Page 101 of Savage Ruin
He reaches out to pull me into his arms, but I hold up my hands. “I’m covered in blood. His blood.”
Yanking me into his arms, he holds me tightly. “His blood is on my hands too. You just can’t see it.” He rocks back and forth with me in his arms.
“I was an experiment,” I blurt out, telling him what Langford said to me. My voice shakes when I recount how my isolation made me the perfect target for him. “A single variable with built-in control factors.”
He smooths the hair back from my head. “Never again.” Black eyes drill into mine, and I grab onto the hope I see in them.
“Where are Mateo and Grayson?” I ask, shifting my attention to the people around us.
“Outside. Thomas didn’t want a lot of people inside,” he says, smiling wryly. “Now I know why. He didn’t want to contaminate the crime scene.”
My bra vibrates. I pull out my phone to find dozens of messages from all three of them. I slide it back. I’ll read them later. “How’s Mitch?”
“He made it, but he wouldn’t have if you hadn’t gone with Langford,” Thiago informs me. “We’ll go see him in a few days, okay?” He squeezes me tightly, then turns us toward the door. “Let’s go find Mateo and Grayson. I know they need to hold you for a while. Honestly, I’m not sure if any of us will be able to let you out of our sight any time soon.”
I glance down at Langford’s blood-soaked face one last time, then I turn my back and walk away. My days of running scared are over.
CHAPTER44
HENLEY
It took a while to get everything settled with the police. After a Chinese takeout dinner, we’re on the back patio, reflecting on the last few days.
“Out of all the scenarios I ran through my mind, Kathleen wasn’t even a possibility. We’d have missed her until it was too late. Her rage at Henley helped draw her out,” Thiago states in a voice filled with frustration. “The whole thing came down to revenge and money.”
“It’s hard to believe two months ago, I was sitting in my beautiful loft living the quiet life. Funny thing is… the only thing I miss is Marcos. Even with all the crazy car chases, shootings, and psychos, this is better than my old life. It’s real.” I can’t help but think a lot of it has to do with the men beside me. I’m not sure I would have stuck around on my own.
“I’d give anything to have a conversation with Marcos. A real one where he shares his problems, instead of him only listening to mine. I miss him,” Mateo states sadly. “Maybe if he’d have shared his problems, I’d have met Henley sooner.”
“We wouldn’t have been ready for her,” Grayson remarks with a rueful grin. “Plus, I don’t think Marcos wanted to share her. He could leave SEI behind and spend time in a world he created doing what he loved most.”
I shake my head. “I wasn’t ready, and I was too scared. Being forced to change was the only way for me to find a new way forward,” I admit with a sigh. “Speaking of forced… I was completely dreading last night, but it turned out to be eye-opening and loads of fun.”
Thiago props his elbows on his knees and leans forward. “I thought you were dreading it because of Harrison. Was there something else?”
“Yes and no,” I reply trying to think of how to explain it. “I’ve never celebrated the launch of one of my creations in public. It was nerve-wracking, but it turned out to be incredible. The launch is going great. A two percent adoption rate in the first two days means we’ve already recouped our development costs and we’re in the black. The trajectory is trending upward with exponential daily increases in licenses. If we keep up this rate, we’ll hit the fifteen percent mark easily.”
Thiago and Grayson share a surprised look.
Mateo laughs. “You should see your faces. She’s been running a multi-million-dollar business for years. It might not be entirely legitimate, but that only meant she didn’t have to worry about taxes.” He leans over to give me a kiss. “Congratulations on a successful launch.”
“Thank you. It was nice to see something I helped to create receive so much praise by the public. I never thought it would be possible.” I pause, then bring up the thoughts I’d had last night. “I’m thinking about creating a legitimate business, where I can promote the work more. But I don’t want to get rid of CJ Tech. It’s too valuable for helping people who can’t get IDs and other documentation through legal channels. It would be entirely separate, though. What do you think?”
The three of them converse silently, and I wait, with arms crossed, for them to answer.
They move in closer. Thiago sits on the coffee table in front of me and picks up my hand.
“We talked about bringing FJ Technologies into SEI, right? Why don’t you run the company? Take whatever role you want, pick the projects you want to work on, and work with SEI to promote and launch them. With you owning shares of SEI, it makes perfect sense.”
I bite my lip. “It feels weird. That’s Marcos’ baby.”
“We can change the things you don’t like,” Grayson offers. “Marcos certainly wouldn’t mind. I think he’d be honored.”
Mateo jumps in with his thoughts. “One company for you both. If you’re working on ideas from Marcos’ notebook, you can attribute the work to him. Or if they’re your ideas, you retain the credit. It merges all the pieces we’ve been discussing the last few weeks. Plus, I’d love to have you working at SEI.”
The other two nod.
“If I did, I’d want to name it something new,” I inform them.
