Chapter Six #2
“I would understand the inclination, though I would try to stop you. I’m afraid Kenzie wouldn’t let me.
That’s the hardest part about having kids.
Knowing the mistakes they’re going to make and being utterly unable to stop them.
They put these tiny humans in your hands and for a while you can protect them from the world, but then they grow up and you have to realize there are some heartaches that are necessary,” Taggart said, tipping back his beer.
“I know this is going to come as a surprise to you, but my Charlie lied to me and for similar reasons. She was protecting her sister. The one who’s now happily married and thriving and has become important to my whole family.
The family that honestly doesn’t exist without her.
There were days I resented her, but it’s funny how time changes us.
How simply living and being family blurs those edges that once seemed so sharp. ”
“Kenzie has mentioned what she calls your epic love story.” He hadn’t known she was talking about her handler at the time. He thought she’d been talking about her parents, who had nothing to do with her job.
“She can be a bit over the top,” Taggart acknowledged.
“Sometimes I’m certain those two share a soul.
Kala got all the dark stuff, but the truth of the matter is people take her seriously.
Kenzie got the bubbly, happy personality that everyone marginalizes.
She also got the deep need for drama. I worry she got that from me.
I do like some drama, especially if I’m not actually involved in it. ”
“I’m trying to be drama free, sir,” he promised Taggart.
“That’s what I’m telling you. She likes some over-the-top shit.
” Taggart straightened up as a woman approached the microphone.
“Just remember a little drama can be fun. I think I should probably get back into my jacket because I’m pretty sure I’m going to get to dance with my daughter.
Maybe you should do the same. And Ben, don’t let the bad stuff keep you from finding the good stuff, but it’s okay to need some time.
I understand how you could see this as a massive betrayal.
I’ve found that the thing we need most is time and patience. ”
The woman with the microphone invited Tasha and Dare to have their first dance as a married couple.
He was going to dance with Kenzie. He was going to hold her in his arms while surrounded by her family.
Wasn’t this the life he wanted once? The life he thought he would have before Manny took it all away?
What if he pretended he was normal for a night? What if he was here to support his friend and be with his girl? What if he could fit in? It wouldn’t hurt to spend one night pretending.
Kenzie walked up, and suddenly her hand was in his. “Aren’t they the cutest?”
He wouldn’t say Dare was cute. He liked her hand in his. He threaded their fingers together. “They are definitely in love. I like your family.”
Her nose wrinkled sweetly. “I’m sure my brothers were lovely.
Don’t worry about them. They get paid to try to drive off potential suitors.
I’m serious. They used to scare off my boyfriends and Dad would give them bounties.
Travis talked a lot about his own poop. Seth would ask incredibly invasive questions and then he would write songs about the answers. ”
He didn’t want to find her whole family fascinating. He was going to suggest they take a walk when his cell buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket. Unknown. Tim used a lot of burners. “I need to take this. I’ll be right back. Don’t dance without me or I’ll be a jealous ass. I’m good at that.”
Her lips quirked up like he’d said the exact right thing. Drama. Her dad wasn’t wrong about that.
He waited until he got to the door to the ballroom to accept the call and put the phone to his ear. “Hey, Tim, what’s going on? You hear something?”
“Oh, Benjamin, I hear everything.”
Ben stopped, the silky slide of that familiar voice a snake threatening to strike.
“How the hell did you get this number, Manny?” His whole body tightened, going into survival mode at the mere sound of his voice.
A low chuckle came over the line. “I have friends who own businesses that can get any information I need. The world is so beautifully connected now, isn’t it? Or perhaps I have some of your friends on the payroll and one of them didn’t mind sharing your number.”
His gut tightened. It wasn’t the first time Manny had suggested that he was surrounded by his people. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t managed to get people into positions of power, as Kala Taggart had recently learned. “What do you want, Manny?”
He was too smart to hang up. Manny didn’t like being ignored. He tended to give Ben a reason to pay attention, and it usually cost someone their life.
He’d read the reports about how Manny had disrupted one Taggart wedding already.
“I wanted to know if you’re enjoying the wedding,” Manny said smoothly.
