I looked from Vic to Deck. “We find the farm, we find him. But first we need to get to New York.”
Deck nodded. “London’s father.”
The sound of her soft padded sock-covered feet walking down the hallway toward the kitchen hit me and my heart rate sped.
She appeared around the corner, stopping where the ceramic tile in the kitchen met the hardwood in the hallway. Dressed simply in the black yoga pants and a T-shirt Georgie had brought for her, fuck, she looked sexy as hell with her hair wet and messy and flushed cheeks from the heated bath.
The guys were now discussing Connor and what to do with him. I didn’t give a shit about him, but there was an advantage with having him on our side. That was if we could get into his messed-up head.
My lip twitched when she caught my gaze on her and I held out my hand. She walked toward me and as soon as she was close enough, I snagged her hand and pulled her back against me. Her ass pressed into my cock and I made a low grunt then kissed just below her ear.
“Better,” I whispered, breathing in the fresh scent of soap and… London.
“Thanks for the clothes.”
“Georgie brought them.”
“Where’s your sister and Tristan?”
“Sleeping. Chess is on Central European time zone and exhausted. Tristan won’t let her go five steps without him. Never would’ve suspected the cocky playboy and CEO of Mason Developments would be so fuckin’ possessive over a girl.”
She placed her hand over mine. “I’m glad your sister’s safe.”
Vic raised his voice and drew my attention away from London. “He’ll kill any of us the first chance he gets. He’s a maniac.”
“Then we need to find out everything we can about this drug,” Deck said.
Deck looked at me.
“Don’t know any more than you do. It was kept confidential. Connor was their guinea pig, but Mother said it’s almost stable. Chess says it’s not.”
“Doesn’t sound like Connor’s rage is from an ‘almost stable’ drug,” Deck said.
Vic threw his bottle of water into the sink. “So, he stays like that? Chained to a wall in a basement until he dies? He’s better off dead.”
London shifted in my arms. “It could be withdrawal from the drug.” I let go of her hand and slid my palm down until it rested on her hip. “If his body needs it, like an addict’s, that might be why he’s out of control. When he….” She paused and glanced at me before continuing, “Connor was the one who took me from Kai’s house.” Fuck. He was the reason my girl had been in Vault. “He was calm. Controlled. Almost too controlled. I remember thinking he was like a machine.”
Deck crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Okay, he’s in withdrawal. Where does that leave us?”
“If I can look at the formula, maybe I can help,” she said. “Or not. It’s possible he needs the drug or—”
Deck grunted and slammed his fist into the fridge.
She didn’t have to say it. If Connor didn’t get the drug, it was possible he’d die.
“The lab,” Vic stated.
“They’ll be watching his lab by now,” I said. “And London’s father.”
“But we need to get to my dad,” London said, looking up at me.
Fuck, I had to tell her. Soon. She had to know her dad was dying of cancer, but she’d been through so much already and telling her now didn’t seem like the time. I didn’t know if there would ever be a time.
“We need the drug for two reasons,” I said. “Dorsey will want the formula. We have something he wants, then he may give us what we want in return. And if London is right, it may be the only thing to keep Connor alive. We need to find a way into the lab.”
“I can use the old tunnels,” London said. “They were used to go from one building to the other in the winter months, but they started to collapse and so they were deemed unsafe and were closed off a decade ago.”
“How closed off?” I asked.
“They locked the doors to the stairs, but I don’t know what else they did, if anything. I don’t even know if they are even passable anymore. They could’ve collapsed. But if they aren’t, I can get into my dad’s lab from there without anyone seeing me. If the drug is there, I can find it. I need someone to come with me who can hack into his computer and get the files for the formula.” She paused. “And my father. If he’s there, we can get him out.”
This was my London. She’d been through hell and yet was volunteering to go back into a potentially dangerous situation. But she didn’t know the first thing about combat. She was a fuckin’ scientist, and I wanted her to stay that way, not become what I was. “You’re not going.”