The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy 1)

Kash cursed, moving to block me. He stepped over Matt and caught me up just as I would’ve kicked my brother’s face. With my momentum and the abruptness of how he caught me, I was in the air. Gravity was pushing me up, somehow, but Kash was moving away. He didn’t let me go over his shoulder. Tucking his head into my side, he wrapped one arm around my back, anchoring me to him, with the other behind my waist.

I was yelling over his shoulder as he carried me out.

“Huh, Matt? You piece of shit. You were going to just let me figure it out for myself? How long? How long?”

Kash grunted, but clipped out to the guard, “Get him fixed. I want him taken back to the estate. I’ll deal with him tomorrow.” He carried me out to the hallway. The guard moved in front so I couldn’t see Matt, but the last image I had of him was his face turned the other way. The woman, who the fuck cared about her? I didn’t, but our eyes caught for a second. The same horror hadn’t faded, and I had an urge to give her the middle finger. I didn’t.

Kash set me down before we started down the stairs.

My legs buckled. He caught me, then hoisted me back up, just how he’d been holding me. He carried me all the way down, and by then I was moving around. “I can walk. I’m fine.” So he let me go, but when I started back up the stairs, a quick laugh hit my ears as he settled himself directly behind me. He walked me outside. I was being herded by his arms and hips.

I broke away once we were outside. “Is he for real?!”

Kash wasn’t responding. He kept a hand to my elbow and steered me to his car.

“I can walk on my own.” I ripped my arm away.

“Still.” He stopped, making sure he was behind me so I couldn’t make a run to the house.

Giving up, with one last curse, I turned, storming to his car. I got inside, slamming the door behind me.

Kash stood on the sidewalk, his gaze latched on to me. His head was lowered, his hands going to his pockets. A security guard approached him, and they spoke before Kash got into the car. We didn’t talk as we drove out of there.

I wasn’t paying attention to where we were going. I was stewing.

Then I noticed the large buildings.

“Where are we going?” We were downtown.

“My place.”

“Why?”

He slid me a heated look. “Because it’s time you know everything.”

THIRTY-NINE

“You know Calhoun Bastian?”

We’d just gotten to Kash’s downtown place and I was starting to take it all in. The last time had been fast and hot. I hadn’t had time to really look at his place, and I was currently gaping at how sleek and modern and masculine it all was. Shiny cement floors. Dark leather couch—the good leather, too. The tight stuff. A big mural of a mustang on his fireplace.

He had a fireplace. I pointed at it. “Do you actually use that? Is that safe?”

He leaned back against his kitchen counter, his hands in his pockets, his head down and his eyes lidded. He always gave me that look, and damn but it did things to me on the inside. My little heart flipped over at the sight.

His hair was messed again, too.

“Did you hear what I asked?”

“Huh?” I rewound and nodded. “Yeah. He’s the sixth-richest man in the world. How do you know him?”

He stared at me. Long. Hard.

There was no joy in those eyes, his darkness coming forth once again, and the back of my neck prickled. My heart flipped again, sinking. What he had to say to me wasn’t good. I just knew that much.

Then he said, “He’s my grandfather.”

More gaping.

I couldn’t …

Holy shit.

Still more gaping.

“That guy? But he’s…” Evil. That was the best word.

Kash looked at the ground, his hands coming to rest on the counter behind him. His elbows were splayed outward. His knuckles were white. “He’s acquaintances with dictators, third world leaders. He knows six branches of the mafia. He’s done business with all of them. His friends are murderers, and that’s the best way to call them.” A swift intake of air. “He also has two daughters, one that’s dead and one that might as well be. He has two grandsons, myself and my cousin. And he’s the biggest narcissist I’ve ever met.”

His head lifted and I almost stepped back from the agony looking at me. Pure torment and anguish.

“He declared my mom dead to him when she married Joseph Colello. He didn’t have much. My father’s side of the family are middle class, have a shit ton of pride, and are just as stubborn as my grandfather. When my dad brought my mom around, they saw the torture she’d been through. They witnessed, because that’s what it was. That’s what my grandfather did to her. He would say he would kill her sister if she didn’t leave my father. He’d send her videos of my aunt being raped. They saw all of that, heard all of that, and that’s only the stuff I can handle telling you. There was more. There was worse. All the while, he never came and forced her to return to him. He couldn’t do that because, in his twisted mind, that wasn’t her coming to him. He had to beat her down, destroy her completely. That’s the only window she got to remain where she was, and that’s when she had me.”