Part 23 (1/2)

”I have no doubt that that's a good thing. You could, but you won't unless you have to, as proven by the fact that you could have killed every one of those consortium members after your parents' death.”

”I thought about it. I've thought about it often, but each of them has connections outside that group, and I have no idea how many of them know about me. So instead, I gathered resources and prepared for a conclusion, and I planned to follow with revenge. At this point, I just want the conclusion.”

”Which is what?”

”If I knew that, we'd already have one.”

”I might have some ideas on that.”

”You don't even know what I have. And what were you thinking, making a special appearance at an event you knew a consortium member would be at?”

”We were going to set a trap. Given all that's happened, they'll be ready for us now, so we'll have to think of something else. And as of about fifteen minutes ago, I do know exactly what you have.”

Stunned, I turn to look at him. ”How?”

”Dr. Murphy managed to install a bug in Sheridan's office during her last visit. Derek, who I trust implicitly, is monitoring the feed while Tellar has been occupied. Apparently things just got more complicated. We aren't in this alone anymore. Derek just overheard Sheridan making a deal with the Chinese, after someone told him Rollin is alive. He didn't know that before. And I don't think I have to tell you how big a problem the Chinese suddenly being involved is.”

”Does Amy know?”

He gives a sharp shake of his head. ”Not yet. She's been through h.e.l.l lately, and I'm not looking forward to the fear this is going to create in her. But we have to tell her. And maybe knowing will stop her d.a.m.ned blackouts. What does Gia know?”

”Everything but where the cylinder is.” I take a risk, testing him by adding, ”No one knows that but me.”

And he pa.s.ses the test with a vehement ”Keep it that way,” followed by ”What we don't know, we can't tell willingly or unwillingly. You can't give up the cylinder. It's a nuclear bomb. Industries would crash. Jobs gone. We're talking complete economic and world collapse. If one man controlled that cylinder he could re-create everything under his power.”

”That's right. But I can't destroy it, because one day the world might need it. And they'd never believe I destroyed it, anyway.” My brow furrows as a plan, that d.a.m.n plan I've been looking for forever, comes to me. ”But what if we make them all believe someone else has it?”

”Rollin?” Liam supplies.

”He's the perfect fall guy. He's faked his death. He's crossed his father.”

”Agreed,” Liam says. ”But we have to find him to use him, and that's going to be a race against his father. Sheridan was furious about the betrayal. He's on the hunt for Rollin, with someone feeding him information. That means they'll either be preoccupied fighting each other, or coming after us from all sides.”

”Sheridan's the one who grabbed me. Rollin must have someone inside his father's operation. How else could he promise the cylinder to anyone? We need to know who.”

”I spent time in China for work. I have contacts, people that I trust within certain cautious boundaries-but I can't make those calls until we get to the safe house and I have privacy.”

Gia's voice carries in the air, stronger now it seems, with Amy's laughter on its tail. ”Safe house,” I repeat. ”It's not safe. They aren't safe.”

”No,” he agrees. ”They aren't.”

I look at him. ”Then this is war.”

”Yes,” he agrees. ”This is war.”

Then Dr. Murphy appears and motions me to the back. ”Gia is asking for you.”

I exchange a look with Liam-two men united, fighting for their women-then I head to the back.

Amy smiles at me. ”We're debating the merits of locking Sheridan in one of Dad's dig sites versus poisoning him with a.r.s.enic. Or both.”

”Remind me not to p.i.s.s you two off.”

”We will,” Amy promises, scooting forward to kiss me on the cheek, whispering in my ear, ”I adore her.” Then she leaves to join Dr. Murphy and Liam up front.

I reclaim my spot by Gia.

”I love her,” Gia says. ”She's not an a.s.shole like you, at all.”

I smile. ”I love it when you talk dirty to me.”

She laughs and then flinches, her lashes lowering as she whispers, ”You haven't seen anything yet.”

I lean down and kiss her cheek, wis.h.i.+ng like h.e.l.l I could keep her out of this. She knows my sins, and she isn't afraid. But this is war-a war I have to win, no matter how vicious, illegal, or b.l.o.o.d.y I have to be. And she's going to see who I really am.

EIGHTEEN.

IT'S NIGHTFALL WHEN WE ARRIVE safely at the sprawling Hamptons beachfront retreat we will call home for an indefinite period. I give Gia my T-s.h.i.+rt and settle her into a real bed, with Dr. Murphy carefully monitoring what becomes her rapid progress, and also tending to the wound on her hand that was becoming infected. By morning we have supplies, clothes, and all the comforts one might want from a vacation home, and I try to keep Gia in bed, focused on recovering, not on the unknowns outside these walls. Not an easy task, considering she wants to get up and join the roundtable in the kitchen Liam has labeled ”the War Room.”

Both my sister and I rise to the challenge of occupying Gia in her bedroom ”prison” as she calls it, relieved when she agrees to a Matrix movie marathon while I'm present, reverting back to s.e.x in the City while I spend time chasing leads on Rollin with Liam and Tellar.

I also get a lot of one-on-one time with Amy. We talked for hours on end, and still I hold back information to protect her. I have to protect her. It's all bittersweet. She's angry with me and happy to see me. And I'm angry with me, and happy to see her.

Days pa.s.s and each morning I wake from nightmares of the fire. And each day I get hungrier for this to end. Day four is the breaking point for me. I jerk upward from the bed, and I am still half-living my sleep-induced fantasy of slamming Rollin's head into the window as I'd wanted to the last time I'd seen him. If I'd killed him, my parents would be alive.

”Chad. Chad.”

Gia's voice breaks into the haze of my half-sleep. ”Are you okay?” Her hand comes down on my arm, a soft caress over my skin that sends a chill down my spine, but I do not pull her to me or kiss her as I normally would. I am too on edge, too out of myself, and in need of a release that she can't give me right now.

”Nightmare,” I murmur, throwing off the blankets and walking to the shower, turning on the hot water and climbing inside before it even warms up, s.h.i.+vering in the cold, savoring the heat. The water pours over me, and I do not fight what I feel. I revel in the hatred inside of me, no matter how toxic it might be. I buried it for years. I need to feel it and deal with it now.

The curtain moves and Gia climbs inside, naked and too thin, wrapping her arms around me. ”Do you want to talk about it?”

”You should be in bed.”

”I'm feeling better. But you aren't. Talk to me. Please.”

I could shelter her. I should shelter her, but I do not. ”Remember when I told you I strangled the man who set the house fire?”

”Yes. I remember.”

”Liam uncovered some details about Rollin. He was disinherited right before the fire. I gave him money that day. I think he set the fire and then disappeared.”

”That explains so much. It answers questions you needed answered.”

”Knowing who and why only makes me angrier. But father or son almost killed you, too. If I get the chance, I will kill them, Gia. The bruises from my beatings might be fading now, but I'm still broken. I'm trying not to be that man for you and for my sister, but you need to know that the part of me that wants them dead-he's still a part of me.”