4. Libby #2
I kept my eyes closed, drowning out their voices as they talked quietly. I didn’t need to hear their thoughts or opinions. I only wanted to forget any of this had happened.
But I didn’t have that luxury. Someone was following me, and until I figured out what Brett was so desperate to learn about me, there would be no shaking him.
With a groan, I rolled over on the couch and pushed into a sitting position.
The world tilted slightly, reminding me I hadn’t bothered to eat a thing in the past twelve hours.
Hell, I hadn’t exactly been eating regularly since Rafe died.
My diet mostly consisted of alcohol and the occasional greasy burger to cure my hangover. Not that it ever worked.
Peeling my eyes open, I sighed when I saw three brutish men staring at me. “Just so you know, a woman loves staring up at three sexy men when she opens her eyes, but you guys really need to work on the scowls.”
“Why are you here?” Jack asked, stepping forward.
“Because there’s been a man following me for the past week. So, I dug through his wallet and found out who he was. He works in that building you were scouting out.”
“And how did you happen to dig through his wallet?” Jason asked.
Was that really necessary to answer? I didn’t think so, so I shot him a look that told him to figure it out, which only earned me a muttered curse.
“How long has he been following you?” Jason asked.
“A week. He finally approached last night.”
“Did he say anything useful?”
“He knew exactly who I was and didn’t bother to hide it,” I answered, leaning back into the cushions. “He kept talking about how I didn’t deserve for a man to treat me like that.”
“He’s fishing,” Jack grunted.
“Well, no shit.” I pressed my palms to my eyes, wishing I could get a full night’s sleep. I was so fucking tired of being tired. “I played up the grieving widow and let him walk right into my trap.”
Not that I had to play any part at all. I really was grieving. I just allowed him to think that I was so devastated by Rafe’s betrayal that I wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Libby, that was fucking stupid.”
I glanced up at Jack, unwilling to argue about this right now. “You don’t happen to have any bacon, do you?”
He rolled his eyes.
“Even a slice of bread would do.”
“Order some fucking room service,” Jack told Jason. “We need a new plan.”
“Why?” Jason asked. “This doesn’t fucking change anything. We go in as planned.”
“No,” Johnny muttered. “She’s got his keycard. That changes things.”
“Only if you want a target on her fucking back,” Jason spat. “The minute we breach security with his keycard, he’ll know who did it. And if he’s been watching her for this long?—”
“We get it,” Jack cut him off. “But this is the only logical way. We’ll stash her somewhere safe.”
I pushed to my feet at that. “Excuse me? You’ll stash me somewhere? Who the fuck gives you the right to decide my future?”
“The only people left who fucking care about you,” he retorted.
The ache in my chest blossomed at his words, but I shoved it down. This was about me, and I wasn’t about to let a bunch of men walk all over me once again, taking on all the danger and leaving me behind to watch it all play out.
“Fat chance,” I snapped. “I will not be left behind while you guys go play detective.”
“He will go after you the minute he finds out he’s been compromised, Libby!”
The anger on Jack’s face was equally matched by his tone of voice. He was pissed. I got it. At one time, we had been really close. But then we went our separate ways, and the connection we once had shrunk to nearly nothing.
“That’s my decision to make. He’s already been following me. There’s not a chance in hell that he’ll discount my involvement just because his keycard wasn’t used.”
I had them, and they all knew it.
“So, why are you after him?”
They shared a look, but folded in two seconds. “He’s part of a group called the Shadow Government.”
“Of course he is,” I grumbled.
“They have their fingers in everything, pulling the strings to make things happen around the world. They were the group that essentially backed The Syndicate, keeping them functioning until…”
“Until Rafe dismantled them,” I finished.
“And we’re pretty sure Cash picked up where Rafe left off and infiltrated them. If we’re going to help him, we need to get as much intel on them as possible.”
“And why this guy? Why this building?”
Jack walked over and sat down on the couch beside me while the others sat in chairs across from us.
“Because this guy is like…Moriarty. He knows everyone. We believe he’s the guy who’s ten steps ahead, knows all the information, and connects the right people.
See, all these guys have jobs. They blend in, making them appear like they’re just another Joe on the street.
But they have to store information somewhere.
And that building is like Fort Knox. We could break in, but we’d never get out. ”
“And you were going to attempt it anyway,” I snorted.
“If we don’t get that information, this never ends. We need to know all the players.”
“Why not just take them out as you figure out who’s involved?” It might have been a stupid question, but it seemed better to chip away at them than sit back and wait for the information that might never come.
“Because…” Jack looked at his friends, then back to me.
“Because they won’t stop at killing Cash.
When Rafe took down The Syndicate, he destroyed a major operation for them.
Rafe kept himself distant from everyone because he knew anyone close to him would be retaliated against. That’s why he pushed us at Cash.
He knew he was at a turning point with The Syndicate, and he didn’t want us involved any longer.
But you were someone he couldn’t walk away from. ”
Was that supposed to make me feel better? He couldn’t walk away from me, but he could definitely keep me in the dark for the rest of my life. Wow, he was a real winner.
“So, now Cash is trying to end this because Rafe dragged him into a mess. All because of a fucking woman.”
“Watch it,” Jason snarled. His whole body tensed like he was about to pounce, all because of the sister that Rafe had given his life to rescue.
I was surprised by the visceral reaction, and that’s when I realized that something was different. I glanced at his hand and saw the ring on his left hand. That was new.
“You married her,” I whispered as the truth of the matter dawned on me.
I huffed out a laugh, unable to believe that this was happening.
Shoving to my feet, I paced the room, trying to wrap my head around all this.
“So, not only did Rafe give up everything to save his sister, but now the three of you are going to follow in his footsteps for this woman!”
“My wife,” Jason bit out. “And she’s as much a victim in this as you are.”
“Right,” I scoffed, though I knew it was true.
“She didn’t ask to be part of any of this,” Jason snapped. “You have no fucking clue what it was like for her.”
“Don’t I?” I shouted.
I remembered the pain and fear on those women’s faces as they were taken on a boat to some fucking island.
I could still feel the metal biting into my skin from days of rocking on open water as we were starved and drugged.
The only difference between me and those women was that I had an agenda. I had an out.
“Libby,” Johnny said, stepping between me and his friend.
“The point is, no one is safe. Rafe put this in motion, and until we end it, we all have fucking targets on our backs. Cash is out there, trying to finish the job Rafe started, but he won’t succeed without help.
And if they find out what he’s trying to do?—”
“We’re all fucking dead,” Jack cut in.
“There’s only one way out of this for all of us,” Johnny continued. “And that’s to take them down. That guy wasn’t watching you to judge where you stood in relation to Cash. He’s keeping an eye on you because the moment he gets the word, he’ll put a bullet in your head.”
“Or worse,” Jason muttered, scrubbing a hand along his jaw.
Sighing, I buried my face in my hands as I tried to think of where to go from here. If there truly was no way out, then I wasn’t sitting on my hands while everyone else fought the battle. That just wasn’t in me.
“Then let’s find out who’s on the list and take them out.”
“Libby—”
“No,” I snapped, facing Jack. “I will not be shoved aside again. This is my life, and I get to decide what I’m involved in. Do you get that?”
He gave a tight nod, but I could see the disappointment simmering underneath. He wanted me out of the way, and I was making his life difficult.
“Great. Then let’s figure out how to take down these fuckers.”