CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Raina
A week later, I plan to make my second attempt on Connor’s life. I’ve used the past seven days to study his movements to better understand him. Beyond the man I slept with.
In a rental car, I watch the street entrance to the torture chamber. Nearly every night, Rhys and those guards I met in the alley bring one, two, sometimes three men there. Most walk in on their own. Some are dragged.
The block is so deserted that they get away with it.
But no one leaves. Not through that same entrance anyway. Or in one piece.
The bone saw.
I shudder, but remind myself that those are bad people. People who deserve to be hurt and tortured. People who have sinned against Quinlan Empire.
That’s none of my business. It could have been, but the DEA tossed me on my ass.
Every night it’s the same thing. After the kills, Connor always leaves his lair around midnight looking freshly showered and wearing a sharp suit. He gets into a Denali, and I follow him using tailing skills from my Quantico training.
He and Rhys meet at the hot nightclub Luxe. They sit at a VIP table with Rhys’s brother, Quinlan Empire’s enforcer Trace, and two other men who look like Connor.
I cataloged all these names in my head in case a prosecutor picks me up, and I have to start singing like a canary to stay out of Riker’s.
Each night Connor walks into Luxe, my stomach clenches, wondering if I’ll catch him with another woman. But he always leaves alone.
I asked Ruby if Luxe has private rooms. She didn’t know but asked around.
An embarrassing amount of relief washed through me when she told me on good authority that Luxe is a nightclub with a bar, a dance floor, and VIP balconies only.
Open balconies. The owner is a woman, too, but Ruby didn’t get the name.
The bottom line: Connor isn’t fucking anyone in there.
Despite him saying I’m his, mob bosses can’t be trusted when it comes to commitment. Plus, I don’t want to get married, so what am I keeping him alive for?
My phone rings and I curse, seeing it’s Valdrin. “Hi. I’m waiting for Connor to get home from a club. I’ve watched him for a week. I know what to do.”
“I know you do. That doesn’t mean I don’t worry he’ll hurt you,” Valdrin says, sounding uneasy.
I sit up. “If something happens to me, will Noel not inherit my father’s wealth?”
“It’s not the money he’s worried about. There are hackers to make sure he gets every dime, it’s the power.”
“He’s the kyre . Isn’t his power secure?”
Valdrin hesitates. “There’s more to the brotherhood than the kyre .”
A spike of adrenaline has me shaking. Did Valdrin just tip his hand? Is there a stronger force in play here that they haven’t told me about?
A beep on my burner phone steals my focus. Connor is on the move. I convinced an old agency contact who hates Meyers as much as I do to track Connor’s phone.
“He’s on his way home. I have to go,” I say to Valdrin.
“Good luck, zem—” he says and clears his throat. “Raina.”
The call ends, and I stare at it. What did he want to call me? And why are my ears ringing and buzzing over it?
I can’t think about that now. I drive around the block to Connor’s apartment. When I get there and see he’s a few blocks away, I leave the rental and break into the apartment again through the same window.
This time it’s even unlocked.
He’s setting a trap. But to kill me or keep me?