here alive. I guess I should be happy there is no table of torture tools, but I’m smart enough to know they can do more than enough damage to me with their bodies and hands, particularly while I’m restrained.
A noise at the door has me dropping my head loosely to my chest. I make my body go lax and take myself away to another time and place. I think of Megan’s laughing face and Wyatt’s hugs. My family is my happy place, my home. I can take whatever these guys throw at me as long as my family is safe. Once I’m free, I’ll kill them all.
The door swings open and footsteps make their way down the steps with a grace that tells me it’s Kai. Zodiac’s footsteps are much heavier, as if he feels the need to announce his presence before he even enters the room. The twins, however, move with graceful stealth.
The hood is pulled off, so I lift my head and glare at my kidnapper. Faking sleep won’t work with these guys, they aren’t rank amateurs and I refuse to ever be someone’s victim again.
“Hey, Red,” Kai grins at me like I’m sitting across a table from him at a coffee shop, not strapped to a chair after he tased me.
“Hey, asshat, to what do I owe the pleasure?” I ask, sarcasm rife in my voice, making him grin.
“I thought we could have a little chat, just the two of us,” he says casually before sitting on the floor in front of me. I swear if my legs weren’t strapped to the legs of the chair, I would have kicked the asshole in his face.
“Sure, what would you like to talk about, Kai?” I ask sweetly.
He looks at me with a grin, likely knowing, if given a chance, I’d drown him in a vat of honey. How’s that for sweet?
“How long have you known Jude and I were twins?” he asks casually.
“Like I told Jude, since the first night you came back to the apartment bloody and bruised. Well, no, that’s not entirely true, I had my suspicions then, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong until you took me to the docks.”
He nods like he expected that answer. I’m sure Jude filled him in on everything I said already.
“And who have you told?” he questions, his tone still light and even.
I snort at that. “The way I see it, anything I say right now is all just going to go in one ear and out the other. You won’t believe a damn thing I say, so what’s the point? I should have just left things alone, huh? I shouldn’t have said a damn word to Jude because my bid to save his life just cost me mine and at his own brother’s hands. Nice.”
I turn away, not wanting him to know how much that hurts.
He stands and cups my jaw, turning my face back to his. His poker face is far better than Jude’s, or maybe it’s that Jude might have some kind of feeling toward me and Kai couldn’t care less.
“Tell me who you told,” he repeats his words softly.
“I didn’t say a single word to anyone—nobody on my team, not another division head and not Zodiac. I didn’t say a single thing to anyone. Hell, I never even deviated from calling you both Reid, so I didn’t slip up. Not sure why I even bothered now. Neither of you gives a shit about me. I realize now this was all just a game to you two. Maybe you’re both right and I’m just a little girl in way over my head.” I laugh antagonistically. “But then if I’m just a little girl, what does it say about you and Jude?”
He doesn’t rise to the bait, just slips his hand around my throat and uses his thumb to stroke my pulse point.
“You told someone. Nobody but Jude and I know about his existence. Everyone who knew is dead,” he warns, his grip becoming a little tighter.
“Now that’s not true, is it, Kai? Zodiac knows about you both. It was Zodiac’s name the first shooter threw out, and the second shooter was Cancer. What the hell kind of sway do you think I have over a guy I’ve never even spoken to?”
“You’re a very resourceful girl,” he adds, letting his eyes travel to my chest, telling me exactly what he thinks my resources might be.