Page 51

He told me to sit tight, but I hadn’t realized he meant all day with no people to talk to.
With different scenarios all crowding inside my brain, each one trying to take shape to guess what’s happening, I march out the door and across the hall to Cole’s suite. The guards next to the elevator don’t stop me, so I throw the door open with a little too much force. It bangs against the opposite wall, and even though it makes me jump, I keep walking in, striding past the formal area, but skid to a stop when five men in various positions have their guns drawn and aimed right at me.
“Stand down,” Cole demands, holding his arms out with his own handgun in his left fist. He hurries toward me, giving me a look that tells me this is the last place I should be.
Well no fucking shit. Apparently, that’s the case.
Behind him, everyone relaxes, including Dempsey who was the closest to the door, and no doubt would’ve shot me first, but the other Dragons in the room would’ve followed suit right after.
My limbs feel flimsy. I place my hand over my chest, my furiously beating heart rams against my ribcage. Cole frowns. “Are you okay?”
“Jesus Christ. I just had a bunch of guys pull guns on me.”
He takes my hand and forcibly moves us to the corner of the room. “That’s because no one else is stupid enough to come in here. You’re supposed to be in your damn room.”
I lean against the wall, resting the back of my head against the flat surface with my palms open at my side, trying to calm myself down. “You haven’t given me an update all day. I have no idea what’s going on. Plus, Finn hasn’t texted me back, and I’m worried.”
Cole blows out a breath. “We’re making a plan to counter the threat right now. Don’t worry. We got this. You don’t need to be concerned.”
I fan myself. I didn’t think I’d ever know how I’d react when a gun gets pulled on me, so at least I know now that I freak the fuck out. Probably the most rational reaction I’ve had to something in my entire life. “Okay. You just have to keep me updated because my mind keeps working overtime to fill in the silence.”
He smirks. “You always were like that.”
I rub my temples. “Anything I can do?”
He gives me a dubious look. “Ha. No. The only thing I want you to do is not worry and stay in the room. It makes it easier for me to know that you’re safe so I can focus on this.”
Right. Okay. I can do that. “So, you know who it is?”
“Yeah, we know,” he snarls before glaring at me. “We’ll neutralize him, and then we can go back to normal. Okay?”
Ha. Does he really think he’s going to get away with not telling me who it is? “Who is it?”
He frowns, but when I drop my head to the side, he answers me. “Someone we went to high school with.” He shakes his head. “Dumbass thinks he’s going to take back the Crew territory and use you to get me to give it up.”
“Like as ransom? Really?” I start to laugh but snap my jaw shut. Well, that explains why someone is targeting me. Someone we went to school with would know Cole and I mean something to each other. But to be used as a ransom? That’s kind of fucked up. “Who specifically?”
“Not important. He’s about to be a past tense.”
The dead look in my brother’s eyes unnerves me. A solid plate of ice freefalls into my stomach, hardening everything. It’s one thing to understand what Cole does, it’s another to actually hear the ins and outs. “Right. Okay. What about Finn?”
He shakes his head and looks away.
The ice immediately thaws and is replaced with a roaring fire of anger. “Cole.”
He shrugs. “I sent him to do something for me.”
“Cole,” I snap again. “You’re kidding.”
He slips his gun into the back of his pants, and it’s only then that I realize we’ve been having this whole conversation while he held a firearm in his hands. “Decidedly not kidding, Leenie.”
“What the fuck?” I burst out.
He moves in closer, peeking over his shoulder briefly before glaring at me. “Calm yourself.”
My hands turn to fists at my sides. I won’t get anything out of him if I scream because he’ll just revert to the Dragon’s leader instead of my brother, but it takes an awful amount of willpower not to strike out against him. “Where is he?”
“He’s not in the Heights.”