Page 82 of Ruthless Keeper
I give him a look that questions his intelligence. “It’s coded to you.”
“Open it,” he emphasizes.
Curiously, I press my thumb to the scanner… and it flashes green. A click sounds as the door unlocks.
I take a step back, startled. Greyson is giving me freedom to go in and out of the apartment as I want? The scanner is two-way. If I can now use it to get in, I’m assuming I can use it to get out.
As if he can hear my thoughts, he says, “Yes, Flower. This is your home too. Now, if you go out without informing me, we’ll have an issue… but you can move around more freely. I only ask that if I’m not with you, you have one of my unit members or Max with you. Guys I can trust to protect you.”
I swallow thickly as I twist the door handle, stunned. “Yeah, okay.”
“I have one more surprise for you,” Monster says, taking my hand and leading me into his office, bringing me straight to his desk. “Well, two.”
There are two boxes on his desk. One that’s the newest iPhone model… and one that’s from anextremelyexpensive laptop brand.
“These are for you, as well,” he says. “The phone is only programmed to a couple numbers—me, my unit, and your brother. You can speak with your brother at your leisure, should you choose to, and we can communicate when I’m away. The laptop has been tapped into the greenhouse system, so you can monitor things remotely. It also has limited internet access.” Monster grips my chin, lifting my head so our gazes collide. My eyes are wide, and I’m stunned with shock. Greyson’s are soft and almost… hesitant. “Elijah’s been into both the iPhone and laptop. I have access to monitor everything you do on both… but I won’t unless I have a reason to.”
A phone and a laptop shouldn’t be a huge deal. But as a Chosen in the Nighthawks, it very much is… and I treasure the presents. I treasure that Greyson thought to give these to me, knowing that it poses some level of danger to him.
He might’ve mitigated the risk to the best of his abilities, but there’ll always be risk with technology… and he’s willing to take it.
“Thank you,” I breathe. “I… thank you.”
He smiles. “You’re very welcome, Flower.” He leans down and presses a lingering kiss to my lips.
“Now, I’ll let you fire these up. I need to go have a meeting. I’ll be back in an hour or so… and I hope you’re ready to feed me dessert.”
Chapter Thirty
Greyson
Now that I’ve found myself at something of a truce with Max, all of the animosity I have left is directed squarely at Cain. Even being in the same office as him is enough to infuriate me—the only reason I didn’t go for his throat at dinner was because I was focused on Scarlett.
Cain, however, doesn’t seem to realize that I’m imagining tearing his throat out with my bare hands. He prattles on about the operation I won’t be a part of, which is now just a couple of days away. He goes over lockdown and safety protocol for me, goes over who will be going on the op and who will be staying behind.
“Your unit will be first line of defense,” he says, nodding at me. “Max, you have the option to also stay behind, if you’d like to lend support—but I don’t think it’s necessary. I don’t foresee any break-ins, and our ground-to-air defense systems are up and running. Any aerial attacks will fail, and I doubt Luther will risk the manpower for a ground attack—especially when his forces are already somewhat divided. But, just in case, there needs to be manpower here.”
“Luther has a force of at least fifty Widowers at their headquarters at any given time, according to Eric,” I say. “You’re going in with just under three dozen men. You’ll be outnumbered.”
“Before we go in, our bombs are going in,” Cain says. “I’ll need Tobias to get into their defense system remotely and disarm it. I received the weapons that Eric promised, so we’ll have a jet drop those, wait for the explosions to kill most of the men, and then go in. We’ll also be demolishing Luther’s primary residence.”
“Be careful not to drop the bombs on any weak points in the tunnel system Scarlett told me about,” I say. “I should have a map of them for you by the end of the day—Tobias is digging through old archives and records to find them.”
“Dropping them on the tunnels might not be a bad thing—it’ll trap any men who flee there, forcing them to head towards the escape—which spits them out in the middle of the forest. We’ll have men waiting for them at the exit.” Cain nods. “I believe we’ve prepared to the best of our ability. Once we succeed, we’ll be the strongest organization of assassins in the world—unrivaled and uncontested. That will mean more money, more power, and more influence in the underworld, which will be conducive to expansion.” He glances between me and Max. “Any questions?”
Max and I both shake our heads.
“We leave in three days,” Cain says. “As for their new headquarters, we’ll bomb the place to kill off whoever was working on it. In less than a week, the Widowers will be no more, gentlemen.”
“Good,” I say. “If that’s all—”
“It isn’t.” Cain watches me carefully. “Max, you’re free to go.”
Max casts me a quick glance, arching an eyebrow, silently asking if I want him to stay. I shake my head slightly, and as soon as he exits the room, Cain opens his big mouth and starts filling the air with the infuriating sound of his voice.
“I gave you a single trial before the ritual. Have you completed your task?”
The task of getting Scarlett to fall in love with me, to ensure she’s too attached to me to everwantto leave. I don’t know that she’s in love with me yet, but I’m certain she feels something for me that’s more potent than lust—she cares about me. I think she empathizes with me.
