the computer. He didn’t have many cameras within the house but he was curious now.
He’d hacked, or at least gotten one of his friends to hack into his home’s security to keep an eye on things. He didn’t have sound, which fucking sucked.
Squeezing the ball within his hand, he wondered who the girl was. He hadn’t gotten a good look at her but at least it wasn’t Tamsin. Nope, his sister was safe away from all of this.
Picking up his glass of whiskey, he took a sip.
“Should you really be drinking?” Jade Castillo asked. She came in with a tray carrying his dinner, which she put down beside the laptop.
“You’re not the boss of me.”
“No, but the last time you drank, I had to drag you all the way upstairs and it wasn’t nice. You complained of bruises for days. Now, stop drinking.” She took the glass from him. “And eat up.”
She disappeared out of the office and went back to the kitchen.
The place he’d been able to hide away in wasn’t found on any map. This was an old hunting lodge. It had been abandoned for years as it opened up into a giant forest, and a lot of new buyers didn’t want to deal with the environmental nightmare considering there was so much natural wildlife about.
He’d been here for a couple of months, and when the time came to move, he’d take Jade with him.
He had another problem. It was easier to move around without her, but he couldn’t leave her behind, not when she’d been the one to help him cause so much destruction. As she told him, women in their line of work were seen, not heard, but that didn’t mean they didn’t hear anything.
She heard a great deal, and seeing as men didn’t care what women heard, she’d given him a lot of information. The only condition of her helping him was that he had to make sure she never returned to the Castillo home again. She didn’t want to get married. She wished to live a life of her own, and well, he didn’t see a reason not to piss off his family by fucking with them.
He smiled and watched as she started to eat, sitting opposite him.
All of her fingers were perfectly intact. In a strange way, he and his supposed future fiancée were friends.
“So, what’s your plan?” Jade asked.
“I don’t have a plan. I’m curious about the woman they dragged into the house. Uncle Rick isn’t the kind of guy to pull unwilling women off the street.”
“Maybe it’s a trap for you.”
“I’ll see it coming. Besides, they don’t have a clue where I am. I bet that’s pissing them off.”
“Probably. I bet my parents are going crazy. I wish I could see their faces.”
“I wish I could show you.” He laughed. “So, tell me, how was your day?”
“Fine. I didn’t leave the gates, though. I had hoped to go shopping. We’re running low on groceries and the veg garden I found out back isn’t going to last us much longer. I took the last of the tomatoes today.”
“I’ll head out tomorrow. You want to dress up? Go in plain sight?”
“Do you think it’s wise with whatever they’ve got cooking?”
“I know my brothers. They won’t hurt that girl and when it happens, whatever their plan is, I’ll be ready.”
“You always sound so confident,” she said. “You’re not afraid.”
“I don’t have the time or luxury to be afraid.”
“You never answer this, but I’m going to keep on asking. Are you wanting to kill your brothers? Is that why you’re always watching them?”
“Kill them? No. My father has a bounty out on my head. I killed him and until I can find that man, there’s no way I’m going home. You know this. Is there any other resource that can help me?”
“I gave you everything. I don’t know what else to suggest. You know, at times it feels like we’re in our own little world here, I get to talk and to do my own thing. It’s easy to forget about the old life. Being married off, and you having a death sentence hanging over your head. It doesn’t bother you?”
“No. I’ve got nothing left to live for, Jade. I told you.”
“What about your sister?”
“She’s safe and far away from any danger. I did what I had to do to keep us both alive. I’m not your savior, Jade. I was going to kill you, remember? I had every intention of slitting your throat. I’ve