Page 162 of Keeping Kasey
The hotel phone rings, and I jump. I’d been so mesmerized by the door that the sudden intrusion is a bucket of freezing water poured over my head.
I have half a mind to ignore it, but—as if needing to prove to myself that I don’t want to go see Logan—I pick up the phone.
“Hello?”
“You’re getting awfully comfortable with the man who spent months trying to kill you.”
I blink, replaying the words a million times in half a second.
The voice is low, undoubtedly a man’s, and I do not recognize it.
“Who is this?”
“Someone with an interest in the list you’re recovering for the Consolis.”
My stomach twists into tight knots, and I wish I’d ignored the call and gone into Logan’s room after all.
My hands grow clammy around the phone as I say, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You sure about that?”
“I’m not interested in empty threats from someone who’s too afraid to tell me who they are,” I tell him. “I’m hanging up now.”
I pull the phone from my ear, but not before hearing his next words.
“You want to know who I am?” His voice takes on a patronizing edge. “I’m someone who knowsexactlywhere you were when Consoli burned that motel to the ground.”
No.No.
There’s no way he knows about that.No oneknows about that.
Slowly, like knowingly walking to the gallows, I bring the phone back to my ear. I can’t stop myself from turning to stare at the door that leads to Logan’s room. Just like that day with Brandon, all I want is for him to burst in here and save me.
Back then, I didn’t know what Brandon was talking about.
I knowexactlywhat this man is implying.
And not even Logan can save me.
My lack of a response must amuse him because that same cold laugh comes again. “Do I have your attention?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I manage, but the words sound strangled.
I can’t breathe.
“Are you willing to risk that?”
No. No, I am not.
“What do you want?” I ask instead, but the answer is glaringly obvious.
“To get that list before Consoli does. Do that for me, and I’ll ensure no one ever finds out your little secret.”
I’m shaking. When did I start shaking?
“Why?”
“That’s none of your concern. But if you give Consoli that list, then I’ll tell everyone your secret, and you’ll spend the rest of your life on the run from almost every family in the country. Or you can give the list to me, and I’ll support you for the rest of your life. I can protect you from the men who hunted you down and made your life hell.”
