Chapter 13 #2
Jessup tapped his chest. “I’m keeping an eye on things, a good idea right now.
I never trusted that guy. I heard the part of the conversation about his assignment and went to get Ryan.
Your boy was telling this Mia that he was going to ‘take care of you’ when I came back.
Take care…as in kill you. What I don’t understand is why the hell would the Guard want you dead? ”
“I went to them.” The words dropped out like stones.
Both her brothers stared as if she’d grown a second nose. Finally, Jessup spoke. “I know I didn’t hear you say you went to the Guard.”
“I was desperate. I went to report Arlo’s murder.
I wanted them to look into it, hoping their investigation would prevent any more bloodshed.
” She told them about Ferro’s map and the pins.
“They know what’s going on, yet Kade’s boss dismissed me.
Soon after, Kade showed up here.” To kill her.
“He gave me some story about coming on his own to investigate because it didn’t feel right.
And I believed him. He went back to headquarters to get more information, but his boss blew him off, too. ”
Jessup sneered. “That’s what he told you.”
She pushed on, filling them in on everything that happened. “Kade and I fought her together. She would have killed him, and Kade would have killed her, too, if either had the chance. That was real.” But what about everything else?
“And you don’t think we would have helped you?” Jessup said, a growl in his voice.
“You’d help all right, going off and killing the wrong people and starting another war.
Kade is level-headed, not emotionally involved with the clans.
He could find out things on the Guard end, so I accepted his help.
If he were planning to take me out, he’s had plenty of opportunities.
” She held on to that truth. How many times had they been alone, including earlier that morning?
Jessup shook his head. “Who knows what he’s up to?”
“Except the barn wall,” Ryan said with a laugh.
Jessup gave her one of his satisfied smirks. “I grabbed the cuff off the barn wall. He wasn’t easy to take down, least ’til I got the cuff on him.” He gave Ryan a nod. “Let’s go take care of him.”
The two turned to the front door. She ran after them, knowing what that meant. But was it the same way Kade had meant it? “I’m coming, too. Let me talk to him.”
“No way, little sis. He’ll give you some story, and you’ll be all, Oh, please, don’t kill him.”
She grabbed Jessup’s arm, halting him. “I brought him into this, and I’ll deal with him. I’m not going to be swayed by anything but the truth.” If she could tell the difference.
They both gave her a skeptical look, and a grunt that meant they weren’t agreeing but they weren’t disagreeing. For now.
“Have you talked to him yet?” she asked as they continued through the woods.
“No, he was out cold. Dragon foot connecting with human head equals a KO. It always amazes me how heavy dead weight is.”
“But…he’s alive?”
Again, why should she care, when he’d come here to kill her? I only want answers.
“At the moment.”
This time Kade wasn’t stripped down. He wore jeans and a blindfold. He turned to them as they approached.
“What, you decided to spare him the underwear humiliation?” she asked Jessup.
“Didn’t have any on.” He gave her a derisive look. “Do I want to know what happened to ’em?”
Kade said, “Look, we don’t have time to discuss my underwear. We—”
“You sure damned don’t,” Jessup said.
Violet slapped his arm and mouthed, I’m handling this.
She stepped up onto the stool so she was face-to-face with him.
“Kade, I told them the truth about how we met.” She lifted his blindfold, looking into his green eyes, thinking of how he’d shared his ambitions and how he’d sold his soul for the Guard.
Was he that good an actor? “Now it’s time for you to tell me the truth about why you came here. ”
A red mark marred the side of his face. He released a breath of surrender. “After you left headquarters, Ferro ordered me to take you out.”
“To kill me?” Her voice quivered.
“Yes.”
“That’s why you came here. To carry out that order. Then I caught you, and you had to come up with a story. Is that what everything you’ve said has been about? Maneuvering me into being…comfortable with you.” She wouldn’t say in love. Not here, not ever.
“No.” He held her gaze, dark mist swirling in his eyes, then shifted his gaze beyond her. “Didn’t you overhear the part about the assignment not feeling right from the beginning? That I was going with my gut?”
Jessup crossed his arms over his chest. “Nope.”
