Page 184 of The Reluctant Hero

“And if I point at someone who’s innocent?” I try to distract him with a raised brow and get off the bed to pace. I need more distance between us. I didn’t notice he’d been sliding closer to me in tiny increments while he talked.

“Logic,” he reminds me in a sing-song voice. “That is where I reign supreme.”

The look of disbelief I give him speaks volumes. No amount of cold logic will stop him if he thinks I’m betraying the people he loves.

“In this then,” he laughingly concedes. “I won’t go out with grenades and a smile. I will gather my information and cold-bloodedly take everything they hold dear, from the penny in the driveway to their pathetic stocks. Cade will isolate them from each other, play games with their minds, and cast doubts so they destroy each other while he watches. Ace will hunt them like only a beast could. Mikael will break them into so many pieces they’ll never move again and keep them alive for the punishment to never end. We each have our methods if you trust us.”

“Trust got me arrested.” I remind him flatly.

“No, their idiocy got you arrested,” he says with a sneer. He mutters something in German and waves a hand angrily. “They are all fools because their emotions are involved. Jealousy and doubts all clouded around like wraiths.”

“And you aren’t?” I gesture at all the things he’s bought with raised brows. With emotion added to it all, this recipe is ready to explode in my face. If I can even believe they care about me.

“I’m not jealous, and I have no doubts,” he tells me flatly. “Fuck them all for all I care. I’ve gotten what I want.”

My mouth gapes as my heart stutters painfully in my chest. “And what do you want?”

“You. You’re here, wearing the things I’ve bought, enjoying the comforts I’ve given, few though they are. I can wait for the rest because I will have it. Not through force or coercion. Through us being drawn together naturally. You can see inside me to every filthy thing I’ve ever done without a struggle. You seeme. Do you know how much I’ve longed for that?”

He sounds like South. The eeriness of his voice causes goosebumps to cascade down my arms. If he tells me he has a superpower, I’ll believe it without a single argument.

“We’ve all looked for it,” he tells me with a silky smile. “A woman who can make us feel whole. And only you have provided. We all see it, and we all want it.”

“Until you don’t,” I mutter. The slowly crumbling wall of my self-defense refortifies in an instant. Gabe’s cold face. Ace unable to meet my eyes. Mikael’s rage and Cade’s disgusted scorn. I won’t forget those faces for a very long time.

“Ech,” the sound he makes expresses so much disgust even though it isn’t a word. “They can earn forgiveness. I’m only trying to help you see us clearly. Without your own wraiths floating around.”

A gentle knock gets both of our attention as someone clears their throat.

“Dinner is served.”

I roll my eyes, and Jake grins at my expression.

“Let me taste all of your food before you eat it,” he springs off the bed with his fake smile on. He picks the baton up and spins it gracefully in a way I don’t recognize before handing it to me.

“Why?” I ask him warily and take it. I’m trying not to call it Jakob again. I’m starting to suspect that it’s Jake’s full name.

“I want to milk Cade’s guilt for as long as I can. Don’t forget that he used drugged food to best a black widow. The reminder will help him see the error of his ways. To really put it in perspective for him that he’s an idiot. Gabe will feel it, too, I bet. Mik and Ace won’t care, but it will be warning enough.”

He opens the door to escort me down the long hallway. “What device have you been using to short out the cameras you’ve been passing?”

My feet stick, and my throat goes dry in an instant.

Jake continues talking, oblivious.

“It has a wide effect, and I’d like to see it. I’m curious and relentless in my pursuit of technological knowledge. Fair warning.”

“What cameras?” I whisper as my face pales. I try to act nonchalant as I catch up to him but he’s eyeing me suspiciously.

“The police station. The ones I placed in your apartment. Street cams. Gabriel’s office building. They say you totaled two vehicles during the blackout, but they have very little proof. I would say it’s an EMP, but the electricity remained on throughout. Only the cameras were affected.”

The proof would be on the hood of a vehicle. I might get jail time yet.

“I wasn’t carrying anything to shut them off,” I say, sticking to the truth without revealing anything else. His eyes narrow on me, knowing there’s more, but he drops the subject—for now.

I can’t see myself claiming it’s South’s superpower at work. He won’t believe it any more than I did.

I’m clearing the dryness from my throat when we turn right and a long table greets me with a spread of food that makes my stomach start rumbling. The rest of the crew pauses and sets their forks down as if they just got busted sneaking food. I’d laugh if seeing them didn’t make me want to turn around and leave. I can feel myself going dead in expression as well as emotion.

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