“Okay, who’s the fourth?” I demand.
Riggs sits down and opens the file in his hands. He opens his mouth and closes it before sliding the folder and all its contents toward me. “You are.”
I’m shaking my head as Kinsley gasps. “You were hired to kill me?”
I’m looking at the folder, but I can’t make sense of any of it. I see the paperwork that looks like the hit for Kinsley, and I don’t know how Riggs got it, but he did. I start shuffling the paper until I find my name. “What the actual fuck? I took the hit – I told him I wouldn’t kill her. Rogue knows that. He said there was four.”
“What is it? What’s going on?” she asks.
“Stone, you were hired to kill Kinsley even though Rogue knew you would never do it. He set this whole thing up. He was losing his stance in the underground world. People were going to his rivals for hits instead of calling on him. He put the hit on Kinsley knowing you’d do whatever you could to protect her. He gave the hits to the Gallos and the Malones knowing you would kill them. He wanted them out of the picture.”
I jump up from my seat and start to pace the room. Rage is crowding my chest. There’s a roaring in my ears as I try to process it all. “She could have been killed. He’s the one that did this?”
Nash stands up. “But she wasn’t. Give him the rest, he needs to know it all.”
“Fuck, there’s more?” I ask.
The rest of the guys are all just as surprised as I am. How does this even happen?
Riggs tosses three folders to me, titled with the names of the men I killed. “I know you, Stone, and the fact you thought you killed innocent men will eat you alive. I ran reports on the three so you know what you were dealing with. The two Gallos are known for torturing and sodomizing women. The Malone character is primarily drugs, but he gets off on giving drugs to school-age children and watching them OD. That’s his thing. All three of them deserved to die.”
I toss the folders back at him. “They were going to kill Kinsley. That’s all the reason I need. Are we done here?”
Nash stands up. “Stone, any of us would have done exactly what you did in your place. There was no way to know what he had planned.”
“I know. I’m going to take the rest of the day. I’ll be back in tomorrow.” He nods, and I wait because it’s obvious he wants to say something else. When he doesn’t, I say to Kinsley, “Come on, let’s go. Knox, call if you need help with that situation.”
“Yeah, will do, brother.”
I don’t reach for Kinsley when she gets close. I barely wait on her until I get to the front door and hold it open for her. She’s staring at me with her big blue eyes, and it’s eating a hole in me. How did I get her into this? I’m the reason that she was almost killed. It was my fault. No one was after her or the pictures she took, they were after her because of me.
As soon as I get her in my truck, I open my phone and call Rogue. I rip out of the parking lot, squealing tires. “I’ve been waiting on your call. It took your friend Riggs a little longer to figure it out, but I’m glad he finally did. I was beginning to worry about the intelligence of your elite team.”
“You son of a bitch. How could you? She could have been killed.”
“But she wasn’t.”
“No thanks to you. All that bullshit you said about owing me and doing me a favor...”
“I did. And now we’re even.”
I grip the steering wheel even tighter. “Yeah, until you decide you need another hitman killed. You come near me or Kinsley again and I’ll...”
“I’m not going to let you finish that sentence, Stone. It’s done. We’re even. The hit has been cancelled. Kinsley is safe, and quite frankly, I think you should be thanking me.”
I pull back into my driveway and get out of the truck. I should have waited for this conversation. I hate for Kinsley to see me unhinged like this. “Thanking you.... are you kidding me right now?”
Rogue is silent. “Well, yeah. If it wasn’t for me, your dumb ass would still be pining away for her two thousand miles away. Now she’s there. She’s right there with you. What are you going to do about it?”
I’m seething. “Don’t ever come for us again, Rogue. Lose my number.”
“Done,” he answers without hesitation. “And Colt?”
“What?”
“You’re welcome,” he says before hanging up the phone.
I’m pacing back and forth in the driveway and pocket my phone. Kinsley is standing beside my truck, unsure what to do. I still haven’t been able to look at her. I leave her and walk inside. She follows me, and when she gets inside she walks to the couch in the living room and sits down.