I’m ready to open the envelope when I realize something. “This fucker had to come here to deliver this. I never received a notification from the alarm. Can you check it? We need to check the cameras too. We’ll see if we caught anything.” Rowen nods while I carefully open the seal and pull out the contents. “What the actual fuck.” My thick brows pull together as I look over the photograph.
“What the fuck is that?” Rowen hisses, grabbing the photo from my hand. Shaking my head, I lean down to pick up the paper that fell out of the folder and read it as adrenaline pumps fast throughout my body.
Bring her to me, and I’ll tell you where you can find him.
What the actual fuck?!
“Look at this,” Ro says, shoving the photo at me. He takes the note as I study the photo. My fingers twitch with the need to be wrapped around the fucker’s throat. The picture is of Tate’s piece-of-shit husband, Sebastian. It’s a photo of him standing beside his car, pumping gas. The picture was taken from a distance, but there’s no doubt it’s him.
“I thought Eli was still having someone keeping tabs on him? We should know his whereabouts; we don’t need to get information from this shithead. And who the fuck is he talking about? Bringwhoto him?” Rowen sighs, running a hand through his dark hair.
He makes a good point. Months ago, Eli assured us that Sebastian would be watched. Eli said when the time was right, he’d make sure Sebastian was delivered to us so Ro and I could give him a taste of his own medicine. Something tells me that Eli failed to keep good on his promise.
With twitching fingers, I grab my phone and dial the man in question. His calm voice answers on the second ring. “King, brother, what can I do for you?”
“Hey, bro, I just wanted to check in and see if there’s been any updates or movement from Sebastian,” I say, trying to keep my voice calm, careful not to alert him. I don’t fucking trust him anymore. “Ro and I are thinking of showing up at his house tonight. He still home?” Eli had told us that he had our tech team hack into Sebastian’s home security system. He even showed us the indoor cameras, allowing us to see inside the ridiculous, oversized glass house.
There’s a long silence that tells me what I already know. Eli isn’t keeping tabs on Sebastian. “Eli, please tell me that you’ve kept tabs on that soon-to-be dead piece of shit.” His sigh fills the silence.
“We have more important things to worry about than the husband of a dead woman. She’s gone, and it’s time we focus on our business,” he says unapologetically.
I can practically feel my blood boiling in my veins. “When did you stop watching him?”
“The night of the house fire.” Her body was barely even cold when he stopped watching Sebastian. “Come home, brother. We have work to do.”
Doing my best to refrain from freaking out on him, I force out a simple, “Sure.” After hanging up, I meet Rowen’s gaze.
“What did he say?” he inquires.
“You’re right. We can’t trust Eli. We’re on our own, and we shouldn’t tell him about receiving this picture or the text.” He nods.
“Do you think we should trust this anonymous fucker? Trust that he’s a step ahead of us and knows something that we don’t?”
“Right now, we may have to. His message makes it clear that he knows something we don’t,” I say, picking up the photograph again, staring at the fucker responsible for hurting my butterfly. The bastard used to beat his wife, and because of that, I’m going to give him a taste of his own medicine.
Right now, I’ve got revenge on my mind.
Revenge will come to the man who hit his wife. And vengeance will come to all the other pieces of shit in Tate’s life that hurt her. I know that Ro, Eli, and I are also responsible for hurting her. We played a role in her death, and we will face the consequences of our actions. One way or another, I know we will.
“We need to meet with this person, and then we kill him. If we have to play his game to get close to him, then oh well, we have to do it. We’ll kill him and Sebastian. In the meantime, we need to keep this to ourselves. Don’t let Eli in on anything,” I say, earning a nod from Rowen.
“You’re right. We can’t trust him, so this stays between us. He’s worried about the fires, so let’s be the good little puppies he thinks we are and help him figure out who’s starting the fires,” he says, taking the photo from my hands and sliding it back into the envelope. “Maybe it’ll lead us closer to the faceless fuck. He’s probably involved anyway.”
Only months ago, the three of us were closer than ever; nothing and no one would’ve ever been able to come between us. And it’s all Eli’s fault.
The trust is broken. Our bond is broken.
It would take a miracle to restore it.
four
ROWEN
It’s beena week since King and I received the text and photo of Sebastian. It’s been silent ever since. As we suspected, our security system had been hacked, and the camera footage at our cabin was deleted.
We had Travis and Maverick come over that night to replace the system and ensure it would be secure. We even added more hidden cameras around our property and connected them to different servers. If the fucker returns, he won’t be able to hide. One of our many cameras will capture him.
I’ve taken it upon myself to dig yet again into Tate’s background. The faceless bastard once referred to her asLee, so I’ve been doing my due diligence and spending countless hours with Travis, digging into every piece of her background. It’s been tricky, considering she had help from her friend, Ace Jackson. He helped to erase her background and reinvent her.