Page 92 of Rooster

"I don't know how long he's going to pretend to be me," I begin. "But he won't get a super flashy room because he has to know that won't impress Morgan. It's not something I would do, and he's egotistical enough to see just how long he can manipulate her into believing he's me. The more he can get her to do as me, the worse things are, and that's exactly the kind of goal he'd set."

A grumble of rage echoes around the room from the guys, and as grateful as I am for the solidarity, it doesn't help the situation that Morgan is in at all.

I feel completely helpless, and that would also be part of Henry's plan. I don't think I've ever hated him more than I do in this moment and that's saying a lot because the man has made it his life's mission to ruin mine.

"We'll find him," Wren assures me. "I'll let you know the second I find something. I'm running facial recognition across the city. It takes time, as you know, but we'll catch up to him eventually."

"I appreciate your help in this," I say, and a second later, the line goes dead.

"No one else finds that rude?" Bandera asks. "Just hanging up like that?"

"He's an IT guy," I say with a shrug. "No sense in wasting time on pleasantries."

Bandera shrugs as he shifts his weight in his chair. "I just fucking hate sitting here doing nothing."

"All part of the job," Heathen says, and I know he doesn't mean anything negative about it.

If anything, the man is even more invested because if something happens to Morgan it will hurt his wife. Although the couple hasn't been together very long, the man is all in with that woman and would burn the world down to protect her from any form of harm, and that includes emotional pain if her friend is being hurt. Heathen is also one very practical motherfucker, and I know he knows how bad this could be when he looks up and locks eyes with me.

I swallow down the need to yell and scream and throw shit because I know it won't do any good, but I barely manage to keep my rage in check. There is no need for Henry to fuck with me at all, but he just can't stand to see people happy. The man has the ability to lie, cheat, and steal his way into a lush life, and as much as he likes living expensively and having top-notch everything, he wants to destroy my life even more.

I get a ping on one of the programs I have running, and as much as my heart races as I reach to check it out, I know better. Henry is notorious for setting up random shit just to try and throw me off base. Anger courses through me when I get a hit on him making a purchase in England.

"What is it?" Heathen asks as he leans further across the conference room table, hope filling his eyes.

"More fucking games," I mutter, clearing the notification just for another to pop up, a hotel rental in Liberia. With the second one cleared, there's a pop-up for India. "I could fucking strangle him myself."

It hits me like a ton of bricks when the fourth notification pops up for Turkey.

"He's at—"

The comm rings once again, and I connect the link to Wren.

"The Elite," we say at the same time.

The guys at the table stand and file out of the room wordlessly.

"Facial recognition picked them up on the hotel elevator,"Wren explains. "It's a little wonky, somehow only meeting ninety-six percent, but it's our best lead."

"I wouldn't put it past Henry to have had some type of plastic surgery to keep himself looking younger. That would throw the system off slightly."

"Let me know how it goes," Wren urges. "I'm going to keep working through some shit on my end so we can wrap this all up with no surprises at the end."

"Thanks for your help, but there's always going to be surprises. It's Henry, after all," I mutter.

Chapter 35

Morgan

Despite wanting to be brave and face this entire situation with my chin up, I still find it impossible to control the full-body tremor running through me.

It's a combination of fear and the freezing temp he has in the room.

Not long after realizing the man who picked me up today was Henry and not Robert, he climbed off the bed and has barely looked in my direction once since.

I get the feeling that I'm only a part of the man's endgame. I'm simply a token of some sort in whatever sibling rivalry he has with his twin. That also scares the shit out of me because I have no idea how he plans on using me to hurt Robert.

I shift my weight, but with my legs tied at the corners and my arms stretched over my head, it's damn near impossible. My shoulder aches from being trussed up the way I am, but I know better than to complain. I may be naked and splayed out on a bed with a monster in the room with me, but I know things could easily be a lot worse. Henry can hurt me in any way he wants, and there isn't much I could do to stop it from happening. It would be better for me if he just sort of forgets that I'm even here, and with the way he curled over his laptop on the small sofa in the room, I don't seem to be part of his focus at all.

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