Hook (A Hitman's Bait 2)

“Are you talking about the boy your sister told me about?”

“Hmm.”

“Milo, tell me about him. We may never meet. Is he good to you?”

“I think you’d love him. He’s the sweetest, kindest person I know.”

“Do you love him?”

“I have two cats now, Mom. What do you think?”

She chuckled. “Cats? I thought you were more of a dog person.”

“I am, but Kit—he has a way of getting you to love things you never thought you would.”

“He sounds lovely.”

“He is.” I closed my eyes, and Kit’s timid face behind the wheel earlier popped into my mind. I smiled.

“He’s brought back so much feeling into my life. I never realized before we met how numb I was.”

“I’m glad, son. As long as he makes you happy, you cherish that boy.”

“I will.”

“Take care then, son. I’ll call you soon.”

When she hung up, I frowned at the phone. This was the first time she’d called me without begging me to visit. Had she lost hope of me ever seeing them again? It wasn’t like my mother to give up so soon.

Hmm, just what was she thinking?

Guilt gnawed at my stomach. Would it be so bad to take Kit for a visit so my family could meet him? Kit would love that so much, and it would be good to see everyone again.

My phone vibrated in my hand, jerking me out of my thoughts. Liam’s name flashed across the screen. I swiped the screen and put the call on Speaker.

“What’s up?”

“Earlier, when we spoke, did you say you just dropped Kit off at that apartment building you bought recently?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Fuck. I knew this was too good to be a coincidence.”

“What, Liam?”

“Your property manager called me about some chaos that happened there just now. The police are on scene—”

I surged to my feet, my heart thumping hard inside my chest. “What happened, Liam? Is Kit safe?”

“I don’t know. No one knew what had happened. The fire alarm went off, and one guy apparently fell down the staircase and broke his neck.”

“Fuck. There was a fire?” I scooped Pumpkin up, walked out of the office, and closed the door behind me.

“That’s the thing. There’s no evidence of a fire.”

“I’m on my way there now. I’ll try to call Kit.”

I put the cat down and rang Kit, but the call went to voicemail. Steeling my nerves to keep calm and rational, I called Geoff, Kit’s bodyguard who was staying in the pool house to keep close to us. Shit. I should have insisted that he accompanied us, even though I dropped Kit off at the apartment building myself.