SWNOVELS Runner: Chapter 42
There was a knock on the door, and both Kade and Gray shot up from the stools while I watched curiously from the couch. The sexual tension that had bled into the air since last night was nearly tangible. I’d barely talked to them since I left Gray’s room. Because anything I said might end up with me back between them while I was naked—again. My body was too sore to have a repeat of last night. But it wasn’t just that. I was getting too close. I didn’t want to leave anymore, and that was a huge damn problem.
“Yeah,” Kade called out through the door. No one had knocked on the door since the day Caleb barged in here. If anyone in the crew needed them, they called.
“You two aren’t answering your fucking phones.” Vic’s anger seeped through his voice, and a chill ran down my spine. “We need to talk. Now.”
Gray exchanged a look with Kade before he glanced at me, his jaw ticking. He didn’t want to leave me alone after he’d caught me snooping in his room. When Vic banged on the door again, he knew he didn’t have a choice. He grabbed his leather jacket off the chair and then caught my chin in his grasp.
“Don’t get yourself into trouble again,” he murmured.
“Maybe I want back in your bed,” I shot back with a grin.
He chuckled. “We’ll be back soon.”
He and Kade slipped out the door, keeping it half closed so Vic wouldn’t spot me. I heard Kade mutter something about going to their office, and I jumped off the bed. Snatching Gray’s hoodie from where I’d been lying, I pulled it over my head, keeping the hoodie on to cover my hair. I reached under the mattress, my fingers closing around the keys I’d stolen from Gray’s room last night. He’d passed out as soon as Kade had left the room. Although I was surprised he didn’t notice they were gone. Then again, he hadn’t left the house today.
A shadow of guilt plagued me as I put my shoes on. They’d kept me here. Kept me safe. And here I was, about to spy on them. Yet it still wasn’t stopping me. Gray had told me that Vic and Juan hadn’t told anyone about me, but I needed to know for sure. Caleb got nothing from the chip because I pulled it out too soon. I could try that again, but the chance of them coming back was too high.
Stopping in front of the door, I tried the first two keys, sucking in a breath when the third one fit. Twisting the lock, I pulled the door open a crack and peeked down the stairs. No one was in sight, and I pulled the hoodie farther around my face before slowly making my way down the steps. My stomach tightened when I saw the first floor was crawling with crew members. None paid attention to me though. Apparently, since I was already in the front door, then if I was here, I belonged, like everyone else.
Keeping my back straight and my steps purposeful, like I knew what I was doing, I wandered through the hall, trying to get my bearings. This must be the back of the house, and seeing as I’d only been in their office at the front, nothing looked familiar. I kept my eyes down, not meeting anyone’s gaze as I made my way to the foyer. I turned down the shorter hall, their office finally in my sights.
The door was closed, and I peered down the hall, my pulse spiking when someone walked by. He kept going, and I pretended to walk past the study, spinning around when the man was gone. I stared at the door, biting my lip before pressing my ear to it. Not a sound came through, and I frowned. Fuck. Gently laying my hand on the knob, I hesitated for a second before twisting it. The odds of them seeing the door crack open were more than possible, but it was a chance I was taking. With the door open an inch, voices finally drifted out, and I tensed, ready to bolt if I had to.
“We know she’s here,” Vic stated, not sounding happy about it at all.
“Who?” Gray asked.
“The girl. Mili. Sapphire. Whatever you want to call her.” Juan joined the conversation. “Now we know why you’ve been spending so much time at home.”
My heart stuttered, and I leaned closer.
“Who told you that?” Kade asked gruffly.
“Someone reached out,” Vic answered.
There was a pause before Kade’s voice filled the room. “Someone?”
“If you’re going to keep secrets, I don’t feel obliged to share it with you,” Vic snapped.
“We’ve been learning about her,” Gray piped up. “That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? You wanted her under your thumb. We couldn’t do that until we learned her weaknesses.”
Vic scoffed. “And why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because she needed to think we were protecting her,” Kade said, his voice hard.
