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“I have more to tell you!” the man cried out behind us.
Blaise turned around to face him. He tilted his head to the side as he studied the prisoner. “Do you know what I do to those who lie to me?”
“What do you want to know?” The man sounded close to breaking into a fit of tears.
“Who is involved. Exactly what they are after—and don’t tell me the woman. I want names. Locations.”
The man let out a panicked laugh. “They’ll kill me.”
“So will I,” Blaise replied. “I can promise your death by their hands will result in less agony.”
The man whimpered, but said nothing.
“I don’t have time to dirty my clothes. My son has a soccer game this evening. Thatcher, make it brutal,” Blaise said, turning back to us. His gaze swung to me. “As for the woman, I think it’s time I take her to Ocala. She’ll be safer there. If we have to shut down the Insantos, then we need everyone focused. She is clearly under your skin.”
I shook my head. “She needs me. She’s safe here.”
“KING!” my father shouted.
I knew speaking back to the boss wasn’t smart, but he couldn’t take her from me. She’d be scared.
Blaise didn’t seem angry, but that meant nothing. The man could put a bullet in my head and walk away without a single glance or trace of remorse. I waited to see if I had stepped out of line too far. I was no help to Rumor if I was dead.
“I’ll let her make that decision. It’s her life. If she wants to stay with you, then so be it,” he said, then glanced over at Stellan and my father. “Have her brought to your office without King.”
“Yes, sir,” my father replied.
She would choose to stay with me. Unless they told her things. About us. Who we were. She’d ask questions. She would want to know who Blaise was and why we would send her with him. If he told her even a sliver of the truth…she’d know I had lied to her.
As Blaise walked past me toward the exit, my father and Stellan followed behind him. I didn’t look at either of them. Instead, I stood there as a frantic energy began to pulse through my veins. I had to get control. Find a release. Focus. I had to calm the fuck down.
• thirty-nine •
“I had read The Godfather. This was nothing like that.”
Rumor
Sebastian waved a hand for me to go inside the room. He had come to get me from the stables and said there was someone that they wanted me to meet with. I asked where King was, but he said he was currently held up elsewhere. All I had been told was, this was about my safety and King wanted me to go.
I stepped into the room and instantly recognized Stellan and Ronan. This was an office, and since it was Stellan’s house, I assumed it was his. But the man behind the massive, ornate desk was not Ronan. It was a younger man. Closer to King’s age than his father’s. He was also gorgeous. Where King was dark, this man was light. Blond hair, green eyes, with features that seemed to have been handpicked to create the perfect face. I still preferred King’s.
I scanned the rest of the room and found a man in the far-right corner that caused me to pause mid-step. He was massive. The scowl on his face didn’t help matters. He was downright terrifying. His arms were crossed over his wide chest, and I found myself afraid to move.
“Huck,” the man behind the desk said, and the scary man eyes swung over to him.
“It’s okay,” Sebastian said beside me, causing me to jump. I had forgotten he was there. “That’s Storm’s cousin. He’s family.”
He looked nothing like Storm, but I nodded anyway and tore my eyes from him to look back at the man behind the desk. He was watching me as if he wasn’t sure what to do with me. I wasn’t sure what to make of him either.
Why was he here, and why did I get the feeling that he was in charge? Who was he?
“Have a seat, Rumor,” the blond man told me. Although he didn’t sound angry or demanding, there was something about the way he spoke that made me feel as if I had to do what he said. He expected it.
I took a seat across from the desk in a leather high-back chair. Stellan and Ronan stood on either side of the desk, as if they were awaiting orders themselves. This was all very odd. I was starting to wish I had waited for King to return first. He would explain all this. Sebastian had told me nothing about the strangers in the room. Had they hired security? Was that what this was? If so, then the beast in the corner made me feel very freaking safe.
No, wait. The beast was a cousin. But maybe the cousin worked for a security team.
“I’m sure you have questions, and I’m going to give you the answers you need. Along with an option,” the man said.
