At least she hadn’t lied about that.
Zy lifted the bottle again. His thoughts were too sober. Clearly, he needed to lean harder into the booze to get numb.
But before he could take another swig to drown his sorrows, his phone rang.
Groaning, he reached in his pocket and pulled out the device. Shit. It was Hunter.
“Hey. Is something up? It’s the middle of the night.”
If one of the bosses was calling at this hour, it wasn’t to chitchat. But even expending the energy to talk—and act like his world wasn’t imploding—was exhausting him. His voice sounded like it hadn’t been used in a decade. Every muscle in his body hurt.
But nothing ached like his dying heart.
“What the hell have you been doing around the office?”
He sat up straighter. “What do you mean? I’ve done my job.”
Zy had taken the position to save his post-military career after blowing up all his goodwill in the Middle East. It was proving to be his undoing since it had only brought him misery. If the bosses were going to pile on him, too, maybe he should fucking quit. Take his savings and buy a camper. Move out to the middle of nowhere. Live alone. Grow a serious beard. Stay the hell away from women.
He only hated that idea because he’d never see Tessa again.
What a sap.
“When we stopped by the office early this morning to talk to the police after those bodies were discovered, Logan was able to swipe one of the victim’s phones, along with his dismembered thumb. He took both out to Trees, who unlocked the device and started prowling around. Looks like these assholes are using an app to communicate, which we’ll report to their tech support.”
“They’re using Abuzz, right?”
“How?”
He snorted. “Lucky guess.”
But inside, Zy seethed. Only Trees knew he was a part of that Garrett family. His parents had always gushed publicly about Ivy-League Theo. Zy, whom they’d refused to refer to as anything but Chase, was the kid they’d never talked much about to the press. That suited him just fine.
He wasn’t about to advertise his connections to his bosses, either. He would rather call his prick of a father again and settle the matter like men. And if dear ol’ Dad wasn’t in the mood to listen to his son ream him out… Well, Zy knew ways of making him regret it. It was past time that big tech shithole got sorted.
“Well…I don’t know what you said or did, but the fucking private board these cocksuckers use to communicate started lighting up an hour ago with information about their kidnap victim. The tidbits they’re posting should be helping us, but so far they’re not, goddamn it. And there’s talk you’ll be going in tomorrow night to do their dirty work, whatever that means. They’re speculating that you’re walking into an ambush that’s pure suicide. Where did this BS come from, and why the fuck do they think any of this?”
Zy closed his eyes. So Tessa really had done it. She’d given over his bullshit information to the enemy. Despite all the pleasure they’d shared, not to mention her tears and clinging arms, she’d still sold him out.
He had expected it. Hell, he’d set up the op to entrap her for just this outcome. But her betrayal still hurt way fucking more than he’d thought it would. Than he’d been prepared to bear.
“Zy?” Hunter barked.
An answer. Right. He should already have one canned. He should have anticipated this fucking phone call. But he’d been too focused on Tessa.
“Still here. You told me to run down our mole, that it was either Trees or Tessa.” He sighed. “It’s not Trees.”
“You’re telling me that our receptionist has somehow outsmarted me, my brothers, and nearly a half dozen other well-trained operators? Without raising suspicion—or even a brow—until now?”
“It’s looking more and more like that, yes.”
Hunter paused. “All right. But I’m going to make something really fucking clear. If you two are having a spat or a rough patch, don’t you throw her under the bus because you can.”
So his boss thought he was a petty, vindictive asshole? Perfect. Seemed to fit with the rest of his night. “Are you being serious right now?”
“Yeah. I know we listed her as a suspect, but mostly through process of elimination. We’ve never stopped believing Trees was our man.”
“Well, you’re fucking wrong. Accept it.”
“How do you know? Trees would have the finesse to do this. The connections, the know-how, the—”
“I made up a story about Kimber’s rescue mission that will be taking place in the next thirty hours. I told her I’d be going in alone to extract your sister in a surgical strike. That was barely an hour ago, and here you are in my ear. That’s not a coincidence.”
This time, Hunter was quiet for so long Zy wondered if his boss was still on the other end. Finally, he sighed. “Well, fuck. I feel stupid.”