Page 70 of West Bound

“You’re awfully excited.”

“This is the closest I’ve ever been to turning the tables on him. So yeah. Like a kid in a fucking candy shop.”

TWENTY-NINE

Levi

We’re finallyall assembled around the dinner table that evening—Grant, Dakota, Zephyrine, and me, along with the requisite members of the Kelly family. Rowan and Hudson decided to fly out and back late tonight so we could have the meeting in person, but Charlotte was out of town doing research and Finn had other obligations. Ramsey’s busy with his season and happy to keep the situation only on a need-to-know basis, and Hazel opted to stay out of the details of our plan but was happy to loan the ranch house for meetings, so long as we swept up afterward.

“How did things go?” Hudson looks between Grant and me.

“Successfully,” I answer. “Along with some clues about where the governor's keeping the relics.”

“He coughed them up?” Rowan gives me a surprised look. “Thought that fucker wouldn’t talk.”

“Levi gave a convincing speech,” Zephyrine pipes in, a wicked smile and a knowing glance from across the table have me distracted for a moment.

“Did you now?” Grant looks at me with a raised brow.

“I applied pressure in the right places, and he squeaked a little. I’m not sure he knew much. I imagine Abbott knows better than to leak all his secrets to a man like him,” I explain, hoping to spare Dakota the gruesome details. She’s aware of exactly what kind of family we are, but I know Grant’s still protective over whatever innocence she has left where we’re concerned. At least when it comes to the torture and death part of the family business.

“He saw him as more of a convenient ally and less of a confidant,” Zephyrine adds.

“Does he have a confidant we can pressure?” Hudson looks between the two of us.

“It’s complicated. He has a few guys he relies on, but he always wanted my oldest brother to take over in his stead someday. But he’s a fuckup. With only half the brains my father wishes he had,” Zephyrine explains.

“And your other brother?” Grant asks.

“More brains, less impulse control. So it’s a catch-22 for him.” Zephyrine shrugs.

“So no one he trusts fully?” Rowan’s brow furrows.

“No. He’s paranoid and always worried about anyone outside the family too much. Corey only knew as much as he did because he became family through me. And even then, it was only what he felt was absolutely necessary,” Zephyrine reveals. “At least as far as I understand. As you all know, I’ve spent quite a bit of time away from him.”

“All right. So these clues, do we know where they’re at?” Hudson turns back to me.

“A compound up in the mountains. Zephyrine knows where it is. I did a little research, looked it up, and tried to find anything I could online. There are no publicly available images, but Imight be able to do some reconnaissance and get some private ones.”

“Security?” Rowan asks. “I imagine he'll have something or someone keeping watch for drones.”

“Lots of it, it sounds like. A private security firm is my best guess. Governor’s team when he’s in residence, so we’ll need to avoid that. Armed presence. Gates on any exposed side.”

“Exposed?” Grant seeks clarity.

“It’s in a mountain valley. Steep climb in any direction around the main house besides the front entrance.” Zephyrine taps the blurry map I have open. “He’s always been paranoid.”

“For good reason with the kind of extracurriculars he gets up to.” Rowan tilts his head as he considers the landscape. “So how do we get in and out?”

“I need to do more reconnaissance to make a plan. There are a few blurry satellite images. Outdated but better than nothing. We’ll get ones at street level of the entrance ourselves if nothing else. But I’m also going to see if I can hack the surveillance system. Someone as paranoid as he is has to have one, and we might be able to use that to our advantage to help us map the property, with Zephyrine’s help, of course.” I flash her a small smile.

“I’ve got a guy who’s good with drones,” Rowan offers.

“We just hired a few,” Grant adds, glancing toward me as he leans back in his seat.

“I don’t want to have them on any kind of alert. We'll need this to be a surprise. If he thinks we’re gonna storm the castle, he’ll lock it down. Fill the moats, pull up the gates. We don’t want this to get any harder than it already is.”

“What’s the move then? Do you have one in mind?” Grant knows me too well. I was up early this morning—three large cups of black coffee deep by the time Zephyrine joined me for breakfast.