See? My whole life had been clear and concrete, until now. Now my head was all muddled up.

Despite my circumstances, I enjoyed spending time with Tanner and Jonah. Yet I was worried about Brooke. And I was kidnapped. I hated Kai Bennett. Or I thought so. Yes, I did. I did. But my body didn’t.

Fuck me.

I was a mess.

“Let’s move.” Kai stepped aside as an entire caravan of SUVs rolled in, stopping before us.

Tanner and Jonah started toward one of the middle ones. I followed until Kai called out, “You’re with me, slicer.”

I whipped my head around, narrowing my eyes.

Had there been a glimmer of a grin on his face? No. His expression was stoic, as it had been the whole time we stood there.

Tanner frowned. “Why? She can roll with us.”

Kai didn’t spare him a look, only ducked into an SUV two down from us. “She goes with me. That’s final.”

I didn’t miss the sympathetic look his brothers sent me before I went over. Kai had taken the seat farthest from the house, so I didn’t have to go around. A guard stood at my door, waiting for me, and I ducked inside, trying not to appreciate the warmth and aroma of sandalwood. It reminded me of back home, with Blade and Carol.

Kai had his briefcase open on his lap, and he was going through some papers. He gestured to the console in front of us, “There’s coffee or tea if you want it.” He shuffled one piece of paper behind the other. “It’s not scalding hot, in case you were tempted to throw it on me.” He shuffled a second paper behind the pile.

I stared at him.

There wasn’t anything else I could do. I didn’t know what to say, and a gurgling sound emerged from my throat. I gulped it down, embarrassed.

The guards closed the doors, and it was quiet. Almost peaceful.

I’d expected two rows of seats like in the SUV I’d ridden in to get here. But this one had just enough room for Kai and myself. Two doors opened in the front, but there was a separator between us and the guards. I couldn’t see them, or hear them, but I felt the SUV dip under their weight as they got inside.

What did one say in this situation? I’d tried to kill him. I’d failed. And now he was offering me coffee or tea.

“I had to try.” So I guess that’s what I was going to say.

He paused in moving the papers. I could see him look my way in the window’s reflection, and with a jolt, his eyes met mine there too.

He showed no emotion though. “I know.” And he went back to reading his papers. “I would’ve too.”

What? I looked, but he was ignoring me again.

Then the cars started, and I had a feeling this was how it was going to be for the entire trip. Total and complete silence.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I was right.

We were now on hour four, and my bladder was screaming. I hadn’t wanted to, but I’d succumbed to both the tea and the coffee. I drank the tea first, because that’s what I would’ve done at home. Tea and berries: my morning routine, along with a good workout or yoga. Blade sometimes joined me. Carol never did. She’d watch us do yoga and crack jokes while she crunched down on her chip of the week.

The tea hadn’t fulfilled me, and I’d itched for the coffee. After my two cups yesterday, I was starting to understand why everyone was obsessed with it. There was an addictive quality. I was now wanting to go to the bathroom and also wanting a second cup of coffee.

I was returning to my American roots, it seemed—not with the bathroom part, the coffee part. My mom used to love the stuff. So did my dad…

My stomach took a sudden dip down.

I hadn’t talked about Bruce Bello in years, and I was now sitting next to someone who knew him. Who knew the situation, fully.

“What is he like now?”

I asked the question before I realized I was going to. My voice sounded hoarse, as if I were half scared to ask, and I suppose I was. I was terrified of the answer.

Kai had settled down in his seat, reading on his computer, but he looked up.

I didn’t look over, but I could feel his gaze. I kept my head turned away.

I heard him close the computer. “Your father is one of the stupidest human beings I’ve ever met.”

I looked over.

His nostrils flared. His eyes were fierce.

He folded his hands over his computer, holding my gaze. “I met him when I was fourteen. He was having a meeting with my father. He was a fool. My father used yours. He transported our drugs alongside his products, and your father had no idea until it was too late. There are many factors on which to base your father’s stupidity, but that was the first I remember.” He broke away, turning to his window. “There’s not been a good meeting with him since.”

That lump in my throat was back. Growing.

I pressed my hands together, sliding them between my legs to still the shaking. “You still do business with him?”

“He’s a means to an end. That is all.” Kai looked back, his gaze piercing through me. “Would you like me to stop working with him? If I do, he will go out of business. He will lose all his companies. Your cousin will leave him, if he hasn’t killed her by then. He will suffer.”

The way he said that, I could tell it wasn’t a new idea to him.

My lips parted. “That’s what you were going to do to him? I thought you said you’d kill him.”