Page 90 of Master of Secrets

“Ouch,” he said mildly. “Give it a break, Frey.”

She shrugged. “Only because it’s time for bed. But I’ll start right back up on you tomorrow, bro. Count on it.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Good night,” she said. “I had a great time today. I’m glad you’re here. See you in the morning.”

“Good night,” I said, bemused. She and Jed walked away toward the stairs that led to their apartment on the lower level, holding hands, heads tilted close, murmuring to each other.

Ethan took Freya’s place next to me, leaning against the railing. Close enough so I could smell his scent, feel his body heat. Without thinking about it, I leaned in and touched him. His arm went around me, pulling me close to his solid warmth.

It felt so good. It felt absolutely amazing.

“I love your family,” I blurted out.

“I’m so glad.” He tilted my face up, kissed me, slowly, sensually, masterfully. “What do you say? Time for bed?”

I almost laughed at how comically perfect it was. Warm sunset colors, tenderness, kisses. Strolling through this beautiful space, hand in hand. The safe, lovely house, filled with good souls who cared about each other and had each other’s backs.

It was too damn perfect to believe it could actually be real…but I didn’t care.

I was going to try like hell to believe it anyway.

CHAPTER33

Nicole

“Hear me out, before you have me killed,” Nicole said calmly.

Her body buzzed with adrenaline, her favorite high. Nothing like having a gun barrel digging into her cheek to focus the mind, see the world with brilliant clarity.

Vincent glared at her from his wingback chair. “Why bother?” he said. “It’ll just be bullshit, anyway. Why were you even stupid enough to come back, after failing so badly, and getting yet another of our crew killed? Or was it you who killed Maynard? I know you have your little kinks, but you will have to indulge yourself on your own time, and your own dime if you work with me, you blood-drinking slut.”

Nicole widened her eyes in outrage. “No! I did not! That would be counterproductive, stupid, and messy, and I am none of those things. Ethan Masters killed Maynard! He is a brutal killer. You saw what he did to Wex Boer’s crew. And to me.”

Vincent tilted his head to the side, studying her shrewdly. “And the crushed jaw, the broken teeth? That sounds more like your style, Nicole. One of your tantrums.”

“Absolutely not,” she said briskly. “I’m a skilled professional. Killing Maynard would be a waste of a valuable resource, and would make a huge mess, too. I would never. I admit, I miscalculated when I took only Maynard with me to collect Kat Banner. But I thought she would be alone. I had no clue Ethan Masters would come down on us with a six-man crew of Unredeemables. I barely survived that experience!”

“And you’ve got nothing to show for it,” Vincent snarled.

“Oh, no,” she said. “That’s not true. I have a brand-new plan, based on brand-new information. This plan will get us everything we need, and solve every single logistical problem we have, all in the same stroke. You are going to love it, Vin.”

Vincent crossed his legs, his mouth twisting suspiciously. He gestured for her to go on. “You’re full of shit, Nicole, but I’m listening.”

“Could you have your guy take away the gun barrel?” she asked. “It’s pressing into my jawbone, and making it kind of hard for me to talk.”

Vincent made a languid gesture toward the goon with the pistol. “Keep it pointed at her,” he said, and the cold circle of metal painfully stabbed into the hollow of her cheek suddenly released its pressure.

“Well, then?” Vincent asked. “Talk. Make it quick and entertaining, or Maynard’s corpse will have company in the morgue really fucking soon.”

She covered up her rage with a serene smile. “I am proposing an amendment to our original plan, which was to compel Mick Drummond be our suicide bomber. But it’s not a perfect plan. I don’t think Drummond’s motivations will look compelling or believable after the fact. Besides, I’m afraid he might implode on us at the last minute, in a crisis of conscience. We need someone tougher.”

“Such as?”

“Well, I know we’d tossed around the idea of using Ethan Masters himself,” she said. “But his motivations are even less believable, and that works only if he gives us the functional codes to the algorithm in time, and if we’re sure we can make SmokeScreen do what we need it to do without him. But time is very tight for this scenario. Too tight, in my opinion.”

“We’ve discussed all this before, Nicole,” Vincent said. “You’re boring me.”

“Today, while collecting Kat Banner, I discovered she has a secret double life, full of violence,” she said. “And it is pure motherfucking gold for our purposes.”

Vincent’s foot jiggled with nervous energy. “Tell me more.”

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