Page 88 of Master of Lies

I swallowed multiple times to calm down the quiver in my throat. Now was not the time to get emotional. “I wish you’d told me all of this before.”

“The less you knew, the safer you were,” he said. “Shane got into this mess because I told him about SmokeScreen. I let him use it for Ready Line. He thought he could keep it under wraps. That it could be his and Jed’s secret weapon. That was my big shit-for-brains moment. I should have buried it long ago. It’s too powerful. It’s the fucking kiss of death, and it would be for you, too.”

“You still don’t know if Shane’s dead,” I said. “Not yet.”

I heard his sigh through the phone line. “Frey. I’m sorry.” His voice was sad.

“Don’t you tell me you’re sorry,” I said sharply. “You still don’t know, not really. So until you’re sure, don’t say it. We have to keep hope alive. Also for Holly.”

Ethan didn’t answer, and the silence from the other end of the line made me incredibly anxious. And angry. “If there’s a way to launch SmokeScreen with a dummy code, you should teach it to me,” I said. “I’m safer if I know it, right?”

“Fuck, no,” Ethan said savagely. “You’ll be safer when you’re here where you belong. I’ll send Cade and Eli to come and get you, and you will stay here with Holly, under guard, until this shit is handled. So for the last time, Frey. Where are you?”

I let out a careful breath. Damn. I just loved the guy with all my heart, but he was a huge pain in my ass. “Your help would’ve been really nice to have,” I said quietly. “But not at that cost. I’ll call you later, big brother, when I have news. Bye.”

“Frey! Don’t you dare hang up on—”

I broke the connection, turned off the phone, and pried out the battery, since I didn’t want my brother to hunt me down and start throwing his weight around. He was not beyond using physical force to compel me, as I knew already, to my cost. And I was not in the mood for any more posturing male bullshit.

Jed was enough to deal with. If I had to hear Ethan mansplain and beat his chest, my head would explode. Ethan could only be called as a desperate last resort.

Men had their uses, but sometimes they just seemed so damn limited to me. So hormonally hopped up. At least the ones in my family were, and Jed was neck and neck with Shane and Ethan when it came to being insanely protective and controlling.

I took out the smartphone I’d purchased today, to communicate with Jed, and checked it.Ping, there was his message, arriving right on time. The first message was contact info for the Drakes. The text that came after was short but sweet.

ten minutes out. love you. later.

I texted back.

love you too.

So far, so good, but damn. Pacing the floor sucked. And now I had to do it while processing this new, unwelcome information about Shane.

The dummy code, never activated. The ominous, heartbreaking silence.

Maybe I’d have been better off not knowing. Letting Ethan protect me from the truth. But that was just babying myself. Prolonging the agony. It was a bitter pill, but if my brother could swallow it, I could too.

But I would never stop looking. The Masters were stubborn as hell, even in the face of death.

CHAPTER30

Wex Boer leaned back in the passenger seat of the SUV, scratching idly at the healing scars on his jaw. He and Nicole stared intently at the small screen that monitored Grifo’s secret hideaway. Secret, hah. For a talented surgeon, the man really was staggeringly stupid sometimes. He had been in his choice of a wife, and his two simpering daughters didn’t strike Wex as the sharpest knives in the drawer, either.

Not that he was complaining. It made his task easier. Boring as shit, but easier.

They heard the sound of doorbell ring on the audio. Nicole jerked her head around, startled out of her sullen reverie. “Is that him?”

It was good to hear a little energy in her voice. Nicole had been sulking ever since that shitshow at the cabin near Kalaharee, and he was sick of it. Almost tempted to just remove her from the playing board. It made sense to reduce the number of people who got a piece of the final take. Nicole had made it clear that she expected fifty percent of the haul when they got control of SmokeScreen and the billions started rolling in. She thought it was her due, for presenting the idea, working out all the details. But none of it could have happened without his muscle, his resources, his infrastructure, his inside position at Ready Line Security. He’d served in the Rangers with Clearwater and Masters, and they had trusted him enough to work with him, even if they never did invite him into their fucking elite private club.

The Unredeemables. Affectatious assholes. Not that he’d wanted to be in their stupid-ass secret society. Dumbfucks. Thought they were better than him. Always had.

He was the real player, here, with the real power. Nicole was just a concubine who doubled as a secretary. At least, she had been before. Lately, from being a seductive-sex pot up for anything, she’d become a dead-eyed robot girl with a pallid, scabbed-up face and unsightly bruises. Boring.

Then again. She was smart, ruthless, and on a good day, beautiful. When she was in top form, she was an amazing asset. It was still too soon to eliminate her.

Wex concentrated on the screen. Grifo was rushing around inside the house, freaking out, like the powderpuff asshole he was. Grifo disappeared from the screen, and reappeared moments later, followed by Clearwater.

Nicole lifted her phone, upping the volume. “…know yet where Rachelle and the girls are staying,” Grifo said, his voice tight and thinner than usual. “Can you get the bodyguards in place tonight?”

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