Page 82 of Collide

“What did you tell him?” My jaw clenched as anger reared to life in mybones. If he had been responsible for giving information that ultimately led to Theo’s death, there was no way I’d be leaving this house while he still had air in his lungs. My hands gripped the arms of the chair until my knuckles turnedwhite in anticipation of what he was about to say.

“I kept it bland, Kai, I told him stuff that was common knowledge, youknow, you owned Sapphire, you lived in a penthouse that was impenetrable.” He trailed off as nerves got the better but he was holding back on something.

Something important.

“What else, Victor?”

“Kai, please, I didn’t know what to do.”

The tears that had been building in his eyes finally slid down hischeeks as he tried to hold back a sob.

“What. Else?” I said, this time through gritted teeth. My own handswere beginning to shake with the need to reach over and smash his fucking face in until he told me the truth.

“Kai, please. I just wanted to keep my family safe,” he whimperedpathetically.

The tenuous grasp I had over my control snapped, and quick as aflash, I launched myself over the desk, knocking Victor onto the floor and gripping his throat hard.

“What did you do, Victor,” I snarled, baring my teeth.

Victor’s face turned white, and his eyes widened in fear. He hadnever been on the end of my wrath before, heard the rumors, yes, but never experienced it firsthand.

He finally let out a long sigh as the tears continued to slide down hisface. Nodding once, resignation set in. I loosened my grip on his throat so he could talk.

“After the Detective came to my office, I didn’t hear from him again soI didn’t think anything of it. It wouldn’t be the first time the Feds have taken an interest in you, Kai. I was going to tell you but I never had the opportunity.” He wasn’t looking at me when he spoke, just staring off at a space over my shoulder. Squeezing his eyes shut, he continued. “On the day Theo died, Anderson came to my house and told me to call Theo. He threatened to harm Helen if I didn’t do it.”

“What did he want you to say to Theo?”

Victor opened his eyes and looked directly at me. His whole bodyvibrated underneath me with fear.

“He wanted me to tell Theo to meet me at the docks, that I had someimportant information to share with him and not to tell you until we had discussed it.”

My blood froze in my veins.

Victor hadn’t just colluded behind my back, but he’d been the one tolure Theo to his death. I’d always wondered why Theo had gone to the docks that night, and now I knew. Someone we thought we could trust had enticed him there.

“Kai, I didn’t know he was going to kill Theo, you have to believe me,”Victor cried.

Numbness swept through me.

Theo would have arrived at the dock expecting to meet Victor only tomeet his fate. He would have had no reason to believe Victor had set him up, Victor had been in our pockets for years, hell, he’d been in my father’s pockets long before he worked for us, and he’d never,not once, given any indication that he would betray us.

I stood, leaving Victor crumpled on the floor, sobbing quietly. Myhands shook with the need to end his life, and it took all my effort to calm my raging thoughts of how to inflict as much pain on him as possible.Whether he knew Theo was going to die or not didn’t matter. He hadbeen the one to lead Theo to his death, and in my eyes, that was as bad as wielding the knife himself.

I couldn’t look at Victor for a second longer, his pathetic formwhimpering on the floor was doing nothing to calm my temper. I didn’t want to end him just yet, I still needed information from him.

Turning, I paced up and down his office for a few minutes, the onlysound echoing around the office was the occasional sniff from the piece of shit on the floor.

After a few minutes, Victor found some courage to move. Slowly, hesat up from the chair he had been lying in before getting to his feet and standing the chair back up to its original position. The gun that had been in his hand when he first came in lay untouched on the desk, but he would know better than to try and grab it. There was nothing he could do to protect himself now.

“Kai, I’m sorry,” he started, dejection heavy in his voice. “I didn’t knowhe was setting Theo up. I just wanted to protect my family.”

“You should have come to me, Victor. You knew I could havearranged for Heather and Helen to be protected.” For fuck sake, one of my legitimate business contact specialized in personal protection, it would have been piss easy to have his family protected around the clock.

“I know, Kai, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do. He said if I told youthen he wouldn’t just kill Heather, he’d…he’d rape her first. I couldn’t risk that.”

The rational part of my mind knew Victor had been stuck between arock and a hard place. But he should have come to me regardless. Instead, his actions to save his family resulted in the death of my brother.

That wouldn’t go unpunished.

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