Page 96 of Devilish

I looked around the room, at each of them nodding their support. It meant a lot that these men would put themselves on the line—not only for me, but for Kai.

“Thank you,” I said, as Alessio joined us in the armory, a laptop in his hands.

“Found him. This fucker’s obviously asking for it, because he took Kai back to his place on Sixty-Ninth Street.”

Of course he had. There wasn’t a good idea in that asshole’s brain, and this was the dumbest one yet. I knew exactly where he had my boy, and there was nothing to stop me from getting to him.

With my destination clear, I grabbed two guns off the wall, along with a box of cartridges, and headed for the door. King stepped in front of me, blocking the way out.

“Let me go,” I said, but Shep moved in beside him, putting up a wall I would have to bust through.

“You’re not going anywhere half-cocked,” King said.

“He’s right. Half-cocked is never a good idea. Fully cocked or bust,” Benoit added.

“We need to think this through, like King said.” Theo moved to my right. “Make sure we’re not traced, that every one of us hasan assignment—and, you know, maybe letusgrab a weapon or two before you leave.”

“The security team is at Rupert’s place,” Lachlan said, his phone to his ear. He listened for another beat and then added, “Looks like one guard outside, possible two additional inside. Waiting for confirmation.”

I narrowed my eyes on Lachlan. “Are you talking about some of the same security team of yours that let them take Kai?”

Lachlan held up a finger. “Watch it.”

“Watching it was whattheywere supposed to be doing.”

“Do you have a problem having more bodies there to stake things out? Because I can tell them to leave.”

“Fine. Do it. They’re useless anyway.”

Lachlan lunged in my direction, and I spread my arms, welcoming him to try to start shit. With the way I was feeling right now, not even our resident enforcer would be smart to fuck with me.

“Enough.” King’s voice reverberated off the walls, and then he faced me. “We know you’re worried, but infighting isn’t helping anyone. We stay here. Walk through a plan. And then we wait until it’s dark to make our move. Understood?”

Every fiber in my body rebelled at the order, even as the logical side of my mind tried to tell me this was the right thing to do. Every second away from Kai was torture, but it was nothing compared to what he had to be going through.

Would Rupert take out his anger on Kai? That was a given. It was just a matter of how much and how bad, and I couldn’t let it happen.

“It has to be now,” I said, and turned away from them to pace the room, feeling like a caged animal. “We’re not leaving him there.”

“Understandable,” Benoit said. “But if we go in guns blazing without a strategy, that will put your Kai in more danger. A stray bullet? You want to risk that to get to him sooner?”

Fuck.When did Benoit become the voice of reason?

I cursed and set the guns down before running my hands over my face in frustration.

“How long?” I said.

“Until dark?” Alessio checked the time on the laptop. “Two hours.”

A hundred and twenty agonizing minutes.

“Fine,” I said, letting out an irritated sigh. “But you better start strategizing. Because come hell or high water, the second that sun sets tonight, I’m out.”

I glared at every single one of them. “And I don’t give a fuck who’s standing in my way.”

36

KAI

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