Page 16 of Explode
“Me too, babe. Whatever you need,” Kimmy said.
“Thank you,” I replied, giving them both an appreciative smile.
“Hold up,” Graham said, scowling at me. “No offense, Riley, but Idon’t know you from Adam, and what? I’m just expected to trust you? Trust you know what you are doing, and can bring Thorne down?”
“No, I don’t,” I replied, holding his eye. “I don’t expect you to trust meinstantly, trust takes time to build. But you trusted Kai. Did he ever do you wrong?”
I waited for him to reply. The cogs whirled in his head as he ran afinger over his lip. Eventually, his shoulders slumped.
“No,” he replied begrudgingly.
“Kai trusted me to do what was right for the city, so yeah, it will taketime to build your trust, but I’m asking you to take a leap of faith and trust me, just like you trusted Kai.”
“I want to be promoted to Chief when Thorne is dealt with,” he said with no hesitation.
“Done,” I replied. I wasn’t sure if it was as simple as that, but if that’swhat it took to gain his loyalty then I’d find a way. Another subtle glance at Miles told me I had done the right thing.
“In that case, I give you my word. I’ll do what you need to bring downMax and Hendrix.”
“Thank you.”
All eyes fell on Colin. Aside from confirming he had indeed marriedKai and me, he’d kept quiet, and now my attention was on him, I realized he wasn’t quite able to meet my eye.
“Oh, yeah, sure. Whatever you need, Riley, I’ll do,” he replied, withabsolutely no conviction at all. My eyes narrowed on him, my spidey senses tingled, telling me he was in no way shape or form being truthful.
“Whatever I need?” I asked, raising a brow.
“Of course,” he replied, but still couldn’t meet my eye.
“Great, at your next council meeting I need you to steal Max’s phone,” I said cheerfully.
I didn’t. I wasn’t that stupid, I was totally winging it. But something inthe pit of my belly said maybe Miles was right, Colin couldn’t be trusted, and now I had shown my hand. If I didn’t trust him, I couldn’t let him walk out of here and risk him blabbing to Max or Hendrix.
“Oh….erm….yeah, I think I can do that,” Colin replied, lookinganywhere but at me.
I cast a look at the other three who had all turned their heads to lookat Colin. Graham looked like he had sucked on a lemon. Ernie was resisting the urge to snarl but failing miserably, and Kimmy looked like she was ten seconds away from snatching a gun from one of the armed men behind her, and blowing Colin’s brains out.
Evidently, I wasn’t alone in thinking the man couldn’t be trusted.
I met Miles’ gaze on the other side of the room, his face wascompletely unreadable. I knew what he was doing though, he was waiting for me to make a decision on what to do with Colin.
I hated to accept it, but there was only one option from here. If I didn’ttrust Colin, I couldn’t let him live. It would risk ruining every step of our plan, and we’d worked too hard to fail now. Not to mention I’d lose the trust of the other three who were watching me like hawks.
In the back of my mind, a little voice told me if I showed the slightesthint of weakness, I wouldn’t stand a hope in hell of gaining their trust to defeat the dynamic duo.
A heavy resignation settled over me. This was the weight I had tobear thanks to Kai and his enormous stupidity. Taking a deep breath, I took several steps to where Colin sat, his eyes tracked me, but he wasn’t the only one.
Miles, Ash, Travis, and Dan watched me carefully, and if I hadn’t beenfacing them, I wouldn’t have seen them place their hands on where their guns were hidden underneath their jackets. Despite not liking the idea that the fate of a man’s life was in my hands, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good to know every single person in this room had my back.
All except Colin, of course.
“Here’s the thing, Colin, I’m not sure I believe you,” I said, parking myass on the table next to him, and scowling. Now I was closer to him, I could see a light sheen of sweat coating his forehead, and his hands trembling in his lap.
Yup, this one was full of lies.
“I…I don’t know….I mean,” he said, stumbling over his words. He atleast had the good graces to look at me, but all I saw in his green eyes was guilt.
Despite everything, my heart filled with my own guilt. It had beeneasy to condemn the gang members to death, they’d all betrayed Kai by taking Hendrix’s side, but if I got this wrong, I’d be sentencing an innocent man to death, and how could I live with that?
