Chapter 50
Holden
“Igot it!” I yell from my office, jumping from my chair and running into the kitchen, where everyone is just waking up. I smell the food as soon as I enter and know Micah has already been in here. None of us could cook for shit.
Ryder looks up from his spot at the island, coffee cup midway to his mouth. “Got what?”
“I got into Viktor’s security feed at his house,” I say excitedly, slapping the printout from one of the cameras in front of him before sliding onto the stool beside him.
“No shit,” Ryder breathes, looking at the paper, then he looking at me with that signature grin. “That’s my boy.”
Does he know what that does to me when he calls me that?
Ryder slides the paper across the island where Les is standing. Her smile lights up her face. “I knew you could do it.”
I’d been working on this for days, running every program I could think of, and I still couldn’t get past his security system.
I was starting to doubt myself because I couldn’t find the stalker either, so I got up early this morning and started again.
When his live feed popped up, I almost fell out of my chair trying to get in here.
“It’s live,” I tell them. “I can see everything in real-time.”
“We never had any doubt you would get in,” Ryder says, squeezing my thigh under the island.
It still surprises me when he openly touches me, and how he kept me protectively tucked against him last night made me fall even harder for him.
I knew from the first day I loved Les, and last night cemented my feelings for Ryder.
I know he’s taking things slow with me, and I appreciate it, but I’m ready to take it to the next step. I just don’t know how to tell him.
“That is why you’re the office-dwelling mad genius,” Gage jokes, placing his hands on either side of Les’ hips, leaning in to look at the paper.
Les elbows him in the stomach, making him grunt. “I told you to quit calling him the office dweller.” It’s something he always calls me as a joke. “Besides, he’s not quite the office dweller anymore.”
Gage rubs his stomach with a frown. “No, he’s playing with the big dogs now,” Gage grins. “That fucking jab yesterday,” he says, mimicking my punch to that guy’s face. “World-class, baby.”
Dex slides onto the stool on my other side, slapping me on the back. “Perfect form, and that dude’s nose was definitely broken.”
I almost felt bad about that until I remembered the look on Leo’s face when he said it.
He looked like he was on top of the world right before that, leaning against Gage, then his face fell, and I reacted.
Besides sparring with the guys, I’ve never hit another person in my life.
I’ve been doing a lot of things I never had before, like holding a gun to a person in a threatening way.
That slimeball from the garage pulled a gun on Les, though.
I know she can handle herself, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help her.
I want to be more involved in everything they do, but I know she doesn’t want me to be.
I need to grow some balls at some point, and now feels like the right time.
Leo walks towards Les, and Gage growls, caging her back into his arms. “Back off. You hogged her all night.”
Les laughs. “Yes, he did,” she says suggestively, looking at Leo around Gage’s arm.
Gage clamps a hand over her eyes. “No sexy eyes.”
Les laughs again. “What the hell is sexy eyes?”
“Those eyes you get when you want one of us to rip your clothes off and fuck you on the closest surface,” Ryder remarks.
That’s what I want from him. I can feel my face blush at that thought.
“I don’t do that,” she says, pulling Gage's hand from her face with a grin. She knows she damn well does.
Dex snorts. “You’re doing it now.”
“I am not,” she argues, trying not to laugh.
“You’re a dirty, dirty girl,” Gage says, kissing the side of her neck.
“Would you want me any other way?” she taunts.
“Naked. Preferably very naked,” Gage jokes, stepping back from her next elbow jab.
Leo swoops in, laying his lips on hers in a kiss that heats up the kitchen.
“Fucking hell. Not in the kitchen!” Micah yells, causing them to break apart, grinning at each other.
“This isn’t your house, Micah,” Les reminds him. “I can do whatever or whoever I want in the kitchen.”
His mouth pops open. “Why would you scar me like that?”
“Like you haven’t ever done something like that,” Ryder says with a laugh, laying his arm on the back of my stool.
“Of course I have, but I don’t tell my niece about it,” Micah argues with a shudder.
“I didn’t tell you anything just now. I just simply pointed out that if I wanted to fuc….”
“Shut up,” he growls, causing the rest of us to laugh.
She grins sweetly at him. “You’re too easy.”
