Page 71 of Two Steps Ahead

She would call information and get the number for San Antonio Security. She would—

The door opened and Weston stood there.

“Oh, thank God, you’re okay,” Kayleigh said, nearly sprinting to the door to hug him. “Gwendolyn is the inside man. She met with Beau Kesler. How did you—”

She froze on the spot when Gwendolyn stepped out from behind him, gun in her hand pointed directly at Weston.

“Hello, Kayleigh. Let’s chat, dear.”

WESTONHADKNOWNsomething was off from the moment he’d picked Gwendolyn up from that gas station. He’d even figured out his raging internal alarms were because her entire situation had been a setup.

But he thought it was because someone was using Gwendolyn to find them, not thatshewas the one behind everything.

The little bit of blood on her forehead—which probably wasn’t even real—had been a nice touch. He hadn’t gone to see her car in the ditch, he’d just wanted to get her to safety.

He’d driven them all over town, making sure no one was following, when it ended up no one needed to follow at all. The enemy had already been in the car with him.

He’d been so intent on getting her inside the safe house and out of potential harm’s way, he hadn’t realized he’d made a huge mistake until he’d felt the muzzle of her gun against the back of his head as he opened the door.

He’d almost made a move right then to disarm Gwendolyn, prepared to take his chances, when Kayleigh had rushed over. He hadn’t been willing to take a chance with her life. And now that he had his hands restrained behind his back, he wished he’d made his move.

Kayleigh was nothing short of devastated to find out Gwendolyn wasn’t who she’d pretended to be.

“Dad trusted you.Itrusted you. I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

Gwendolyn’s face was hard and cold as she pointed the gun at Kayleigh. “There’s a lot you don’t know about your father. He wanted his precious baby girl protected from the truth about him.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That money you so enjoy? It comes at the cost of other people. Dearest Daddy isn’t the pristine businessman you think he is.”

Kayleigh shook her head. “Dad may have been ruthless in some of his business endeavors, but he never did anything to justify what you’re doing now. He’s in a coma because of you!”

“Yeah, why don’t you tell us exactly what you think Leo did and maybe we can get to the bottom of this,” Weston said from where Gwendolyn had forced him to sit at the table.

He wanted to keep her there as long as possible. His brothers were already attempting to reach him on his phone—it had been vibrating in his pocket. He’d called them on the way to get Gwendolyn. When he didn’t respond now, they would eventually come check to see what was going on.

Gwendolyn looked at her own phone. “Less chatting and more traveling right now. We’re not staying here. Today is going to be a busy day for Kayleigh.”

She pointed the gun at Weston and tilted her head toward the door, gesturing for him to move. He stayed where he was. They stared at each other for a long minute.

“Have it your way.” Gwendolyn turned the weapon on Kayleigh.

Damn it. Weston didn’t think Gwendolyn would shoot Kayleigh, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He stood and walked to the door. Kayleigh rushed over to him and grabbed his arm.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered as they walked together.

Kayleigh nodded, but he could see the terror in her eyes. He wished he could put his arms around her. But mostly he wished he could get her out of there.

Maybe while they were driving. Maybe he could convince Gwendolyn to release him so he could drive. Between he and Kayleigh, they would be able to overpower the lone woman.

But when they got outside, Weston saw why Gwendolyn had kept checking her phone since she’d arrived. Beau Kesler was waiting, leaning against his Range Rover.

“I have to admit, I didn’t think this would work,” he said to Gwendolyn. “I’m impressed.”

Gwendolyn shrugged. “Your attack on Dean helped make my story more believable, even though you screwed it up.”

“There will be plenty of time to kill Dean McClintock. Right now, he doesn’t matter.” Beau’s smile was slimy as he pushed off his vehicle and walked toward them. “We have the princess. That’s all we need.”

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