Page 12 of Ruined

I shook my head. "I can't live the rest of my life dwelling on what he did to me. Neither can you. Please don't try to tiptoe around me. I get that enough at home."

I understood and appreciated it there, but I didn't want it from her.

"You really are a badass aren't you?" she asked. "Thank fuck we’re on the same side or, frankly, I'd be scared of you."

I snorted. "I can't imagine you being scared of anything. Or anyone."

She spread her hands. "I didn't think it was possible either, but here we are. Now, shall we go and join the others?"

CHAPTER 5

DAMON

"I fucked up." Gianni rubbed his cheeks with the heels of both his hands and grimaced. "I should have looked into where Rose was before we flew out of Sydney."

Reuben looked at him over the top of his desk. "How did she respond?" He seemed more interested in Mina's reaction to seeing her sister than in Gianni screwing up.

Right here was a prime example of why I kept insisting she was a distraction. Not because I didn't care about how she felt, but because Gianni making a mistake should have been a higher priority. He didn't make mistakes like that. Neither did I.

Except on this occasion. I hadn't looked into Rose's whereabouts either. My attention was focused on searching for Kurt. And keeping an eye out for any sign of trouble in Dusk Bay. The city was a cesspool at the best of times. Mostly under Reuben's control, but a cesspool nonetheless. I didn't envy Caleb having to keep a close eye on it. Although, fuck knows if the man fit in better than the rest of us would.

Gianni looked at Reuben through his spread fingers. "Surprised, but happy to see her, I guess. They sat together after dinner and had a long chat. Rose was as pissed off as you'd imagine. She went all mother tiger over what happened to her baby sister."

"That sounds like Rose," I said. Both of us were good at fixing things. I would have brought her in on this earlier if it wasn't for Mina's insistence. Rose had contacts I didn't and vice versa. Between us, we could have Kurt screaming down in the basement by now.

"It doesn't sound like too much harm was done," Reuben concluded. "Have you?—"

"Dane is still at Brutham Academy," I interrupted. "Asher is on tour. As of two minutes ago, Rose is back in Melbourne."

Ric contacted me before Gianni and Mina returned from Dusk Bay. I'd anticipated Reuben wanting to know the whereabouts of her other siblings.

Reuben nodded. "They're easier to keep track of than Kurt."

I held back a grimace. The comment wasn't personal, but it was difficult not to take it to heart.

If anyone should be all over finding him, it was me. This was literally my job. I didn't appreciate Kurt making a laughing stock of me, or my network of contacts. I wasn't even one of the first five people in line to kill him slowly, but I'd happily watch.

"I have everything and everyone on this," I said smoothly. "Lasalle is like a ghost. Or a slug. He's left a trail behind, but no one seems to know where he is. If he's paid people to say they haven't seen him, he's paid them well. Not even threats or torture have uncovered anything. If I didn't know better, I'd think he doesn't actually exist."

"Is that possible?" Gianni frowned. "He was in the building where he kept Mina just before we found her. Maybe he ran out onto the road and got hit by a car. He could be a John Doe lying in the morgue somewhere. His face might be so smashed in he's unrecognisable. His teeth all broken up and his ugly face ruined."

He waved his hands in front of his face. He didn't find himself attractive, but he had the kind of face people couldn't help looking at. Intelligence burned in those dark eyes, along with a good amount of deviousness. He fascinated people and in turn, was fascinated by people.

He fascinated me, but he wasn't the only one who held my attention.

"I think you're projecting," I told him. "You want to smash his ugly face in and ruin it."

"Hell yeah I do," he agreed. "So do you."

I shrugged one shoulder. "A bullet between his eyes is quicker and cleaner." I knew Reuben's preference for neat and tidy over messy and sloppy. Truthfully, I shared that preference. Mess got out of control too quickly.

"I don't care how he dies, as long as he dies." Reuben steepled his fingers and pressed them against his lips. His voice was low as ever, a rumble that made my balls tingle.

As long as I'd known him, he'd had that effect on me. Something I barely admitted to myself, much less to him. He was my boss. That was one of many reasons why I had to push those thoughts aside and focus on the conversation.

"I was thinking we could set a trap for him," I said. "Something that will ensure he comes out of the hole he's buried himself in."

Reuben turned those ice blue eyes on me and arched an eyebrow in question. "You have something in mind?"

---