We all make a plate from the breakfast Micah cooked, eat, and joke around. I didn’t realize how much I wouldn’t miss sitting in my office until I actually started coming around. I thought I felt better and safer there, but now I realize it’s not the place I was in; it’s the people I’m around.
Les slides her plate to the side when she’s done. “I got news yesterday. Where are Evander and Mateo? They need to hear this too.”
“Pool house,” Micah answers, pulling out his phone and shooting off a text. “They’re on their way in.”
Ryder came into my office yesterday getting the folders, grumbling under his breath, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was, just said Les would tell us.
Once everyone is in the kitchen, Micah cleans up, and Gage retrieves the folders she asked for. I can see the seriousness written all over Ryder and Les.
“We have problems,” Les says, flips open a folder full of pictures, and spreads them out over the island.
Micah picks up one, looking closer. “Where did these come from?”
“Zane,” Ryder grits out.
“How did he get them?” Micah comments, and I can see he doesn’t like Zane either.
“I would have thought that it was him,” Les says, shuffling through the pictures and pulling several out. “Except these were in there.” She shoves them across to us, and they’re all of her and Zane when they meet.
“Is this because he has ties to you?” Evander says, putting the pieces together.
Ryder jerks a nod in answer, folding his arms on the island. “I still don’t fucking trust Zane, Il mio sole.”
“I don’t either,” she says, but I can see something like guilt flash across her face before she covers it up. “But he handed us these files for a reason.”
What is she feeling guilty about?
“To get back in your pants,” Gage remarks from sitting on the counter. “What other motive could he have?”
She rolls her eyes heavenward. “I’m not going to keep having this same conversation concerning Zane,” she says in exasperation. “We have bigger issues than that.”
“He’s right, though,” Micah agrees. “He’s been after you since he had no fucking business being after you.”
She angrily points to the folders. “Bigger issues,” she says between clenched teeth.
She pulls the other folder out, slapping it in front of him.
“Everything about us. Our businesses. Known associates. Everything is cataloged in those papers. They even have all our information. Birthdays, ages, and social security numbers. Every fucking thing, and you’re worried about Zane? ”
“He’s saving our ass. Again,” I say quietly, almost shrinking when every head turns toward me. I push my shoulders back like Ryder taught me. “He saved Les from the middle of a shootout, and he got Leo out before he died. Who cares what his motives are?”
Ryder squeezes my shoulder in support. “As much as I don’t want to admit it because I fucking hate that dick, Holden’s right.”
“This is some serious stalker shit,” Mateo says, ruffling through the pictures.
“All these pictures have Alessa in them, but it always looks like she’s looking right at the camera.
Like you are looking at the person taking them.
” He picks up one with who I assume is Ryder and Les from the heights in their gear when they go out for the Black Demon. “Except this one.”
“If he has that, what else has he seen?” Micah asks.
“I don’t think he took that one,” I comment, putting my hand out for Mateo to hand it to me. I look closer. “It looks like it was pulled from security cameras.”
“How can you tell?” Ryder says, leaning closer to look. I try to ignore his scent wafting past my nose.
I pull another one over for comparison. “See how grainy this one is?” I ask, pointing to the one with the masks, and he nods. “All the other ones are crystal clear; they are taken with state-of-the-art equipment.”
“Why would he have it, though?” Leo asks.
“That’s a good fucking question,” Les says, running her fingers through her hair. She looks at Evander and Mateo. “Might as well get this out now. I’m the Black Demon.”
That truth hits the island in front of us, and all heads turn to them for their reaction. She’s risking a lot by telling them, but I don’t think they’ll ever say anything. I don’t know why, but I immediately trusted them.
“As in the serial killer, the Black Demon?” Mateo asks with a tilt of his head.
“One in the same,” Gage says, jumping down from the counter. He stabs his finger at the mask picture. “That’s what’s going on here.”
Evander leans back in his chair. “You trust us with that information?”
“The way I see it, you will find out one way or the other. It’s better coming from me,” she shrugs. “Call me crazy, but I trust you.”
Evander nods. “That means a lot given our past. If we didn’t trust you, we wouldn’t be here. You’ve been more than generous with your protection, and we’ll help in any way we can.”
“So, back to the original question,” Ryder says, “Why does he have it? There is no way he put it together that this is you.”