Page 91 of Passion and Payback

It felt odd having him calling the shots and taking the lead when it had been me who had done that the last time. At the same time, it was different going into someone’s home, which just about anyone could do, to trying to invade a public space where things could go wrong. Honestly, I didn’t know how much experience he had with something like that, but even if it wasn’t direct experience, he had more than I did.

“Alright, and everything else?”

“Easy. We go up the stairs instead of the elevator, less likely to draw attention. And we’ll see what kind of security he has. Then we’ll go from there.”

We passed through a back hallway once we were inside, which was where the bathrooms were. Small groups of drunken partygoers lingered in the relative quiet or going into the bathroom, but we gave them a wide berth as we headed toward the main hallway at the front of the building.

“And cameras?”

“Remember when I disappeared earlier?”

I thought back, frowning when I remembered the twenty minutes at the beginning of the party when he had disappeared, only to show up again with a couple of drinks. I hadn’t thought much about it, expecting he was either getting a feel for the layout or had a hard time finding me. Now, however? “What were you doing?”

He snorted. “I stepped outside and smoked a joint with one of the staff.”

I looked him over, not expecting any physical signs since he hadn’t been acting differently. “How do you smoke a joint?”

“People don’t pay attention when they’re relaxed. How better to relax but a fat joint outside the kitchen?” he asked with a snort as we entered the large foyer, which was even more bereft of partygoers than the bathroom hallway. “So if I didn’t actually hit it and inhale, how was he to notice?”

“Fair enough,” I said with a snort. “Is there a point to this story?”

“Apparently, part of the problem tonight was that the security systems haven’t been behaving themselves,” he said, arching a brow and still keeping his voice low. “The only thing they’ve been able to get working is the parking garage and perimeter. Some system issues are keeping them from getting feeds from inside,especiallythe upper floors.”

I glanced down a nearby hallway that split off from the foyer and into shadows. “That’s...convenient.”

“Not really. Turns out this building has a nasty habit of constantly harassing electronics.”

“They told you that?”

“No, a buddy of mine did.”

That gave me pause and I slowly turned toward him, looking him over. “What buddy?”

“A buddy who knows how to look into things better than either of us,” he said with a shrug. “A buddy I contacted to do some digging for me.”

I thought about that for a moment, jaw tightening. “You were the one who wanted to come here tonight. You knew the chances of the building having shit security would be high.”

“I did,” he said without hesitation or the slightest shred of guilt.

“Behind my back.”

“You could look at it that way. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but I can’t stop you.”

I glared. “Kai, stop trying to be cute.”

He bent low, smiling in a way that might have looked handsome to someone else, but I could see the anger. “Let’s not pretend you’ve been constantly making plans, doing research behind my back, and expecting me to go along with it.”

“It’s almost like this is my?—”

“Our.”

“What?”

“You wanted me to be a part of this, to help you. So this is a joint venture, which makes itours. Not yours.”

Anger bubbled and popped below the surface of my thoughts, heating them, but I could see the logic. I had been working a lot out of his sight, and it had been me who’d gone off the original plan with Damon, leaving him to help with the cleanup. All I could do was grit my teeth. “And why wait to bring this up?”

“Because there’s no point giving you information that could prove useless,” he said with a shrug. “If this were one of those nights the systems were working, then fine, we’d gather information or maybe see an opening elsewhere. But now we have the information that could allow us to move on him tonight, so now you know.”

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