Four quadrants laid before me, each of them displaying the live feed of a different camera. They were positioned in a strategic type of way, allowing the hotel’s security (and me) to watch the ballroom from different vantage points.
I’d already spent two days studying the way their cameras worked, and what I could do to their digital framework to enhance them enough that I could run facial recognition against the feed they projected. Unfortunately for Ezra, but fortunately for the rest of us, The Regency was part of a million-dollar corporation, and the security system they invested in consisted of top dollar, high-quality equipment that made my job a little bit easier and a lot more fun.
Daddy didn’t reply to my warning, but the short, acknowledging glance he gave the camera nearest to him was all the answer I needed.
“So, now we wait?”
Toby’s eyes trailed across my screen, his eyebrows sloped low as if he was trying to make sense of all he was looking at. His shaky hand still toyed with the keyboard I’d given him, and for all the ways I’d compared him to Thea, I’d started to think he was a little like me too.
Toby made sounds for the same reason I scratched my skin—to assuage anxiety and release the bad stuff tapping at our insides.
“Do we really think Ezra’s just going to waltz into the ballroom and attempt to murder a man with hundreds of people and the press as a witness?” Toby glanced at me. “Ezra isn’t that dumb, is he?”
No.
Ezra was angry, but he wasn’t dumb.Not really.With a digital cloak and rage as his partner, Ezra had disguised himself from me long enough to devise a plan. During that time, he’d acted in such a deliberate, precarious way, that we’d all assumed he didn’t know Mr. Thomas was a mob boss.
Ezra wasn’tdumb. He was desperate… and that was far more dangerous.
“But…” Toby flapped a hand at my screen. “Ezra checked in to The Regency under Hugh Laughton’s name!”
“That wasn’t dumb, Toby. Ezra is sending my Daddy a message. He knows we’ve figured out he’s the ghost, and he wants us to know exactly where to find him.”
Room 502
With possession of Hugh’s ID, Ezra checked into The Regency just after ten that morning. He held a single bag in his hand and wore his hood low on his forehead. The fabric swept the top of his dark eyebrows, concealing his sharp, manic gaze as it tracked over the shiny floor of the lobby, as if Daddy was going to materialize into thin air and shoot him where he stood.
Ezra’s room was in a narrow, quiet hallway, purposely situated between the stairwell and elevator bank. With a simple, thirty-degree tilt, I could adjust the fifth floor’s camera to monitor the door he remained hidden behind. The handle hadn’t so much asmovedin eight hours, and I was beginning to wonder if Ezra’s plan was a little more convoluted than we’d originally thought.
Toby made a noise. “So, Ezra is just expecting Benji to take a quick ride up the elevator and knock on his door?”
“I…”wasn’t sure.
Ivan seemed to believe Ezra was using the benefit for a show of authority… but I didn’t think so.
Ezra hadn’t challenged anyone for dominance—he’ddisguisedhimself just enough to glide below the radar of detection. He wasn’t looking to command the situation or reign power over Mr. Thomas in a heinous, public way.
Quiet revenge is what Ezra sought… because it wasn’t clout that mattered.
It was family.
Oh…
“Uhm, Daddy?” He was standing along the outer edges of the ballroom, hands folded across his chest while his eyes studied the faces of everyone who passed by him. “Can you hear me, Daddy?”
He swept his thumb across his mouth, darting his gaze to the camera over his shoulder. “I can hear you, Kitten. Are you okay?”
Well…“I’m a little itchy, Daddy, and I think I might throw up because I love you so much but that’s not what I wanted to say.”
A breath left me, and I reached for my forearm, but the minute my nails touched the surface, I yanked it away.
Do not hurt my baby.
“Daddy, I don’t think Ezra’s here for Mr. Thomas. I… I think he’s here for you.”
Daddy’s shoulders stiffened, but the movement was so quick and so subtle that nobody who didn’t spend hours with their cheek pillowed against them would’ve noticed.
“It just… it doesn’t make sense, Daddy. Ezra never cared about public perception before. I don’t think he’s looking for credit or clout. He’s only looking for revenge, and if all he wants is to see Mr. Thomas dead, then he’s not going to do it here. Not anymore. He’s not an experienced killer, and there are way too many factors to consider.”