“Rogue! Rogue, what happened?”
“Jacob. Trey. Go.” He gestured toward the house.
My heart skipped a beat. “Trey is here?”
“Y-yes.”
TJ knelt by my brother. “Go. I’ll take care of him.”
I gave my brother one last glance. “Do not fucking die on me.”
I slammed the front door open. “Jacob!”
“In his room,” TJ yelled.
I took the stairs two and three at a time. My gun was already out. I’d never been more thankful that I was always armed.
28
JACOB
“How did you find me?” I asked Trey, knowing my best chance of staying alive was to keep him talking. Maybe someone would come looking for me before he killed me. I didn’t think it would be Rogue. I just prayed my friend was alive.
“I followed that fool from the FBI who was trying to ruin everything.”
“The FBI?” I pretended to be shocked.
“His colleague made me an excellent offer.”
“You agreed to work with a government agent?”
“I’ll work with anyone who can solidify my family as the new reigning force in Houston. If only you hadn’t been stupid enough to run away. I could have given you everything.”
And once he was done with me, he would have had even more resources to make me permanently disappear. At least now someone would know what happened.
But I didn’t want to die. I wanted Grant. I wanted time with him. “Why would the FBI help?”
“I shouldn’t tell you this,” Trey said, “but it’s not like you’ll be around much longer to spill our secrets. They sent this agent to infiltrate the Carlottis. He came to me still pretending to be one of them. He wanted information and said he’d betray Carlotti if my family would work with him.”
He was obviously talking about Brandon.
“The fool revealed who he really was and the contacts he had. He hadn’t been loyal to the fucking feds for years. He was selling information to men far more powerful than any government agency. Then your new boyfriend had him killed, which honestly did us a service. We had all we needed to gain power, and he was starting to get a bit… fanatical.”
“If you have what you need, why are you here?”
“I’m tying up loose ends.”
“You mean me?”
“No one walks away from me. I did my best to keep you as stupid as you were when I found you in that bar, but you have ears, and I don’t know what you’ve heard. I need to make sure you’ll never pass on my secrets.”
I had to think of a way to stall. I needed more time to think of something. Anything that could help me. “How did you know I was here?”
“Jesus, maybe you are still that stupid. I followed the other FBI asshole here, the blond one. I’ve got some of my men on his tail, but I wanted to handle you personally. It’s my gift to myself for making all my dreams come true.”
I was sure Trey was even more insane than he’d been before, and that meant he was completely unpredictable, not that he’d ever made rational choices. “I don’t know anything. I swear. I had no idea what your connections meant.”
“You think I’m going to believe you after you ran away? I told you I’d never let you leave, and I meant it.”