Page 87 of Crave Me

I saw Caspian’s lip twitch in muted satisfaction as Dante voiced what he was clearly thinking, yet what he hadn’t wanted to put out there because it was my dad in question. It seemed like he was coming back to his old self now, being considerate and loving.

“I underestimated him,” my dad said. “His evasion tactics were next-level, even despite him living as a civilian for the last couple of years. I also let my rage get the best of me after I was made aware of what he’d subjected Skylar to. He used that to his advantage.”

“You said we’re all in danger?” Bastian spoke.

“Yes.”

“This place is a fortified stronghold,” Dante pointed out.

“That’s been made clear.” He thumbed Riley. “After I had Riles test your responses when we arrived here at the manor.”

“Shit, that was a risky fucking move,” Damien said. “Trust me, King doesn’t like being fucked with or tested.”

“It was necessary.” My dad looked at me. “I wanted to make sure you were safe here, especially with everything still going on.”

“And if you determined she wasn’t, were you planning to steal her away into the shadows again?” Caspian bit at him.

“Yeah, that won’t be fucking happening,” Bastian ground out, his hand leaving my back and linking with mine, holding me tightly.

“It won’t, Dad.”

He smiled. “No, it won’t.” He looked out at Caspian, then Bastian holding my hand, then told me, “You’ve found your place now and it’s here with them. Taking you away from that, from them, two years ago… it was wrong. Even in spite of the circumstances, it was a mistake. It hurt you. It took away a part of you.” He ground his teeth. “And Jeremy used that to his despicable advantage.” He shifted his weight. “But I also won’t allow you to be in danger. Your Onyx activities with The Jackals are different… this danger I’m talking about is far beyond all of that.” He eyed Dante. “And despite this place being a fortified stronghold, it’s not completely invulnerable or impenetrable. There’s always a weakness to be exploited for any security system, always a way in. Jeremy possesses both my type of skills and advanced technical know-how. A highly-dangerous combination. To worsen that, he’s now found an ally and supporter in Elijah Bane as well. Him giving Elijah a heads-up that you were going to strike as a means to hit back at the four of you wasn’t the end of it.”

“He has a dangerous obsessive streak,” Caspian told him. “Something that he held in check well around you and that you likely didn’t allow yourself to see because he was a brother-in-arms to you. But my research confirms it.”

“And right now Skylar is his obsessive focus,” Bastian said.

My dad shook his head. “All four of you. For your perceived slights against him and Sky’s rejection of him. He made that very clear when I found him and confronted him. Worse than even that. He’s not just lying low out of fear of reprisal or even the hit that King put out there. He’s building something with Elijah.”

“Elijah thinks he can rise from the ashes of what you destroyed,” Asher said, eyeing Caspian. “Sounds familiar.”

“Familiar?” I asked. “It’s happened to you?”

“In essence.”

“What did you do?”

His eyes darkened. “Annihilated them, sweetheart.”

“And used them to destroy themselves,” Caspian elaborated.

“Ruthless,” Dante said, nodding along. “And highly satisfying.”

“Indeed,” Asher confirmed.

“So this is the danger you referenced when you arrived here,” Caspian mused to himself. And then he rose to his feet. “You were able to track Wheeler. You trained him, you know how he thinks, you walk in the same world. I need to know everything concerning that, the methods and sources you used to track him, the patterns.”

“We find him, we find Elijah. And, most importantly, Caleb,” Bastian said.

“It was an extremely difficult task to track him that one time,” my dad warned.

“Extremely difficult is what Cas does best,” Bastian told him.

My dad shifted his weight again. “He was prepared. Meaning he was able to see me coming. Even as good as I am. He’s at the top of his game.”

“Well, he’s certainly not the only one,” Dante spoke, stubbing out his smoke and moving closer to us. “Get us the intel and we’ll take it from there.” He thumbed Asher behind him. “He’s created a tracking program, but there are too many gaps. Your information should bridge those.”

“It will still be some guesswork involved,” my dad told us. “Jeremy uses foreclosures, which is where I tracked him to. I understand that’s where you tracked Caleb too as well, yes?”

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