Chapter One Hundred and Eight
“That was the second hardest thing I’ve had to do in my life.” Mason wiped a hand across his face and sat down at the counter.
“He doesn’t really want Grace. He’d have laid claim to her a long time ago if he wanted to be a father.”
Lee nodded his head. “Kelley’s right, there’s something else going on here.”
“I really need to find Andrea.”
“Blain’s looking for her, here, everywhere. He’ll find her.”
“One of us needs to have a meeting with Holt, find out what his end game is. Not you, Mason, you’re too emotional.”
“I could do it, Kelley, I can block out my emotions better than either of you.”
Mason nodded his head. “That’s true. Kelley, do you really think if we give Marcus something in return he’ll drop the whole thing with Grace?”
“Anything’s possible, Mase, these people play dirty, let’s find out what he wants first.”
“I shouldn’t have pushed Andrea away. I should’ve kept her close and thought everything through first. If we got married we’d stand a better chance at fighting this thing the right way.”
Kelley swallowed and steeled his features because Mason wouldn’t like his next question. “Mase, do you think it’s possible that she’s with Marcus? Why haven’t you heard from her? Where is she that even Blain can’t find her?”
“I don’t know, Kelley, anything’s possible, I guess. If she did play me then I fell for it hook, line and sinker. I was ready to start something with her again.”
“Aside from the dry humping?”
Mason chuckled despite the grave situation. “Yeah, big guy, despite that, which only happened that once.”
“Is it safe to ask if whatever secret Marcus knows about is sorted out now?”
Kelley smiled as he patted Lee on the back. “Mase screwed both my girlfriends, it’s sorted out.”
“You slept with Juliana?” Lee was shocked and his eyes wide as he looked at Mason.
“It wasn’t like that, Lee. We hooked up a few times and then Kelley showed interest. We met up and she told me that she really liked Kelley and I told her to go for it. That was the day before she hit Norah with that uppercut.”
Kelley smiled as he thought back to that day. “It was a good punch.”
“Marcus obviously thought something different.” Lee looked between the two men.
“Probably yeah. Nothing ever happened between us after that.”
“I can’t be mad about something that happened before I even really knew her. I’m just warning you now Mase, if you sleep with Milana, I’ll kill you.”
Lee laughed loudly. “You like her.”
“I’m getting there, Lee.”
Mason looked down and he sighed again. “Okay, first we need to find Andrea and have a meeting with Holt, find out what he wants before this court hearing on Tuesday.”
With the plan set in motion Kelley and Lee went their separate ways leaving Mason at home with Grace. Kelley drove home and parked his Escalade in the garage. From his phone he connected to the laptop that had a permanent spot in his bedroom and accessed the files that Milana had opened.
He felt guilty for checking up on her but he’d learned not to trust the hard way. He wanted to trust her because he liked her, he was even maybe in love with her but he wouldn’t give everything of him without knowing.
Nothing had been opened, just the camera program that was always open. He felt relief as he closed the app on his phone and climbed out of his car. It was already nine pm and most windows in the house were dark.
Kelley walked around the side of the house towards the back and stopped at the corner. Sometimes he cursed his own stealth because he always heard or found something he needed to find, the curse, however, was that it always hurt him.
“Things are definitely changing around here.” - “Yeah I know. I can’t get much closer without outing myself. She sleeps in his room every night now.” - “Yeah she’s happy, he’s happy, everybody’s fucking happy.” - “No, I’m not in the inner circle, I have to bide my time.” - “You made a mistake trusting Ernesto.” - “I can try and tag Connor, he’s on the inside.” - “I’m not kidnapping her! Are you insane? Kelley will kill me!” - “Screw you, Charles, I’m out, you hear me, I’m out!”
Kelley stood in the shadows and watched as the guard placed his phone back inside his combat pants pocket. To say he was disappointed was putting it mildly. Not once did he think to look at him; the betrayal stung deep and that’s the part Kelley hated.
The man came towards him, not paying attention to his surroundings. Kelley moved in behind him quickly and grabbed him in a chokehold, kicking the back of his knees with force and he went down to the ground.
Kelley tightened his grip around the man’s neck and leaned in closer. “You disappoint me, Black.”
“Kelley …” His voice was garbled, lack of air and a crushing trachea making it hard to speak.
Kelley let go of him and Black leaned forward on his hands as he coughed. “Get up.”
Black stood up and turned to face Kelley. Remorse shone in his eyes and Kelley looked at the man who had worked for him for three years. Black was good at his job, extremely good and he’d saved Kelley’s life once so his betrayal was a bitter pill.
“You’re going to tell me everything Charles is planning. Every last detail, do you hear me?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Report to the basement, Black.”
Black turned and walked into the house, leaving the front door open. Kelley followed close behind him and watched as he turned into the kitchen and opened the door for the basement. He pressed the number nine on his phone and within a minute Connor ran into the foyer.
“What the fuck, Kelley, that’s the emergency code.”
“This is an emergency. I just caught your photographer.”
“What? Where? Who?”
“He’s in the basement and you can’t kill him.”
“Why would I kill him?” Connor narrowed his eyes and looked at Kelley. “Shit, who is it?”
“Black.”
“He’s a dead man!”
“No, Connor, he’s our inside man.”
