Page 78 of Dollhouse

When Tate found out he was cleared, I didn’t miss the look on her face. She was angry but wasn’t surprised that he was cleared. Her plan for him to be charged with her murder failed.

The further I research her background, the more I realize she is hiding something, there are still many parts of her story that’s left to uncover. And just like everyone else, I had my security team check her background too. That’s how I knew about the suspicious fire that killed her foster family.

Ace must’ve been the one to cover it up. It was hidden well, but not well enough because my team was able to uncover it.

I’ve seen his work, I know he’s capable of deleting someone from existence, he did it to himself. So, why not do it for Tate? Why leave just enough crumbs to be followed?

Closing my laptop, I stand from my desk and gather my belongings to leave for the night. It’s nine at night now, and I still have an hour drive ahead of me to get back to our secluded cabin, and I’m not going to get the answers I need here staring at my screen. I need answers, and there’s only one person who can provide those answers, and she’s sitting in my house right now.

Having to drive two hours round trip is yet another inconvenience of having Tate around. It keeps her safe, but it isn’t as convenient as our penthouse in the city is.

With an eyeroll of annoyance, I take the elevator down to the parking garage. The building is empty, all my staff have left hours ago. I do my best to let them leave early and get home to their families at a decent hour.

I am halfway to my car when my phone chimes with a text message. While continuing to walk, I open the text, a smirk finding my lips as I read it.

Unknown:You have twenty-four hours to deliver what’s mine. Time is ticking.

Slidingbehind the driver seat of my custom blacked out bulletproof Range Rover, I bring the engine to life and speed out of the garage, hitting a few buttons on my steering wheel to call King on my Bluetooth.

“Hey man, what’s up?” he answers on the first ring.

“I just got a text from that unknown number. Whoever the fuck it is, they’re giving us twenty-four hours to turn over Tate.”

“Over my dead fucking body. We’re not letting her go anywhere.” I am silent. “Right?” He pushes, picking up on my silence and instantly his alerts are high.

“We can’t be distracted, King. We’re spending too much time on her, and there’s still too many questions that we need answers to.”

“We’re not fucking distracted. This became our fight when they fucking ambushed us, and now the attack at Bella’s. We have to fight back, but I’m not going to lose her in the process because you’re too fucked up to realize she could be an asset.”

“How exactly can she be an asset to us?”

“You didn’t see the look in her eyes when she watched me kill Joseph. My little butterfly is as bloodthirsty as the rest of us. She can fucking help us. You don’t need to treat her like some little damsel in distress.” His words make me pause. I’d never thought of her being an asset for us. I labeled her as a liability, and that was final.

Sighing, I rake my fingers through my hair, scratching my scalp. “We’ll use her as bait to find out who the fuck is behind this. She can lead us directly to the person or persons responsible, and we will kill anyone involved.”

It’s his turn to sigh, clearly, he doesn’t like the idea of his precious butterfly being used as bait to lure out the fucker hiding in the shadows, but this is one way she can be useful and prove herself.

And we need her to be useful, especially now considering it’s her life on the line.

Do I trust her? I’m not certain yet. She’s keeping secrets, secrets that I intend to learn very quickly.

“Eli wants to use Tate as bait to lure whoever’s behind this into a trap. He got a text telling him that we have twenty-four hours to turn her over,” I tell Rowen immediately after I end the call with Eli.

I run my fingers through my beard, pacing back and forth in the living room.

Tate went to sleep about an hour ago, so it’s only Rowen and I still up, waiting for Eli to get home.

“What the fuck?!” he roars, and I shove him in the shoulder.

“Shut the fuck up, she’s sleeping. Do you really want her to hear this?”

“He thinks that she’s a distraction. I think he’s planning something behind our backs.”

“What do you mean? What the fuck could he be planning?”

“I don’t know, man, but something’s up. You know what happened to Stephanie.” He covers his face with his hands. “He fucked someone before he met us at Bella’s. He came from the office, so it was probably Elena.”

My blood is boiling at all the information he’s revealing. There’s no way in hell I am going to let anything bad happen to my butterfly. If anyone is going to hurt her or make her bleed, it’s going to be me.

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