“You’re correct, of course,” he said, returning his attention to me. “I very much want you dead. Painfully and slowly dead. But I also enjoy some fun. Your pet CIA agent isn’t out there, is she? When she wasn’t to be found with the others I was promised she’d be missing this fun, but I just want to check.”
My gut twisted again.
Others? What did he mean by others? And if he thought Lila was with me, it meant she wasn’t part of whoever the others were. And he knew nothing about Tac.
So who were the “others”? Ronnie’s parents?
“I should be angry you made it to my door without impediment,” he said, deliberately skimming his palm up and down over Ronnie’s hip while he watched me, “but I’m actually impressed. It seems you’re not just the brainless knuckle-dragger Randolph said you were.”
That confirmed it. Randolph, AKA Rufie.
“I haven’t seen Rufie in a while,” I said, keeping my voice calm, almost indifferent, and my focus on him. If I looked at Ronnie, I’d fucking lose it. “How is he?”
A tic tugged at White’s eye. “Dead. Like you’ll be soon.”
I held his stare.
His Adam’s apple jerked up and down his throat. Ronnie didn’t move beside him.
Not even a muscle.
Ronnie had always been feisty, and she was now almost brutal when it came to close-quarters self-defense with all the training she’d been doing, alone and with me or Fluffy. This could only mean she wasn’t resisting White’s touch for a reason.
The others. She was protecting the others, which likely meant her parents. White had her parents. Fucking bastard. Why hadn’t Fluffy kept them safe? Or was he still in hospital?
Or worse?
“Where are my manners?” White chuckled, smoothing his hand farther up her side until his palm rested just below the underswell of her right breast. “Come in, Tripwire. Your family and friends are waiting.”
Stare holding mine, he pivoted Ronnie around and tapped her butt.
The world turned red.
I stayed motionless.
Tac had been very specific. Ten minutes. He needed ten minutes after I was inside.
As much as I wanted to throw myself at the bastard, I had to wait ten minutes. Besides, I was under no illusion I’d have any chance of making a move on the fucker. Tac may have dealt with the grunts outside, but I had no idea about what was going on inside.
“Come inside, Tripwire.” White smiled at me and tapped Ronnie’s butt again. “I insist.”
I was going to rip his fingers off his hand, one by one.
Stepping inside, I closed the door behind me.
Fucking hell, I hope Tac knew what he was doing.
Still holding Ronnie to his side, White strode deeper into his palatial residence.
I followed.
Two men in black suits watched me, one from the top of the staircase sweeping up the left side of the foyer, the other from what looked like an entryway into a large living area.
The sound of footsteps behind me told me a third individual had joined us.
As much as I wanted to look over my shoulder to see who it was—another grunt, no doubt—I didn’t. I kept my stare on White’s back. Kept my breathing calm and modulated.
We walked through the opulent foyer and along a short glass-walled walkway before entering a dining room bigger than the average shopping mall.