Every cell in my body was on fire, and my chest was so tight that it literally hurt. They were lying. They had to be fucking lying. Because if they weren’t, then everything for the last month—or even since I came to Ridgewood—had been a lie. I had begun to trust them. To depend on them. They wouldn’t do this to me.
“Well,” Juan drawled, “what have you found out?”
“She cares for someone. And he helps run her Sapphire jobs.” Gray’s voice was louder than all, which meant he was closest to the door. But I inched closer, looking through the crack to see them all surrounding one of the desks, with none of them focused on me. “We get him, and she’ll do whatever we say.”
Over my dead body would they fucking touch Caleb. Anger had my chest heaving, and I was seeing red. What was worse was the hurt that had me paralyzed.
“Good,” Vic muttered. “You think she’ll keep opening up?”
“Yes,” Kade answered. “As long as she trusts us.”
“Then keep doing it and report back to us.”
Silently closing the door again, I rushed down the hall, just aware enough not to bump into anyone. I needed to get back upstairs before they realized I’d eavesdropped.
One chance. I’d give them one chance to tell me their words were lies. But I was going to have a backup plan ready just in case. My phone was already at my ear as I stumbled back to the second floor. I locked the door behind me before racing to Gray’s bedroom.
“Hey, Mili.”
“Rylan.” I scanned Gray’s room before crouching down and tossing the keys under his bed as if he accidentally dropped them there. “How do you feel about Kade and Gray?”
He paused. “What?”
“Do you still want them to pay for their crimes? Or has your heart changed since you’ve spent so much time with them in the last month?”
“I deal with them for you,” he said softly. “I’ve stopped going after them because I can see you care—”
“That’s the thing,” I cut him off, “I don’t care. I’m done with them. And I want them gone.”
“Gone? Like you’re going to, um, kill them?”
“Nope. That’s too easy.” I made my way back to the living room so I could keep an eye on the front door. “I want to help you take them down.”
“How?”
“I have access and info about two warehouses full of stolen merchandise you can tie them to.” I hesitated for a moment. “And I have a gun with Kade’s prints that will match a murder from two years ago during a robbery of a Rolls-Royce.”
I’d kept the gun I’d taken from him that night after all this time. It was in a storage locker only hours from here. I never thought I’d use it, but here I was.
“You’re going to snitch?” Shock was evident in his voice, but there was anger there too.
I switched the phone to my other ear. “You think I’m going against some kind of code? Even if I was, why would you care?”
“I don’t,” he grumbled. “Sometimes I forget I’m on the right side of the law. Growing up on the north side…the one thing ingrained was to never go to the cops. And I never thought it would be coming from you.”
“Yeah, well, all rules are out the fucking window when they decide to try and use me.”
“Use you?”
“I don’t have time to explain. I can get what you need to arrest them,” I said quickly. “And it’ll stick. But I need you to do it tonight so I can leave without them trying to follow. Can you do that?”
There was silence, and I bounced my leg. “Rylan?”
“Yeah, Mili, I can do that,” he said softly. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
I ignored his question. “Only tell people you know aren’t dirty. They can’t get tipped off about it. I’ll text you when I’m ready.”
My heart thudded unevenly when Kade and Gray walked through the door a half hour after I talked to Rylan. I resisted the urge to jump off the stool and confront them right there. Kade saw me first, and he gave me a small grin before heading to the fridge. Gray was more subdued, but neither said a word. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to remain calm.
“What did Vic and Juan want?” I asked, casually stirring my straw around in my glass.
“They wanted to go over details about a new job,” Kade answered, popping the top off his beer.
Before he was finished talking, numbness began climbing through me. And I welcomed it with open arms. It was a hell of a lot better than dealing with the emotions of knowing they lied to me.
“They still don’t know I’m here?” I asked, giving them one last chance.
“We told you that we wouldn’t tell anyone, Rebel.” Gray fell into the leather chair. “They won’t have any idea until you want them to know.”
