Page 87 of Kade

“Analise?”

“Ah…” He frowned, his head folding down. “You won’t believe me, but I only approached her once and it was because she looked upset. She was walking on the sidewalk. I just wanted to make sure she’d be okay.”

He had a goddamn excuse for every time.

Last one. Worst one. “My daughter?”

He coughed, tugging at his shirt. “Would you believe me if I said—”

“No,” I barked. “One time. I would believe you if it happened one fucking time. Not multiple times. Not with the letters. Not with the private messages. No one in your little social group knows the extent of it. They’re all telling me you’re safe. You’re cool. We can trust you.” I shot forward in my seat. “No, I goddamn can’t. You approached my kid—”

“She—there were some guys. It looked like they were messing with her—”

“—in fucking San Diego! You approached her in another city. You weren’t there by coincidence. You looked for her. You found her. You approached her. I want nothing to do with you. Nothing. But after last night, we have a problem because it seems like my brother cares about you. Go fucking figure on that one.”

He fell quiet until he mumbled, “Guessing the torture had more to do with this than the hacking, huh?”

I stared at him. It was all I could do in this moment because all my grief, all my anger, all my frustration, everything that had been accumulating over the last week, all of it had a target. He was sitting in front of me, but fuck him very much. I couldn’t do what I wanted to do with him because Logan cared about the guy.

I shook my head, needing to let some of my anger go. A small trickle of it. “I’m a celebrity. I get that. Because of what I earned playing a game I loved, a lot of people think that makes me theirs. Theirs to inspect. Theirs to tear apart. Theirs to objectify, hate, project all their own shit onto. It comes with the territory, and yes, stalkers happen. But you arehere. You are local. You are connected inside my circle, and you are fucking weird. I didn’t know you. I didn’t want to know you, and after you approached my daughter, I loathed you. We tortured you because you were hacking into Kai Bennett’s family’s accounts, and you brought that motherfucker to my front door.” I leaned forward again, my eyes hard. “Why?”

He opened his mouth but then shrugged, leaning back in his seat.

“I know I didn’t read you in on my situation. I can’t believe the few who knew would’ve done that.” I asked a different question. “How did you know to look into Kai Bennett?”

He frowned, looking away. “I got a text alert.”

“You got a text alert? What does that mean?”

He shifted in his seat, perspiration coming to his forehead. Tugging at his shirt collar, he coughed. “I—oh fuck. You can’t say anything…”

“I’m not promising you shit. You stalked my family.”

“I know. I know.” He held up a hand. “I’m—things are starting to look different to me since you and your brother strung me up. But look, Channing sent a text to the Brenster—”

This fucker could somehow read text messages from Channing to his sister.

“The Brenster?” I asked.

“Bren. Channing’s sister.” He sighed. “I call her the Brenster since she said I couldn’t call her Brentress—like the Huntress. Bren’s kick ass. It’s, like, literally what she does for a living. She’s more badass than her brother—”

I growled.

He changed his tone. “Right. What was I saying? Text alert. Yeah. The Chanster texted the Brenster and asked if she’d heard anything about Kai Bennett operating in the area, specifically Fallen Crest. I thought it was weird. Bren said she didn’t know anything. When she offered to look into it, the Chanster shut her down right away. That set off my alarms too, so I did some digging. And…” He trailed off, but after a bit he focused on me. “Once I started digging, I couldn’t stop. Are you aware of who they are?”

“Yes,” I said dryly. “So you didn’t know about their connection to me?”

He shook his head. “No. I about pissed myself when I woke up and saw you standing there. I can’t figure out the connection. Channing asked about Kai Bennett. That made me start looking into him. He visited you, told you to get me to stop? That sent you and your brother to me, but I’m not understanding how KaiBennett is connected…” He trailed off. His eyes got wide. Bright. He shoved up in chair and cursed right away. “Fuck. That hurts. But—” his gaze latched onto me. “Did Kai Bennett have anything to do with your dad’s death? That’s the only…” He trailed off again, seeing my face.

He gulped. “You’re not happy.”

“What is wrong with you?”

He blinked. “What?”

“You look excited just now. Like you’rethrilled. You’re not comprehending the magnitude of this situation.”

Zeke gulped again. His hands curled around the chair’s armrests. “Uh…”

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