Page 147 of Stand: Part One

“Maybe. But it doesn’t make sense for him to goad me into coming here when he had no guarantee I would have even brought her with me.”

“Maybe he assumed you would bring her to the charity gala.”

Another maybe.

“Unless he found out later that she was here and took the opportunity. We arrived yesterday, so there would have been plenty of time to plan something,” he suggested.

“Opportunity to do what, exactly?” I pressed, crossing my arms as I walked about the trashed room in thought. “They didn’t take her or kill her, so what other advantage could she possibly give Matt that’s worth the risk or effort? She doesn’t know anything, and he knows this.”

Scott shrugged. “Who knows? He’s threatened Jaden before. Maybe he’s the one who sent the Armenians just to fuck with you. Or maybe they were supposed to kill her and failed.”

“Now that I could believe. But barely.” The reasoning still wasn’t strong enough to justify the risk of almost certain failure. Almost. “The same person who left me that message in Porto Rotondo has left me another, and it wasn’t just a coincidence. They had a hand in this.” I nodded to all the destruction around us.

“You think they’re working with Matt?”

My eyes glanced around the room, noticing all the shattered glass, broken furniture, and numerous bloodstains all over the place. The timing was too well planned not to be a collaboration.

I still had yet to determine the identity of this new enemy, my investigation in Vegas leading me absolutely nowhere. But I’d been too busy with other endeavors like two wars and a dead brother to avenge to give it any more attention than I could afford to.

My list of enemies was indefinite, and people added themselves to the list without me ever even knowing. But that was the nature of this business. You never really knew who you were going to inadvertently piss off.

“I don’t know, but they certainly aren’t working alone. Could be Matt, could be Miguel. Could be both for all I know.”

Scott cursed under his breath as he rolled his shoulders. “The enemy of my enemy bullshit…”

I sighed in agreement as I ran my hands through my hair.

“Whatever the reason, the purpose of tonight was clear. They wanted to get to Jaden, and they did,” I stated, my mind racing in far too many directions. “Whether or not they left empty-handed is another story we’ll have to sort out later. But right now, I need to take care of my wife.”

Scott nodded as he took out his phone. “What do you want me to do?”

I sighed again, rubbing the back of my neck to relieve some of the pressure. “Is Camaro still with her handlers?”

“Yeah. Do you want me to have her brought up?”

I released a small breath of relief and nodded. “As quickly as possible.”

If Jaden lost that damn dog, I’d never hear the end of it. As much of a pain in the ass Camaro was in keeping her cared for, she was worth it if she kept Jaden happy and occupied. That was, until the day she became a liability, and Jaden started risking her life to save her instead of the other way around.

“Focus on getting the power back on first. Then have the place cleaned and the bodies identified. I want a full report before Jaden wakes up tomorrow. And figure out what the hell else happened that led to our systems failure.”

Scott nodded at my request as I turned to head back into the bathroom to retrieve Jaden. But instead of storming right in like I imagined, I slowed to a stop to discreetly peer from behind the corner, watching her from outside the bathroom.

To my surprise, she’d actually remained in the tub like I told her to. But while her body obeyed, her mind rebelled from a thousand miles away. On the outside, she was catatonic. But on the inside, a storm was silently wreaking havoc within her heart.

My brand of vengeance was violent, cruel, and predictable.

Hers? Yet to be defined.

And as much as I hated to admit it, that made her a very dangerous wild card.

One that needed to be recycled back into the deck as quickly as possible before it got out of hand.

36

Sway

The following morning was hard. My body was heavy with grief over the loss of Clive and Owen and the way they’d been taken from my life. After everything I’d gone through with them, their loss unexpectedly left a weirdly shaped hole in my heart.