Page 56 of Ruined

"We won't," I said. I'd considered the possibility Gianni and Mina had. There was a chance they might both be…

I wouldn't let myself finish that thought.

I led the way down Riley Street, all the way to the corner, where I stopped. I raised a hand to indicate that the others should wait, then peered around the corner.

The street that stretched out in front of me was quiet. The other of Reuben's cars was parked by the side of the road, engine off, in darkness. Intact, as far as I could tell. And empty.

"I'm not seeing anyone," I whispered. "Living or dead."

A light was on above the grocery store. Clarissa's apartment. I squinted, but if anyone was inside, I couldn't tell.

"Have you tried communicating with Clarissa?" Reuben asked.

"I sent her a text to confirm there were no changes from the plans we made earlier today," I said. "She replied that everything was under control."

That was when I started to suspect something was wrong. I started searching the house for Mina and Gianni, and any missing cars. Only when I was certain did I take the information to Reuben. He didn't appreciate people going off half-cocked and making assumptions without looking for the evidence. No, I had to be sure before I bothered him with it.

After all, Mina and Gianni could have been out in the garden practising knife throwing, or fucking.

"That's a weird way of saying yes," Parker said.

"Sounds like a thinly veiled no to me," Hunter said.

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing," Parker agreed. "That sounds like something I'd write if I was under duress, with someone looking over my shoulder. Someone like Kurt."

"Exactly," I agreed. I rubbed my chin with my thumb and pointer finger.

The stairs leading up to Clarissa's apartment were narrow. Only one and a half people could walk up them at the same time. Anyone at the top could pick us off one by one. If he was there, we might have a hard time reaching him.

If Mina was up there with them, we'd fucking try. I didn't care if I died, as long as she didn't, and wasn't taken by him. Those options weren't even on the table.

The question was, where did Clarissa fit into all of this? Had she double crossed us? I didn't want to believe that, but right now, all possibilities were up in the air.

I ducked aside as a car slowed and came around the corner. If they saw us in the shadows, there was no sign from inside the vehicle. They didn't stop to look or turn the headlights on us. They drove on until they reached the car park behind the grocery store.

With practised precision, the car slid into a parking space. The engine was turned off and the driver's side door pushed open. Clarissa stepped out.

I gestured the others forward and moved around the corner silently as the passenger door opened and a man stepped out.

CHAPTER 22

MINA

"That's not Kurt," Gianni whispered.

"No, it isn't," I agreed. "It's Leon Graves."

Fuck.

Fuck.

I knew there was a possibility it would be someone other than Kurt. That Leon had contacted Clarissa on behalf of himself. I'd wanted to assume it was Kurt so I could end this. If he was standing right in front of me now, I'd lodge my knife in his brain. Or somewhere lower, to give him a slower, more painful death.

It was some consolation that I was right about one thing. Leon arrived earlier than originally planned. The question was, why?

Clarissa's eyes swivelled from side to side, as though certain we were waiting in the shadows. She looked nervous, anxious.

So she should. If he'd contacted her to change plans and she hadn't told Damon, she might be taking her last breaths herself.

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