doors and fired back. When the shooter was down, I tried to get him to tell me why he was there, but all he kept saying was pussy has no place in the division, and said one of the heads had hired him to take me out,” I lie smoothly, feeling Kai’s intense stare on me. Even with how pissed I am, I’m still protecting him. Why? I have no fucking clue.
“And you believed him?” Zodiac laughs incredulously.
“He was pretty convincing with the whole gun thing, but what sealed the deal was when Cancer appeared with a gun aimed at me.”
“He could have been here for any reason,” he snaps, but I shake my head.
“You don’t go into another division head’s sector without permission, and you don’t under any circumstances go to their apartment building unannounced, brandishing a gun. If he wasn’t guilty of betraying the division, he was at least guilty of stupidity.”
“I want all copies of the footage sent to me,” he grits out, his anger palpable.
“There is only the digital copy I just sent you. I don’t keep hard copies of anything. It’s too easy for people to find,” I lie again.
“You’d better hope that’s true. I’d like to know why you deemed it your business to fit security cameras in my building without consulting me first.” He stands and walks toward me with the grace of a panther.
“I didn’t know I had to. It was a standard safety precaution, and in my defense, I didn’t know you had your own cameras installed, or I wouldn’t have bothered. Lucky for us, I did, huh, as Reid said yours had unexpectedly been switched off,” I point out. His eyes drift to the cupboard in the kitchen briefly, where I know one of his planted cameras is, before skirting away.
“And where exactly are these cameras of yours? It’s not fair to other residents for you to assume they would be happy about such an invasion of privacy without being consulted about it.”
I have to swallow down a chuckle at his fucking hypocrisy.
“Only the entry and exit points of the buildings and the stairwells.”
His shoulders relax for a moment before I add, “Oh, and outside my front door.”
His whole body goes wired then because he knows I know he’s been inside here. He doesn’t know I know about the cameras he has in here, but there is no way the camera at my door would miss his large frame.
“I want that footage too, for the entire time they’ve been installed,” he snaps, making Kai step forward, looking even more confused.
“That will take time, but I’m sure my men can do it. I’ll forward it to Reid.”
Zodiac reaches out and cups my jaw, his grip a touch too tight for comfort, but I don’t wince. “Send it directly to me.”
“If that’s what you want,” I reply evenly.
“I expect you to be at the planetarium on Saturday, no excuses.”
I nod my head, willing myself to keep my mouth shut, but I just can’t. “So that’s it? You have me tasered and tied up and then you just let me go? You haven’t even watched the clip yet. What if I’m lying?” I ask as he grips my face harder. This time he’ll leave fingerprint bruises, but I don’t care.
“I think you’re forgetting who the boss is. I made you, I can break you. You have no power here.” He seethes, his mouth against my cheek.
I don’t answer, letting him say his piece even though my heart is beating a mile a minute. It’s not with fear, though, but with anticipation.
“So fucking defiant,” he growls, licking the side of my face. I fist my hands hard so I don’t reach up and rip his face off. I see Kai out of the corner of my eye tense and step forward, but I don’t move.
Zodiac lowers his voice so only I can hear him. “It would be a shame to have to get rid of you. You might make me a decent chunk of change, but nobody is irreplaceable, and I could fetch a pretty fucking penny for you.”
“I gave you what you wanted, so if there is nothing else, I’d like to get some sleep,” I reply in a monotone voice as he loosens his hold on me and takes a step back.
He moves so fast I don’t have time to react as the back of his hand collides with the side of my face, making my head whip around so hard my