He forced himself to not look around for the cameras that were obviously all throughout the hotel. It would be easy for Manny to find a way in. “It’s going great. You going to send a mercenary team in to give Taggart a jolt of adrenaline?”
“Oh, I suspect that’s coming.” There was a deep chuckle in Manny’s tone. A certain arrogance Ben had studied over the years.
He didn’t know. Maybe he wasn’t in the hotel’s security system. If he was, he would know Taggart had caught his teenaged assassin and he would have asked different questions.
It would be easy to figure out Tasha Taggart was getting married. Lots of people got invitations, and Tasha had social media. Her existence hadn’t been scrubbed clean, so there was no reason she couldn’t post a million pictures.
None of which included her sisters.
How hard was that on someone like Kenzie?
“I ask again. What do you want, Manny?”
“I was lonely. I wanted to talk to my oldest friend. Is that so strange?”
“You try to kill me on a regular basis.”
“No, I don’t. I could have killed you many times now. I simply kill the things you love. Tell me, how is my sweet Kara? How is her heart?”
Ben had to take a long breath. Staying calm was of the utmost importance.
Manny was pushing buttons, trying to see which one would set him off.
Manny had tortured the woman he knew as Kara Trent.
Manny was well aware of his affection for Ms. Magenta.
He’d taunted him with it time and time again.
He had no idea that the Kara he’d tortured and damaged was Kala and not Kenzie.
“She’s fine. I don’t think your drugs work the way you think they do. ”
A chuckle, self-satisfied and arrogant, filled the miles between them.
“Oh, I suspect they work better than you realize. They still aren’t letting you in, are they?
You’re always going to be on the outside, Benjamin.
I find it incredibly ironic since I spent so much of my young life being told to be more like Benjamin.
Manny, why can’t you be charming like your friend?
Why can’t you get the girls your friend does? ”
If there was one thing he was certain of, he wasn’t responsible for Manny’s grandfather’s obsession with him. “Maybe because the girls I hung out with were smart enough to sense a predator was in their midst.”
“Oh, I’ve found for the most part women are dumb animals who are simply looking for some man to protect them.
When are you going to understand that they are only truly necessary when it comes to breeding?
Otherwise, a man’s life is far more peaceful without the bleating of those sheep.
” The casual misogyny was part of Manny’s core personality.
“Sure. Because you’re going to raise the next generation on your own. You’re going to be right in there changing diapers and feeding your young.” He used the term since any of Manny’s kids would be treated like lions, taught to take as much as they could.
Except for the girls. He would likely throw them away as useless.
Or place them in a situation where they would be trained to make him money.
“I suppose not. I guess I have to keep a few around to cook and clean, but they’re nothing to get upset over. You know she’s your weakness. The way Deanna was your weakness.”
Ah, now he understood why Manny had called.
He’d figured out things might be getting serious with the gorgeous operative.
But how? Lou and Tim had promised him the sex tape they’d made had been obliterated from the system.
Tim had ensured him that Lou had deleted everything from that mission before anyone could have downloaded the content, and then after they’d gotten everything they could, the system had self-destructed. There was no backup.
So the secret about Kara was safe, but they’d been reckless. If Manny knew…
“I think Kara can take care of herself in a way Deanna couldn’t.” He was pleased with how calm his voice was. Just the thought of Deanna and his brain replaced her still body with Kenzie’s.
No matter how she’d lied, he couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t allow her to be hurt. Couldn’t think of a world she wasn’t in.
Even if she was playing him for all she was worth.
“Yes, she can. Benjamin, how do you think I know your number?” The question was a knife made of pure suspicion meant to infect him.
“I think you own a couple of telecom companies. I never said you weren’t capable, Manny. I never said you weren’t powerful. I said you were evil.”
A long-suffering sigh came over the line.
“Such a bourgeois word. And na?ve. Every dollar, euro, yen, peso, it’s all the same.
It’s all blood money, and money is the only thing the world understands.
We’ve become overpopulated. It takes a true king of men to see it and do something about it.
I am doing what I need to do to fulfill my legacy. ”