Hideaway (Devil's Night 2)

She was dead? I mean I suspected she might be by now. No one had seen or heard from her since that night six years ago, but I thought it might’ve been Damon or Gabriel who’d finally done her in.

Not that I really cared. As long as that bitch was gone, I was happy.

Kai’s jaw flexed. “Devil’s Night, six years ago at The Pope,” he explained. “She was…hurting Damon. And she was trying to hurt Banks. I lost it, and I attacked her. She got hurt in the fall.”

That night came flooding back. The terror, the disgusting, vile words she spoke, Damon’s pain, and…Kai losing his temper, hitting her, and the blood. He’d protected us, and if she was dead, then good-fucking-riddance.

“You’re just telling us this now?” Rika blurted out. “After all this time?”

“I didn’t know I killed her. Not until last year on the yacht,” he said. “You, Michael, and Will were in the water, and Damon and I were fighting. He fucking taunted me with it. A little tidbit he’d saved just in case.” He sucked in a breath. “After I left the hotel that night, she didn’t survive. He got rid of the body to protect me. Now he’s using it to threaten me. That’s why I need to find him. I’m not risking going back to prison.”

“And if he’s lying?” Will argued. “How do you know he’s telling the truth?”

“Would you take that chance?” Kai bit out. “Because she hasn’t been seen since. Either he produces his very-much-alive mother or her body, so I can move on with my fucking life and not have this hanging over my head. And if I don’t get one or the other, I’m going to shut him up forever.”

“So, that’s why you’ve been so concerned with finding him?” Rika asked.

And then Will added, “You should’ve told us sooner, man. Like last year.”

But Kai ignored their protests, pushing me to Will. “Just take her,” he ordered, whipping off his jacket and wiping his nose with his thumb. Blood stained his fingertip. I didn’t see him get hit, but he must’ve. “Bring her to Darcy Street and then leave,” he told him. “I need to calm down before I deal with her.”

And he didn’t look at me as he climbed into his car and shifted into gear, taking off as fast as he could.

Rika and Will stood with me in the driveway, watching him speed off, and Will jostled me. “I guess you’re in for it now.”

Banks

Present

“Kai!” Rika growled into her phone. “Pick up!” And then she ended the call, sounding exasperated. “Dammit.”

That was the third time she’d called him since we left Thunder Bay. Will drove, and Rika sat in the passenger seat next to him, while I gripped the blades hidden in my pockets as I sat in the backseat.

Leverage. He’d said I was leverage. Was she really dead? He couldn’t know for sure, but I guess that’s what he was trying to figure out. Nothing like having a potential murder hanging over your head.

Would Damon really throw him to the wolves?

“We need to talk to him,” Rika told Will as he lit a cigarette.

But I watched him shake his head. “We need to leave him alone. Kai knows what he’s doing.”

“He didn’t plan that turn of events, asshole! It’s all about her.” She jerked her head toward me. “And he’s in it now. I need to get a hold of Michael.”

She checked her phone again, and I turned my eyes out the window, seeing the city lights shine on the black water of the river as we crossed the bridge.

I wasn’t bound to that contract. Indentured servitude wasn’t a thing anymore. I could run, and I would. I’d been useful, my father got what he wanted. I’d be welcomed back now.

And my brother certainly wouldn’t expect me to honor the agreement.

“You need to talk to him.”

I heard Rika’s words, but it wasn’t until I caught her watching me out of the corner of my eye that I realized she was speaking to me.

“Excuse me?”

“You need to talk to him,” she told me. “You backed him into this corner. Take some responsibility.”

I laughed under my breath, looking away again. Jesus. None of this was my fault, and I wasn’t taking the blame. Men and their idiocy, and I was sick of being collateral damage.