Page 97 of Lilly

When he gets inside, I lock the doors and say, "If they were here, they'd be hidden. You'd never see them."

He turns to me. "How long have you been part of this?"

As he asks, I realize we haven't spoken since I saw him at the meeting. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to call me before now.

"Don't ask questions," I say. "It's rule number one. You should know that by now." My patience is already wearing thin after being around him for less than a minute. I find him very annoying, especially his constant fidgeting. He's doing it right now, his hands twisting around in his lap.

"I can't do this," he says, breathing so hard and fast I wouldn't be surprised if he passed out.

"You need to calm down," I tell him. "If you're going to be in this business, you can't display your emotions. You have to remain calm and appear in control at all times. Now hurry up and tell me why I'm here."

"They made me do it." He leans back in his seat, squeezing his eyes shut. "I didn't want to. I begged them to give me someone else. Or make me do something else. Anything but this."

"What are you talking about?" I bark at him. My anger is rising because it's clear that whatever it is he did has something to do with me. "Dean! Look at me!"

He opens his eyes and glances at me, then quickly turns away. "I can't. I can't look at you and tell you what I've done."

"This was an assignment?" I ask, trying to remain calm enough to get information from him.

"Yes."

"And it involves me," I say.

He's quiet and then, "Your wife."

Panic fills me. I grab his tie and yank him toward me. "What the fuck did you do?"

"Nothing. Nothing yet. I just...I just gave the order. I did it this morning. But then I immediately regretted it. I called to stop it but he wouldn't answer."

Adrenaline courses through me. I'm losing control of my rage, the urge to kill this man growing stronger by the second. I haven't felt this urge for years, but hearing him say he did something to Rachel? I can barely control myself. I want to strangle him. Shoot him. Kill him.

"Tell me what you did!"

He doesn't answer, his body shaking, his hands wringing together.

I pull the gun from my waist and aim it at Dean. "Tell me what you fucking did!"

He sees the gun and rears back, slamming into the door. "Don't shoot! Please!" His hands fumble with the door handle but I've locked him in. He can't get out.

"You sent a man to kill her." I clench my jaw as my eyes bore into him, the gun aimed and ready.

"I didn't want to. I didn't—"

"When?" I scream it at him.

He shakes his head. "In a week. Sometime this week."

"You don't know when? You're lying!"

"I'm not." He holds his hands up in surrender. "I'm not lying. I didn't know how it works. I wasn't sure what to tell him. I sent him the package, then called him and he said he'd take care of it."

"You tell them when and where! You never leave it up to them to decide!"

"I...I didn't know. I promise you I didn't."

With my free hand, I yank my phone out and call Rachel. Her phone goes straight to voicemail. I call Lilly, but hers, too, goes to voicemail. Shit. I remember that area by the hotel having spotty cell service. If I'd remembered that earlier I never would've let them go there. I call Garret, who picks up right away.

"Hey, I couldn't get through to Mom," he says. "Her phone went right to voicemail."

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