Rage slid through me, keeping me on the stool. How stupid had I been to let them play me? I opened my phone and texted Rylan.
Mili: Do it now.
Setting my phone down, I finished my drink, trying to keep my anger under control. My hands shook, and I jumped up, acting like I wanted more water.
“What if they do find out I’m here?” I stared at Kade as he glanced at Gray.
“We’d help you leave town,” he answered, questions in his eyes. “What’s with all the questions?”
“I just want to make sure it’s safe to stay here. I don’t trust Vic and Juan.”
“You’ll be fine here.” Gray nodded at me. “Let’s watch a movie.”
I fell onto the pull-out bed and wrapped my arms around my legs, attempting to stay relaxed when Kade sat next to me. I wouldn’t even look at him. If I did, I was scared they’d see the truth in my eyes. Because I was so close to losing it that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep it under control.
Gray started the movie, and I peeked glances at my phone, watching the minutes tick by. Twenty minutes into the movie, I didn’t even know what it was about. A nervous sweat covered the back of my neck, and I was positive they could both feel the tension radiating off me. Another half hour went by, and I began wondering if Rylan was going to back out.
Until both Kade’s and Gray’s phones started ringing. A second later, a deafening pounding shook the front door.
“Open up. Police.”
Kade scrambled off the bed, and Gray shot up from the chair, his eyes bulging. Kade grabbed me, yanking me to my feet.
“Go to the bedrooms,” he told me as the pounding continued.
“They’re cops,” I snapped. “You think they aren’t going to check the rooms?”
“There’s another way out—”
Before he could finish, we all ducked and covered our heads when a boom exploded, loud enough to make my ears ring. Smoke billowed in from the blown-out door as men rushed into the house. They had SWAT gear on and their guns raised. There were at least seven of them, and the last to walk in was Rylan.
“On the floor,” one of the cops bellowed.
They didn’t give Kade or Gray a chance to follow the order before one of them grabbed Gray, bringing him to the floor. He didn’t resist, keeping his arms on his head. Kade was shoved into the wall by two officers, and he tried pushing them off until they forced his hands behind his back, handcuffing his wrists.
I raised my arms above my head, letting fear fill my gaze. The cops looked at me, but Rylan cleared his throat and shook his head. They left me alone, yanking Gray up from the floor after he was cuffed and slamming him into the wall next to Kade.
“You better tell us what the fuck the charges are, Mayor,” Kade spat out once he caught sight of Rylan. “You slimy son of a bitch.”
Not having to pretend anymore, my face went cold as I stepped closer to Kade and Gray. Both seemed surprised that I wasn’t in handcuffs with them. Gray’s eyes darted between Rylan and me, and he let out a hollow laugh.
“You’re protecting her. Was this the plan all along? We invite you into our fucking house, and you turn on us?”
“This wasn’t his plan.” I slid my hand into Kade’s hair, jerking his head until he was looking at me. “It was mine.”
Kade’s jaw went slack from shock until he realized I’d betrayed him. Pure rage darkened his eyes as he tried pulling out of my hold.
“Mili?” Gray forced out hoarsely. “You did this?”
“Next time you want to lie to me,” I murmured as venom filled my voice, “remember that a woman always fucking knows.”
They began shouting when the police tugged them to the doorway. My heart pounded, knowing the crew would now be my enemies once they found out. Kade gave me one last glance before he was shoved down the stairs, the hurt in his eyes making my stomach lurch. They started this. I had to fucking remember that.
“You okay?” Rylan asked quietly.
“I am now,” I stated, picking up my bag and grabbing my phone. “I need to go.”
“Come back to my house. Just for a bit so we can talk.”
“I need to get the hell out of this city before Vic and Juan realize it was me who turned in Kade and Gray.”
“You will. I’ll even get you a car. Please, Mili,” he urged, pulling me into his arms. “I know that after this, you’re really not coming back. Give me five minutes with you.”
“All right. Five minutes.”