He hadn’t cared. He hadn’t even batted an eye. He’d just stared back at me, unblinking, no reaction.

When his father came back, Kai had turned to follow him.

They were both silent as they returned to the car, and almost without a pause, both got back inside.

But there had been a small pause, because that was the only time I saw her brother hesitate.

The guard had opened their father’s door, and Bennett Sr. got inside. The door shut right away, and that guard returned to the third SUV. But Kai stood there a second, just a split second.

His gaze went to his sister, who was still crumbled in a mess on the ground.

She rocked herself, her sobs shattering me. It was the sound of true agony, as if someone had torn her soul from her heart, and he’d stared at her. One blink. His face had shuddered. Then his father had called him from inside the car, and the emotion was gone. Anything he’d felt had vanished. His face was devoid of all emotion as he’d sat inside.

The door closed.

His guard returned to his seat in this third SUV, and at once, all of the remaining guards returned to their vehicles.

There was a second’s pause before the caravan moved forward.

One by one, the four SUVs had left, and as soon as they were gone, I’d sprinted for Brooke. My heart was in my throat as I slid to my knees beside her, wrapped my arms around her.

Her hand had fisted my shirt as she spoke. “He said—he said. Ka—he killed my brother.”

Kai had killed him.

CHAPTER FOUR

There was a creak from the floorboards outside my door, and I looked up.

It’d been two days, but Blade still had concern in his eyes. Not that I could blame him.

This wasn’t me. Not usually. Not anymore.

I’d been in a stupor since the news broke about Brooke being missing. There’d been no new reports, just speculation that it had something to do with the Bennett family. I knew that family was big news, but they resided up in Vancouver—Canada, where we were. Still, when news broke about Brooke, Blade monitored the stations in the States, which had learned who exactly Brooke was related to. Images of Kai Bennett, along with Tanner and Jonah, flooded the networks. It was the biggest news story down there, though the local news channels around here were more subdued. They were aware of how the Bennett family worked. If they said anything too outlandish or hinted that one of the Bennetts had something to do with Brooke’s disappearance, they would feel the full force of the Bennetts’ power.

It had happened before.

A reporter produced a full-hour show about the Bennett family, and she was fired the day it aired. There was no word about where she went. There were pictures of her later on blogs, but all with her shielding her face and hiding from the camera.

I never heard a peep about that reporter after that, and she never worked as a journalist again—I knew that much because a Google search of her name brought up nothing, not even from the channel that fired her.

“You going to work tomorrow?” Blade asked.

Shit. I jumped where I’d been sitting at my desk.

He leaned against my doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest. Today he wore a black tuxedo vest, still no shirt, and his dreadlocks were pulled back in a loose ponytail.

“Um…” I groaned. I’d had the last five days off for what the nursing home thought was a family vacation.

“You might want to get a spray tan, since, you know.” He smiled.

Since they all thought I’d been in Florida visiting a grandma who didn’t exist.

He was right. I had a tan from being outside and doing what yard work I could between our “errand” and my time watching the news, but it wasn’t a Florida tan.

I sighed. “I should go now. It’s my turn to cook tonight.”

His eyes got big. “Spaghetti? Please spaghetti?”

Blade enjoyed the gluten-free vegetable meatball spaghetti with zucchini noodles I made, and so did I. We worked to keep our bodies in the best shape for work reasons, but Carol wasn’t the same.

Carol was wild, adventurous, and a bit quirky.

She loved junk food and every new fad. Eggwhite Chips were the latest in a bunch of new creations she’d brought home. Her stomach was a block of cement. Put anything in it, and she’d crush it and ask for seconds. On the other hand, Blade’s stomach rebelled against processed food. I wasn’t as exciting; I just didn’t like it.

I only liked a few things: bread, some form of protein, and anything the world naturally kicked up. I usually filled up on berries or things I grew in the garden. So no, I I had not consumed the Eggwhite Chips the other night.

“Oh, and hey…” His voice dropped to his serious tone.

“Yeah?” I straightened up.

“I got a call this morning.” His eyes bore into mine. “You need to get off work this weekend. We have a pick up in the States.”

My mouth dried.

I nodded. “I’m on because I was off last weekend, but it won’t be a problem. I’ll take a holiday.”

Holidays were good bargaining chips, at least for me—for us. Normal people wanted their holidays off. They wanted to spend time with friends and family, but not us. It was the time immediately after a holiday or right before a holiday that we needed off.

People tended to have emergencies at those times, but not usually on the actual day.