Page 88 of Seven

“You sure you can hear and see me?”

“Crystal.” He was wearing a pair of glasses that Shep had fitted with a hidden camera and earpiece. Shep was a master at technology, so we knew unless Rooks fucked it up, we had a birds-eye-view of inside the house. “Relax. We’ve got you covered.”

With that, he opened his car door and got out. As soon as he started up to the estate, two guards came over and started patting him down. “You carrying?”

“No weapons.” He lifted his laptop. “Just my computer.”

One of the guards took it and motioned for him to follow as they started inside. The house was massive and reeked of money. Every inch of the place was decorated with the finest of everything.

The screen shifted as the guards guided him through the house and down a long hallway. They finally stopped at a steel door. One of the men punched in a code, and the lock clicked open.

“Where the fuck are they taking him?” Grim muttered.

“I don’t know.” Shep exhaled sharply. “Looks like the garage.”

The feed flickered as Rooks stepped inside. The second the camera adjusted, my blood ran ice cold.

Tallie was hanging in the middle of the goddamn garage with her wrists bound over her head, and her body was completely limp. Her chin was down, and her hair was covering her face, making it impossible to tell if she was dead or alive. Seeing her so out of it sent me into an immediate rage. “What the fuck! I’ll fucking kill them!”

“Easy, brother.” Shep kept his voice steady as he said, “We don’t know that she’s hurt.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Look at her!” I motioned my hand toward the screen. “To hell with this. I’m going in.”

Grim caught my arm before I could move. “Wait.”

“Wait?” I jerked free. “She’s fuckinghanging there,Grim! She?—”

Then Rooks' voice cut through the feed, “What the hell is this?”

“This is what happens when you try to play games with me.” Rooks turned slightly, and the camera caught the man standing just a few feet away. “I don’t play games, Mr. Warren. I simply do not have the patience for it.”

“I’ll give you whatever you want. Just let her go,” Rooks pleaded.

“She’s fine.” The man glanced over at Tallie. “I did this for her benefit.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Imagine how terrified she would be if she was awake when I had her hung from the rafter.”

“Why the hell did you have to hang her from the rafters in the first place?”

“Because if you don’t give me what I want, this will end badly for you both. I like her. I wouldn’t want her to suffer.” His face was void of expression as he growled, “You, on the other hand.”

“Understood.”

My eyes were still locked on the screen as I told them, “That’s gotta be Sergei. He’s the one in charge.”

“I was thinking the same,” Shep agreed. “And yeah, he’s clearly running the show.”

The guy looked calm, but not in a good way. His calm made my skin crawl. His eyes were cold and showed zero emotion as he said, “Do you have the code?”

“I don’t know about a code. I have everything that I set up for my father, including all the offshore accounts and passwords.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Sergei glared at him for a moment, then pushed, “Where the hell are they?”

“On the computer.” Rooks motioned his head toward the back of the room. “Your guard took it from me.”

Sergei snapped his fingers, and the guard brought over the laptop. Sergei snatched it and handed it over to Rooks. “You better make it fast. We don’t want the girl to wake up and wonder why her brother caused her to be in such a state.”

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