Chapter 3
Chapter Three
TRISTAN
My temples throb as I read over the file my head security officer sent over to me. It has a lot of details but not everything. I know Lily has been speaking with someone. I’m not sure who it is yet, but I’ll find out soon enough.
She hasn’t been using her phone to really message people. That means she’s using other apps to hide it from me. There has to be a reason. I want to know who it is. They got it traced down to a house. Well, an estate, to be precise. The property is massive and belongs to a deceased older lady.
The company I originally hired is having a challenging time figuring out who it could be inside there.
It can’t be the ghost of a dead woman, and I don’t see it being the butler.
Those are the only two names really connected to the house in the past ten years.
That’s when the head of the company requested to go out there and find out for himself. I’d told him no and left it at that.
I have someone else in mind for this job. I want this to be done correctly without a trace of anyone having been sniffing around, and maybe, if it’s bad, I can add on the killing of the person. That’s right up Killian’s alley.
Killian is a loner. He prefers to work alone even when doing government assignments. There were times that wasn’t possible, and we worked on those together. He will slip in and out, no one the wiser.
He’s offensive, and I’ve seen those who work with him against the wall. That can show you who a person is. I trust in his handling of this.
I reach out to my contact in the government to get information on how to contact him right now. They don’t ask why, which I knew would be the case. Lily’s name won’t be uttered to them ever. I might work with the government, but it doesn’t mean I fully trust them.
I smile when I make the call knowing it’s going to piss him off. Killian is a lone wolf, you could say, and I rather enjoy pissing him off. We all get our kicks somewhere. God knows I’m not getting my rocks off anywhere.
My mind goes straight to Lily, and my jaw tightens just thinking about her in that room upstairs.
The image hits low and hard, a pulse of heat I don’t want to acknowledge.
I shift in my chair, refusing to let my hand drift anywhere near the problem.
I don’t even handle it myself. This is my form of self-punishment for lusting after a girl I shouldn’t be.
I catch myself staring at her closed door, tracking her footsteps overhead, and force my eyes back to my screen.
The tension lives in my shoulders and my temples.
I don’t sleep well. I tell myself I deserve every minute of it.
It takes a few calls before Killian finally answers the phone. I made sure my name came up when I placed it.
“Fucking hell, man, I’m in the middle of a job,” he snaps out at me.
“I’ve got a job for you,” I tell him.
“I don’t need a job,” he fires right back. I knew he would. This is going to take a little work.
“Got any change?” I hear someone say on the other end of the line. Killian barks a no at them.
“Fuck you, then,” I hear the man say next, knowing I’m about to hear a crunch, and I’m not wrong. He laid a random man out. Killian is a grumpy bastard.
“Are you listening to me?” I ask dryly.
“Spit it out.” Killian cuts right to the chase. I can hear him bite into food and then spit it out.
“I need you to check out a location for me,” I tell him. “Yes, I’m fucking serious.” This time I snap back to get his full attention because that’s what this needs.
“Where?”
“Colorado.” I pause. That shouldn’t be too far, luckily.
“Are you tracking me?”
“No, should I be?” I am. I already triangulated the call.
“If you want to end up dead, sure.”
I ignore his threat. “I need you to make this a priority.”
“Are you going to give me the details or make me guess what this is about?” Glad I’m not the only asshole. Killian actually comes off as charming; it matches him and what you’d think you’d be getting from him when you see him in the flesh.
“I’m sending a file to you now that has everything you need in it, but that’s part of the problem. I don’t know who is on the other end of these messages, but I know it’s not an old lady that died months ago.”
“And why do you want to know who is at this location?”
“Does it matter?” Why is he so fucking curious all of a sudden?
“If you want me to kill them, it might.” Fair enough.
“I’m not certain. First, I need to know who it is. They have been in contact with a person close to me, and this person is trying to keep me from finding out.” I give him a little.
“Does this person close to you have information that can get out, and is this target trying to get it from her?” he asks.
“I never said this was about a female.”
“You didn’t have to.”
I take a breath. We do know some about each other. I know he grew up in the system and has no one in this world. I too have given him a bit of my life story.
“When did you start asking so many questions?” I sigh, letting him know I don’t want to touch on that, and he knows it. I suppose I can’t be too pissed that he’s needling me right back.
“Since you want me to drop what I’m doing and run off on your errand.”
“I know you just finished a job, and you know I pay well above what the government does.” Killian doesn’t need the money. This might be a sport to him.
“You’re really starting to piss me off.” I hear him pull onto the highway. I don’t want to play this game with him. Not when the most important thing in my world is at the center of this.
“Kotov,” I say his name coldly. He’s quiet for a breath before he responds.
“Send it over.”
“Already done.”
“I’ll be in touch.” The line goes dead.
I have no doubt Killian will get to the bottom of it.
All he does is work. I don’t know him to have any friends or family.
However, it is unlikely that someone in his line of work would be quick to share such personal information.
My public persona makes it impossible to conceal my connections.
Thankfully many projects I’ve worked on have hidden my involvement. That’s the way I want it.
Killian, however, was very much a lone wolf even when he was younger. I have no doubt that was a big reason he was recruited. That can also make a person very dangerous. They have nothing to lose.
I once bought into that theory. I’m not so sure anymore.
I used to be more rational and levelheaded.
Now I find myself breaking my own rules and crossing lines I never would have before Lily.
The girl that used to sweetly match her name.
Her smiles and her laughter came easily.
And I hate that I might be the reason that stopped.