Daddy started moving then, disguising himself against the shadowed walls. There were bodies everywhere, but he slipped past them without so much as a blink of detection.
My pulse quickened just watching him move like that—like he owned the room, the building, and the sky he stood beneath. Quiet power moved off his body in waves, and just like always, my fingertips reached for the screen, desperate to feel even anounceof the danger my daddy carried with him.
I watched as he approached the elevators, and through my headphones, I heard the telltaledingwhen the doors slid open and Daddy stepped inside. With a punch of my finger, I switched camera feeds just in time to watch Daddy’s thumb hover over the number five before he pressed it so hard, the skin beneath his nail whitened.
“Christ.” Daddy pushed his hand through his hair, a couple errants strands falling hastily from his ponytail. “You’re right, Kitten. Tonight isn’t about Ben, it’s about me.”
I loved being right… but not tonight.No.Tonight, I wanted to be wrong. “You… you think Ezra wants to kill Ben instead of you?”
Ohmygod.
I was going to throw up.
“Oh, no. Ezra has every intention in the world to kill Ben, but not here. The skills required to pull that off are ones he just doesn’t fucking have.” Daddy made a noise. “He wants to avenge his father, yeah, but he also wants me to acknowledge what he’s done. He wants me to know how close he is to winning.”
“Daddy, I—” My stomach felt precariously close to bursting, and though my fingers were poised on my keyboard, I didn’t feel so in-control anymore. “Daddy, I don’t want you to go in that room. There aren’t cameras in that room. I won’t be able to see you, and I won’t know if—”
“Sweetheart.” Daddy spun, his eyes finding mine through smudged glass and miles of camera feed. He tapped his ear with the tip of his finger. “You can hear me, baby. I’m right here, yeah?”
My throat swelled a little, but I still managed to speak. “Yes.”
“Since when does Daddy’s kitten get nervous about me approaching a target?”
Uhm...“Since the target knows you’re coming and has already cracked your scalp open once.”
“Doesn’t fucking matter. I’ve got something now I didn’t have back then.”
“Wh.. what?”
“You, Kitten.” Daddy placed a fist over his heart and rubbed it in a slow circle. “Thea was right, baby boy, you’re my something to lose,my something to live for,and I’ll be damned if your daddy doesn’t walk out of that room in one piece.”
I placed my finger where his fist was, tracing the speed of the circles he made. “Promise, Daddy? I… I really need you.”
“I need you too.”
“Right, yes.” I nodded my head and took a long breath.I have to help Daddy.“You need me to blind the surveillance feed so there’s no evidence of you getting on the elevator or entering Ezra’s room.”
“Yes, baby, I need you for that, but more so, I need you for life.”
My sideways heart started tumbling down my chest, and I shook a little as the elevator doors popped open and Daddy’s expensive shoes fell across the carpet in slow, confident steps.
“I wish he didn’t know you were coming.” I said. “I wish you could surprise him the way he did you.”
“Oh, I’m going to surprise him, sweetheart.” Daddy adjusted the sleeves of his jacket and slipped his gun from the belt of his slacks. “I don’t need a crowbar, not when the truth will hit harder.”
“The truth?”
“Ben didn’t kill Ezra’s father, baby.” Daddy paused in front of 502, and tapped his gun against the wood. “I did.”
ChapterEighteen
Elijah
Rain peltedthe roof of my car. The sharp, cutting sound was strangely reminiscent of gunfire, and with an exhale, I let that familiar, pensive sound wash over me in a wave of anticipation. Heat blasted me from all directions, warming my cheeks and my trigger finger as I held my gun in my lap—waiting.
My windshield wipers squealed with each pass they made, pushing those bullet-like raindrops towards the edges of the glass until they cascaded down my windows and made a puddle against the cracked pavement.
The soft glow of the clock on my dashboard was all I needed as I studied the rundown structure before me. Crafted of brick and forged of rubble, the circular dwelling was missing several walls and half of its roof—much like most of the buildings lining these desolate streets.