him, Kyle had seen an opening to get some firsthand knowledge.
The only problem is we don’t know how long Nathan will be gone.
It’s not like we’re guests here and can wander around and use the facilities.
The only saving grace is that Kyle’s recon had shown that there’s no one in the house. He’d suspected there’d be staff here, but it seems they’ve taken the opportunity of having no master in the house to escape too.
So, we’re making our move. Kyle breaches the security at Nathan’s estate house first, which was no easy feat. I don’t even want to know where he got the laptop he uses to get past the electronic security systems, and watching him pick the physical locks shatters any misconceptions I might have had about his being a ‘good guy’.
Now we wait, in the darkness of Nathan’s home office. Kyle spent a while shuffling through papers and digging in drawers, looking for any evidence he could find. But eventually, he just sat down in Nathan’s chair, like he was channeling his own personal Boogeyman. On the desk in front of Kyle is a handgun, the intent very clear.
“Are you sure about this?” I whisper.
Kyle’s eyes glitter in the dark and I see a flash of white as he talks. “He’s not mourning his dad, no matter what he told Emma or she told Claire. Nathan’s a workaholic. Whatever he’s there for, he’ll come to this office first when he gets back. At a minimum, just to put his laptop down, but likely to go back to work. He’s cold like that. This is our best spot.”
“I didn’t really mean ‘is there a better spot to ambush him?’ I meant ‘should we be doing this?’ in the broader sense, but I think you just gave your answer anyway.”
“You can go if you need to. I won’t hold it against you.” His voice is gruff, and though I think he believes he means the words, they’re lies. He’ll absolutely hold it against me.
Kyle is here to exact revenge for the loss of his Anna, a mission I hope I can help him recover from once he’s succeeded.
And I’m here to save my friend, the only person who’s ever been there for me and has unknowingly gotten tangled up with a man who will kill to keep his family money, traditions, and secrets.
If that means I need to get my own hands a little dirty . . . that’s a price I’m willing to pay, but maybe, just maybe, I can stop anyone from getting killed.
“I’m staying.”
Kyle
Even after sitting here for hours, there’s this sense of anticipation permeating every second, a faint tang in the air, like I can taste the justice I’m planning to serve.
It might be cold and belated, a bitter flavor at best, but it is still warranted, and I believe I’ll find just as much satisfaction as if it’d happened immediately after Anna’s death.
It’s been so much work to catch this bastard, to truly find my way out of the depths of depression and then work angles and find resources to help me get answers. Raul started the process, finally giving me a direction, even if he refused to investigate further.
But now it’s time to make Nathan pay.
I never dreamed I’d be doing it with someone else at my side, especially not a woman I care about. It complicates things, but Carly is also that important to me.
I didn’t think I’d ever care for anyone again, figured the black hole in my soul was a vacuum that’d destroy anyone who so much as got close to me.
But Carly hasn’t been destroyed.
At least not yet.
But after tonight, after she sees the truth of what I’ve become, she’ll likely run for the hills if she’s got half a brain.
And she definitely has a brain. She’s smart.
Selfishly, though, I want to keep her, this woman who has brought me back from the dead, breathed life into the cold corpse of a heart that lives in my chest. But that’s not really my decision to make, only the wish of a reawakened heart.
If she runs, I’ll let her. It’ll hurt, but I’ll live and always be thankful she bumped into me, challenged me, made me face reality when I wanted to burrow away in my anger and pity party of one.
The moment of truth arrives when lights flash over the building, and I can hear the low rumble of a garage door opening.