Page 67 of Unmask
Maddox exhaled a cloud of smoke. “You should have called and filled us in before the meeting.”
Taking the cigarette he offered, I drew in a drag. “There wasn’t enough time. I had to move fast. The longer they have Kenny, the more danger Kaylor is in.”
I passed the smoke to Mason, who took a long pull, filling his lungs. “You really think it’s the Vipers?”
“Before Kaylor, I hadn’t given the missing girls much thought, nor who was responsible,” I said, my voice low. I’d been too preoccupied with my own rage to care. “But since Kaylor, I’ve been paying more attention. We know there’s a traitor among them, and that person has a motive. They took Kenny to get to Kaylor. It’s a warning shot.”
Raine frowned, flicking his switchblade open and closed. “Her friend is a fucking message, and we’d be idiots not to read it.”
“They could’ve killed her,” Mason added, tapping the slim white stick, sending ash tumbling over the side of the railing. “But they didn’t. That’s not random.”
“No,” I said. “That’s strategy.”
Maddox held out two fingers toward his twin, signaling for the cigarette. “They’re watching Kaylor,” he said, bringing the smoke to his lips. The ember glowed orange against his face, casting harsh shadows over his angular features. “Maybe have been for weeks.”
“Scouting her,” Raine agreed. “Testing her reactions. And ours.”
Mason let out a short, dry laugh. “And they were stupid enough to take her on school grounds.”
“Bold,” Maddox corrected, expelling a puff of smoke that disappeared into the night. “Or desperate.”
“Do we have any guesses who?” Mason asked.
I finally peeled my eyes from the city and looked at them, at the ones who’d bled beside me, tortured with me, carried secretsso deep they didn’t have names anymore. “Rusty. We start with him, her father’s partner and friend.”
Raine cursed under his breath. “It’s always the friend.”
“He probably had a secret hard-on for Kaylor’s mom,” Mason said with clinical detachment, “and now he wants the daughter.”
“Don’t even fucking joke about that.”
Mason’s lips twitched. “I like this new look on you.”
A single brow shot up. “And what look would that be?”
“Jealous boyfriend,” Mason replied. “It’s a step up from the brooding asshole.”
I grimaced. “First, I’m not her boyfriend. And second, I prefer being an asshole.”
Raine glanced at me, shaking his head. “You would.”
“They think we’re fractured,” I said, getting us back on track. “That I’ve gone soft. That she’s a weak spot.”
“She is,” Mason said but not cruelly. “And you’re not soft, not where she is concerned. Anyone with eyes can see that.”
Maddox took another drag, his pale gaze fixed on something beyond the balcony. “Selling her off would be a good way to silence Kaylor without the heat of another dead body.”
He wasn’t wrong.
The image of Kaylor bound and forced into some underground trafficking ring clawed at my insides. Selling her off would silence her and punish me in the process. Clean. Cold. Strategic.
And it made my blood boil.
My fingers curled into fists at my sides, the burn of my nails digging into my palms the only thing keeping me from putting another hole in the wall.
“What’s the move?” Raine asked, tone clipped.
“Let me see that picture again,” Maddox said with the cigarette dangling between his lips as he held out his hand.
