Page 105 of Altered

Chapter Forty-Two

Lucky

"First my wife, and now my daughter," Kyle snarled when I filled him in on everything that had gone down inside his house on Thirteenth Street that night. "I'm going tokillhim."

"That particular wheel's already in motion, man," I replied calmly, taking a drag of my cigarette. "All you need to do is sit back and stay out of it."

"Stay out of it?" he roared. "How the fuck can you even ask me that?"

"Because it's what has to happen," I countered, staring out between the front seats of the car to where Noah and Kyle were sitting. "Move now and you'll end up alerting him and fucking this up for me." Exhaling a cloud of smoke, I flicked the ash of my cigarette out the back window of the Lexus. "And quite possibly get my ass killed in the process." Rolling my shoulders to work out the horrible fucking knots in them, I added, "And I really fucking don’t want to die before he does."

"I hear what you're saying, son," Kyle said, turning in his seat to look at me. "And I appreciate everything you have done for my family – what you'restilldoing for my family– but she's my baby." His voice was thick with emotion when he said, "Until you have a daughter of your own, you're never going to understand the overwhelming urge a father has to commit the most heinous of crimes on the bastard who hurt her. And asking me to sit back and do nothing?" He shook his head and released a pained growl. "I don’t think I can donothing."

Noah, who had remained silent until this moment, said, "I get it, Kyle. I had a daughter who I loved like no other. And she wastakenfrom me. She wasmurdered. I understand the feeling of hopelessness, and that unquenchable thirst for revenge flushing around inside of your body right about now, man, but youneedto listen to Luck. The man knows what he's doing." Shifting gears, he took a sharp corner, taking us further up the mountains. "He's the reason I’m sitting in this car with you today." He switched on the windshield wipers to the fastest setting. It was raining so heavily that I was surprised the man could see where he was going. "He's the reason my wife is at home breathing," he continued to say, not missing a beat. "The piece of shit that fathered us might be smart," Noah continued. "But Luck's smarter."

"I've got her under twenty-four-hour watch," I added, appreciating Noah's high opinion of me, but needing to stay on track. "Got someone watching your wife and the kids, too."

"And?"

"And nothing," I replied. "Not a fucking peep."

"What's he waiting for?" Kyle growled.

"Me to make the next move," I explained, knowing exactly what the bastard was waiting for. "He's playing us like a fucking chess game, Kyle." I tapped my finger to my temple. "And you win chess with your head, not your heart."

"And the would-be rapist?" he hissed, turning a deep shade of red at the mention of his daughter's attacker. "Is there any possible way that can fall back on you?"

I shrugged. "Not unless the cops want to go digging through dust."

Kyle cocked a brow in confusion.

"The body's gone, man," I explained. "And the bones are chalk." Inhaling another drag of my cigarette, I exhaled a puff of smoke and gestured towards the white circle floating in front of my face. "Cops have a better chance of catching that, man. I'm in the clear."

"No witnesses?"

"Do you think I'd be sitting here if there were witnesses?" I shot back with a smirk.

Kyle frowned. "I think there would be a higher body count if there were witnesses."

"Yeah, you're right about that," I chuckled, not bothering to deny what we all knew was the truth.

"I don’t like this," Kyle muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I fucking hate feeling like a sitting duck."

"We're not sitting ducks," I told him. "We're sleeping lions."

"And to think this is about money," he ground out through clenched teeth. "A fucking string of hotels I never goddamn wanted and even when I gave them to him, he drove them into the fucking ground."

"This ain't got shit to do with money anymore, man," I explained calmly. "This might have started out about him taking revenge on you, but that's not what's happening now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means your father has a new obsession."

"My daughter?"

"My reaction made sure of that." I shrugged, then took another drag. "He's intrigued."

"God fucking dammit!"

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