horror on her face. The fear she tried to hide. For her to imagine that was her fate for a single second enrages me to no end. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. What she must have thought was happening to her before she learned the truth…Just don’t. I want her safe…from everyone who could hurt her. Even with something as innocent as this.”
“I’m sorry. I...” Rian glanced at me but went back to her. “I could have possibly handled it differently. I see that now. The truth is, that could have been her reality if we wouldn’t have acted so fast. I know this seems sudden to you. You don’t know me. You didn’t even know I was watching over her, but I have been. And not just days. For weeks.”
My hand came up. “Weeks?”
“Since you brought Kody here. I looked into her and saw her page on You2. I learned what I could. It wasn’t hard to see how much Tiffany meant to her. Kody has three friends. One’s her boss, and the other is a bookstore owner. Paired with the frequent calls to Tiffany’s cell at least every other night, it was too easy. They were important to each other, like we are. I couldn’t let anything get in the way of that. Hasn’t Kody been through enough? Haven’t you? We’re all connected here. If one is affected, we all are. I was trying to do the right thing.”
“Aren’t we all.” I looked between the two closest people to me, seeing just how far in over our heads we were. This was bad, and I couldn’t risk something happening to either one of them. “Tonight, we get serious. If we’re going to stand any chance at bringing these people down, we need to work together. I hate to admit it, but I really can’t do this on my own. I want this situation dealt with. We all want to start living our lives without watching our backs, and we deserve peace of mind. So does everyone else who’s at risk in the future. It’s time we figure out who V is and put a stop to this once and for all.
Chapter 26
Kody
Between the nonstop typing, pointing, and occasional curse, I felt completely lost in what Jase and Rian were doing with their computers. It was as though they were speaking another language. I was confused and helpless in a sea of codes and dead ends. I couldn’t take not being able to do anything. I grabbed my phone, hiding in my room as I tried to gain composure to call Tiff. If Jase was right about anything, the last thing she needed was to detect fear in my own voice. It would just add to hers and that was the last thing I wanted.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed in the number Rian had given me, bracing as the phone began to ring. Before it could finish the first one, Tiffany’s voice came through the other end.
“Kody, this better be you.”
“It is. I’m here. How are you?”
“How am I? How am I? What the hell is going on? This…man took me from my bed. He tied me up and put me in his car. I’m…I don’t know where the hell I am. I couldn’t see anything. He had me blindfolded. You have so much explaining to do.”
“I’m sorry. I had no idea they were going to take you. Had I known, it never would have played out like that. But it had to happen. Tiff, we’re in trouble. All of us.”
“In trouble how? Did they find you?”
