Page 76 of Vicious Intentions

“She’s not a stupid girl, Hunter. She googled us. You know she did. That’s why she asks so many questions.”

“The recent Times article is connected to our names.” I made the statement more in passing. “We should talk to her about it.”

“Agreed,” Cristiano said casually, although I knew he was just as concerned about her as I was. However, I couldn’t read Cain’s expression.

“Did you get a text?” I asked, immediately nodding to Brock, who knew all about our time spent in purgatory at the university. While Cain might still have fond memories, I loathed having my name and the schools on the same piece of linen paper. Maybe that’s why I’d only framed my master’s degree from Yale.

“The words were like a rip-off of a stupid horror movie from the nineties?” Cain asked sardonically.

“Yeah, that one.”

“It would seem our mysterious poker player is getting bolder,” Cristiano said.

I nodded. “I want to know how he got our private numbers.”

Cain snorted. “You know that anything can be discovered for a price.”

“True enough. Let’s hope Bart has something concrete to offer us.”

Cain rubbed his eyes. “Well, I have a piece of news you’ll find interesting. Watkins isn’t behind leaking the information about the Elite and the various functions we held.”

“Then who is?” Maybe we were idiots to assume anything about the situation.

“An unknown source that had detailed information, including pictures. Although those weren’t used. I pushed the guy, but it was obvious he really didn’t know who’d sent him the information.”

“That means it could be Watkins,” I mused.

Cain shrugged. “Not his style. He has no problem accusing us out in the open.”

“Pictures?” I asked, surprised as hell that Cain wasn’t angry.

He nodded. “Yeah. In reading over the article, I found it interesting that what happened at the end was barely mentioned. Even Sage’s accident was glossed over.”

“Wait a minute. Are you thinking that whoever is doing this is holding the last card, waiting for the perfect moment to use against us?” I thought about what could possibly link us to Theodore’s death.

“I do. I also think the person or persons responsible are anticipating we’ll make a wrong move.”

I tilted my head. “Which is why we need to be careful how we handle Mr. Coplan.” The perpetrator was setting a trap, allowing us to finish our demise.

“Christ,” Cristiano huffed. “Why bother talking to him at all if we need to go easy on him?”

I rubbed my jaw and grinned. “Because there are several ways of getting information out of people without killing them.”

Cain burst into laughter. “And I thought you’d gotten soft in your old age.”

“Who’s getting old? You?”

Brock chuckled from behind us. “Yeah, he is.”

Cain shot him a nasty look. “I don’t think so.” He threw back the rest of his drink. “It’s time to take control of our little party.”

I heard a buzz and smiled as I pulled the phone into my hand. “Well. Well.”

“What did you do?”

“I threw out a bone and texted the number just to see if I could get a response. It would seem our dog is very hungry.” I held out my phone for my buddies to read.

Game on, fucker. Come get it.

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