Page 80 of Explode
I wasn’t expecting to find Miles waiting to greet us at the airfield whenwe landed. If I was hoping my cousin was here to welcome us back with open arms, I was sorely mistaken. I took one look at his face and knew something was wrong. Riley too, her face contorted from a sneer at seeing him into one of concern.
“What’s happened?” I said as soon as I walked down the stairs off theplane to meet him, Riley and Ash following behind me.
He glanced from me to Riley before sighing. “Hendrix has takenKimmy in retaliation for us killing Alex.”
“What?” Riley cried, stepping up to my side.
Fuck.
There was always going to be the risk Hendrix would retaliate onceRiley indicated she was the one behind the murders of his men. Kimmy would have been an easy target seeing as she was still working in Sapphire. Hendrix would have known the second Riley got wind he had Kimmy, she would want to help her, just like she had done when he threatened her friend Kendra.
“When?” I said, my fists clenching. I liked Kimmy, she wasn’t just agood employee, but she was a friend. A loyal one at that to both me and Riley.
“The night you guys flew to Florida. It took some time for the intelto reach us, we only found out a few hours ago. And that’s not the worst of it,” Miles growled, his own wrath evident. “He’s claimed the only way he’ll let her go is if Riley hands herself over, and for every day that passes and she doesn’t,” he hesitated, before briefly closing his eyes, “he’ll beat and rape Kimmy.”
My lips curled into a snarl.
I fucking despised rapists.
Riley gasped, and her hand flew to her mouth. “We have to dosomething,” she said, looking between Miles and me.
Talk about deja fucking vu. It was the whole Jacqueline scenarioagain, and much like Jacqueline had been collateral damage in the war, sadly Kimmy would be too, not that Riley would take it lying down.
“We will,” I turned to her, and pulled her into my arms before meetingMiles’ hardened gaze. “Do you know where he’s keeping her?”
“No. I’m pretty sure she’ll be in the basement, but it’s not confirmed.We’re working on it though.”
I ground my teeth, thinking. Like everything that belonged to me,Hendrix had claimed my penthouse for himself and had been living there, guarded around the clock by Stags. Miles had been trying to hack the security system he’d put in place, an upgrade on the system I already had installed, but so far, he hadn’t been able to.
Of course it was never going to be as fucking simple as walking intomyhome and killing the cunt, a problem we would face when the time came to deal with my former 2IC.
But for now, Hendrix had access to the cell in the basement where I’donce kept my prisoners until the time came to deal with them. It was the most obvious place to keep Kimmy, especially if we couldn’t bypass the security system. Not to mention the entire apartment building was surrounded twenty-four-seven by armed Stags. Hendrix was taking his security very seriously, he’d want to make sure he was a step ahead of any plan Riley and Miles came up with.
Thoughts span a million miles an hour before I came to myconclusion. “Keep working on it. Until then, the plan doesn’t change.”
“Kai, you can’t be serious!” She pulled back, glowering at me withtear-filled angry eyes. “We can’t leave Kimmy to be beaten and raped!”
“Believe me, baby, the thought doesn’t sit well with me either,” I said,hating that I was condemning Kimmy to the abuse Hendrix was threatening, but until we got further intel on where she was being kept, and until we figured a way to get into the building, there was no other option. “But our hands are tied.”
“No, they’re not,” Riley said, determination set on her face, and Ifucking knew what she was going to say before she even opened her mouth. “I can hand myself in to him.”
“No,” both Miles and I said at the same time.
“Kai-”
“No, Riley. It’s not happening. Not a fucking chance in hell. We stickto the plan. The pair of cunts have been two steps ahead of us this entire time, but we have the upper hand, and if we react without a plan, then we risk losing everything, and we’ve come too fucking far to lose now.”
She scowled at me, but as if to prove my point on the plane abouthow far she’d come with making difficult decisions, she sighed heavily and nodded her head in agreement.
“Fine,” she replied, resignation in her tone. “But we need to move thetimeline up. Deal with Thorne now, and then focus on Hendrix. I can’t bear the thought of him hurting Kimmy.”
Pulling her into my arms once again, I kissed the top of her head.“That we can do. Now we know the truth about Thorne, and I havethe proof the fucker really isn’t my brother, it’s game on. The cunt dies tonight.”
“You do?” Riley said, pulling back to look up at me.
“Yeah, the DNA results came through last night. That’s what I wasreading when you came to my room.”
“Oh,” she replied, her cheeks blushing when Ash snorted behind me.
