“Yes. Of course I do.”

“So this tactic is simple. They’re up there and might have someone else down here with us. But what we need to do is draw them out. In the position we’re in, if you head toward the door and out of their line of sight, they’re going to try to follow you, and I’ll swoop in and snag them. Simple as that. They’re not going to shoot you. They gain absolutely nothing from shooting you. They need you alive.”

“Doesn’t sound overly simple,” Ellis mutters.

“It really can’t get much simpler. You trust me, right?”

“I do trust you, but I also am not naive enough to believe you’re not stretching the truth,” he says as he fixes me with a look. He’s so fucking cute. “Just tell it to me straight. What are you planning?”

“The gun is pointed at you. They’re going to try to scare you into complying with them, or possibly use you against Zachary. I’m going to send you inside with this man and you’re going to lock the door and not make a fucking peep. Then I’m going to convince them that if they look away from you, I’ll tell them everything.”

“But you don’t know everything,” Ellis says as the older man rushes through the door but only goes far enough that he can watch us through it, too nosy to duck for cover. “And why the fuck would you put yourself in danger?”

“The only thing I need to do is get to Arthur.”

“What if he’s back on the island?”

“Then I’ll simply go back to the island. Ellis, do you trust me?”

“I’m trying to, but it seems too hard!” he protests, sounding panicked. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want to leave you.”

“Trust me.”

“You couldn’t deal with them on the island the first time, why do you think you can now?” he asks, sounding so desperate. “Please. Just take me with you.”

“Because this time I’m not alone. You’re going to let Leland and Cassel know, and if they’re feeling overly kind today, they might even come help.”

“I don’t want to do this.”

“If you do it, I’ll let you do whatever you want to me,” I say. “You can fondle corn in front of me. Anything you want.”

Ellis gapes at me. “WHAT? I’m pretty sure you would anyway, and no, I’m not putting your life at risk for that!”

I grin at him. “Ellis. We’re going to have some fun when we get back.” I see a car pulling onto the street. “Now you don’t get a choice. Remember how I said if we were to get together, you’d have to trust me? You’d have to believe that I know what I’m doing enough to come home to you every night. Now go.”

“Fuck,” he says as he steps back. “I’ll get the others.”

“Perfect.”

“Please be careful,” he begs.

“I will be. Stay pressed against the apartment, you’ll break their line of sight.”

He nods and rushes for it, slipping through the door and disappearing with the guy who’d been watching through the window in the door. I don’t pull my gun out because I’m not interested in a gunfight… just yet. Instead, I just stand there with my hands up as the woman who I believe was named Danielle gets out of the car.

“Ummm… is this just like some cute act of heroism or something?” she asks. I hadn’t dealt with her on the island much, but from what Ellis said about her, she seemed somewhat reasonable.

“No, this is me being pissed I never got paid by Arthur.”

“I’m pretty sure Arthur wants you dead,” she says.

“He won’t when he hears what I found on Nate Stewart’s computer. Or that I have it set to be released to the public if I happen to disappear. But I’m willing to negotiate. I’m a man who loves money, after all.”

She watches me for a moment then pulls out her phone and makes a call. “Your buddy Tavish wants a word with you.”

When she hands me the phone, it’s like I can feel Arthur’s fury radiating through it.

“What now?” he growls, evidently not overly pleased to talk to me when he’s spent so much time trying to harass me. Like… clearly, I deserve to be the more annoyed one.