Page 48 of The Villain

“Hey, the woman I was with, when did she leave?”

“Ten minutes ago? Maybe fifteen.”

“Fuck.” My teeth grind in frustration. She could have come to talk to me at least. Tell me she was leaving.

What sense does that make when I’m the one that walked away from her. Willingly.

I just couldn’t stand the way Blaze was looking at her. Like he could have her wrapped around him any second and she wouldn’t mind. I wanted to stab him in the eye for it. And I thought I was in love with him. I’m so fucked up.

I wanted them gone so I could focus on Evie and it has backfired in a big way.

“You screwed the pooch,” the barista says with a smirk and walks away.

I grab my drink and head for the door, pulling my phone out to text Tera. How pissed is Evie? At least I can get that emotion out of her.

I’m hidden in the doorway when I hear Ira’s voice.

“He said to keep watching him.”

“Why though?” Brody asks in exasperation. “We’ve been doing this for too long and you know it. Something hasn’t been right about this from the beginning.”

I slide to the side, head angled to listen and pretending to text. They won’t see me here unless they start back inside. They’re shit at subterfuge and checking blind spots. I think I know who they’re talking about and I’m starting to get pissed.

Ira doesn’t answer so Brody goes on.

“We haven’t been able to find anything dirty on him. He’s the best we’ve ever had on our team. Why are we still babysitting him like he’s a fresh recruit?” Brody insists. “You know something Ira. This takes us off watching Judge Fullerton. How are we supposed to be giving Shade reports when we aren’t watching her? I’m done with the bullshit.”

Babysitting. Dots begin to connect, making a bittersweet picture I was too emotionally invested to see.

I was being watched the whole time. I thought I was away from the majority of the manipulations when I was tangled in the web this whole fucking time. I got too caught up in being around people who wanted to pay attention to see why they were paying attention.

Matthias has them watching my every move to find different ways to play me. He told them I’m dirty. It explains why they’ve been so convinced that I’m leaking information where I shouldn’t be. It also makes sense why the twins were suddenly so receptive to a relationship. If I could even call it that. I had just come back from the wedding at that point. The timing makes my teeth grind with anger.

These motherfuckers. All of them.

“Fine,” Ira growls out. “I called Matthias last night to update him.”

A silence falls and then Brody snaps impatiently, “And?”

“I told him about that bitch and he started getting paranoid. He wants eyes on Shade because of the shit with the twins and her. Matthias thinks this is the perfect time to catch him off balance and get him back in the fold. We need to find out as much about Van as we can and report back.”

“Like any other job,” Brody says flatly.

“Something is off about her.”

“Yeah, but how off? This might just be a show for the twins. Someone he hired?”

“I don’t know,” Ira sighs with frustration. “He could be talking in bed. If she’s dirty she could be using him before she splits. That puts us all in jeopardy.”

“Felix says the likelihood of Shade pillow talking is zero. The man has always been shut down hard. Now it’s even worse.”

A leak. I was Matthias’ most trusted man before I found out he was my father. I know more about the operations and assassins in the fold than they know. Info I’ve never even been tempted to let out.

They don’t know that any more than they know Matthias is my biological father. I’ve kept those secrets close to my vest and so has dear old dad.

Does Andi know about this?

We were assigned here so I could take care of a woman who had no idea I was her half-brother until I told her. She had to have questions for Matthias when she found out. Did he tell her I was in a team of people whose sole focus was to keep tabs on me? Why wouldn’t she tell me?

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