“Bartolli is a threat to her.”
He wasn’t certain how Kent would react to that reasoning, considering Bartolli was also a threat to his sister Eden. And Keira’s presence could eliminate that threat.
Could he trust Kent not to hand Keira over to Bartolli to save his sister?
No.
“Actually, he’s not. Not anymore.”
There was only one way he wouldn’t be a threat to Keira anymore. Zander came to a stop.
“Already?” He didn’t want to spell it out over the phone. No matter how secure the line was.
“Yes. Last night. Eden is safe. So is Keira. From Bartolli.”
“But not from Reyes.”
“From what I gather from Zeke, while Reyes isn’t always on the right side of the law, he’s also protective of women. I doubt he’d hurt her. In fact, now that he’s free of Bartolli I don’t even know that he cares what happens to Keira. Yeah, he isn’t happy that she stole from him, but in the end he got what he wanted.”
Bartolli. Dead.
“What about any successors?”
“There’s a son, Jared. But no one knows a huge amount about him. Bartolli also had a wife, Angie. Rumor has it that she was forced into marriage with him. There was some kind of debt owed. We can only see how things pan out. So, Keira is safe. Send her to me.”
“Why?”
“Because she and Eden were once friends. Eden feels a sense of responsibility for her.”
“She endangered Eden, why isn’t she angry at her?”
“Their friendship is complicated. They met as children, both of them damaged in different ways. Eden wants us to help her. It’s why I hired you to find her. Not only because I wanted to keep Eden safe and stop Bartolli from using her, but because I remember Keira as a small, broken child too. I didn’t want Bartolli to get hold of her either.”
Zander thought it through. He didn’t have a good reason to keep Keira.
Kent didn’t hurt women. She’d be safe with him.
But still . . . he didn’t want to damn well do it.
“No.”
“No? Zander . . .”
“Kansas could be a threat. I might still need her to find this bastard.”
“Christ, you can’t use her as bait.”
No, he had no intention of using her as bait. At least not in any way that might endanger her.
His reasoning wasn’t the soundest. It was fine for him to keep her locked up, but no one else could put her in danger. God help them if they did.
What the fuck was wrong with him?
“I’m not sending her to you.”
“Jesus, fuck, you’re frustrating,” Kent told him. “Just promise me that you’re not going to put her in danger.”
“No harm will come to her while she’s with me,” he vowed.