“Convenient,” Kade muttered. To her he said, “I questioned the order, even though we’re not supposed to. I was told that you were connected to the murders.”
She nearly choked at that. “Me? Behind the murders?”
“Now that I know you, it’s preposterous.
Until yesterday, I only knew you as a Fringe hellcat.
I came here to complete my assignment. You were sobbing, and my gut screamed that you weren’t responsible.
I’ve never hesitated on a mission, never second-guessed my superior.
So, I stood there like an idiot, and you reared up and kicked my ass. ”
She glanced back at her brothers, who were listening to every word. About the sobbing. But at least about the kicking ass part, too. She turned to Kade again. “You’re as dedicated a Vega as they come. I’m supposed to believe that the sight of me crying made you disobey a command?”
“No, that made me see you as more than a crazy-assed Fringer. You were human…and vulnerable. The only thing I lied about was why I’d come in the first place.
The more we talked, the more things sounded wrong about this whole situation, which corroborated my instinct.
I’ve been putting off my boss with excuses while trying to figure this out. Now Ferro’s dragged my sister into it.”
“You never told her about your father?”
Kade shook his head. “I tried to protect her from that whole mess. Ferro is insinuating to Mia that I’m losing my head over a woman the same way he did.”
“But you’re not.” Thank gods it hadn’t come out as a question.
“Vee—”
“Violet. You don’t get to call me Vee.”
He released another breath. “Violet, I’ve never lost my head over a woman. But you…you—”
“All right, that’s enough,” Jessup said, yanking her off the stepstool.
She pulled her arm away from him. “Let him finish.”
“What, so he can tell you how special you are, beautiful, or whatever other line he’s got in his arsenal? I can already see the flames flickering in your eyes. The man was going to execute you.”
“I do not have flickers in my eyes over him.” She blinked just in case.
Kade said, “Vee—Violet, you can hate me all you want, but right now we’re in big trouble.
The Carnelian must have reported to Ferro that we were fighting together.
Mia is going to have to tell Ferro that I still haven’t completed my mission.
Ferro is going to send someone else to, as Mia quoted him, ‘remedy the situation.’ That means finishing you.
I don’t know how high this goes, so I can’t risk going over his head.
What I can do is make sure you’re safe.”
Jessup asked, “Is that what ‘taking care of her’ was supposed to mean?”
Kade seemed to run his conversation through his mind. “Yeah, exactly.”
Jessup stepped in front of Violet. “We’ll take care of her. After all, sounds like we’ll be protecting her from a trained killer like you. If someone’s coming for her, we’ll take him out at first sight. Or her, if they send your sister.”
Fear tightened Kade’s face. “If she comes here, it’ll be to try to talk sense into me. She’s not a killer. Don’t hurt her.”
She could tell Kade was not a man used to asking for mercy.
He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment.
His voice was low when he said, “When my replacement comes, his assignment will be to kill me, too. Ferro can’t afford to have me investigating and questioning him.
If you leave me here like this, I’ll die.
” He looked at all of them. “I can help keep Violet safe.” He met her gaze.
“You figured out there was something going on, and you unfortunately brought your suspicions right to the man behind it.”
“Why would some Guard dude want to start a war in the Fringe?” Ryan asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Kade said. “It’s a lot easier for me to believe that Violet is some crazed psycho bitch than to suspect my superior is setting up a war.
It goes against everything I believe in, everything I’ve worked most of my life for.
” She saw the truth in that, at least. Unless he was a consummate actor, this was tearing him apart.
Vegas are trained to be spies and go undercover. Everything he’s told you could be part of a plan. And if you believe him, you could not only put yourself at risk but everyone you love.
She turned away, doubt tearing at her. There was the Kade who’d shared his ache at not believing in his father. Who had made sexy and tender love to her. Then there was the Vega Kade. Her brothers were right, damn it. She couldn’t trust her judgment where Kade was concerned.
Behind her, Jessup said, “When your Vega buddy comes, we’ll see what he does. If he tries to kill you, we may intervene. If he tries to rescue you, we’ll take care of you both.”