Page 81 of Resolve
Fuck, I should be worried. Concerned, at least. I shouldn’t stare obsessively into the eyes of a man who says something as unhinged as that and feel heat swimming through my veins. Or feel the need to wrap myself around him and kiss him until I’ve robbed us both of air.
Elias’s brow cinches. “That’s not how we do things—”
Jackson’s eyes snap to him with a look that would have any normal person shitting their pants. He wraps his arm around my chest, pulling me against him protectively with his cheek pressed to my temple. “I do. If someone is a threat to her, I’ll kill them. No questions. No mercy.”
I can’t help but lean into him, drawn to the calm confidence in his husky voice even as he promises death on my behalf. I’ve never felt safer or more at ease than when he’s wrapped around me.
Elias looks at Aiden, who doesn’t refute Jack’s statement.
“There’s no need for you to be concerned, Thorton. So long as you and those at Hype don’t wish her harm, we can continue working together to take down Gifted Enterprise.”
“Of course, I don’t.”
Aiden nods. “Then, there’s no problem.”
Elias sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “Your body, your clean-up,” he finally says, which honestly shocks the shit out of me. I’d expected him to be more... disgusted? Angry and upset? Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised after what Portia told me. “Hype opens in one hour, so that takes priority. We’ll reconvene once you’ve finished.”
Once the dance floor has been thoroughly bleached and washed as per Elias’s standards—and the body removed and the basement cleaned—we return to his apartment to figure out our next move.
“There are still seven board members alive,” Aiden reminds the group. Cibrina, Reid, and Tinsley have joined us, spread out across the large living area and kitchen.
“A few have gone into hiding after our last attempt,” Dane reports. Which was exactly what we were afraid of and why we’d gone after them all at once. Kill them before they get skittish and disappear.
“But that doesn’t matter now, right?” I ask, shifting between them. “Alice gave us private cell phone numbers of her siblings. We didn’t need them for our last plan, but now...”
“Even if we know where they are, there’s a high probability they’re somewhere more secure or with agents protecting them. It won’t be as easy to get to them,” Aiden counters.
Elias nods in agreement. He’s sitting in one of the living room chairs opposite Aiden with an ankle resting over one knee and his hands gently clasped and resting on top. “Have you made contact with these half-siblings yet? Are they on our side?”
I sink into the couch, chewing my lip. He has a point. Look how long it took Alice to come around. How can we expect the others to go against Charles when Alice had been—and still is—adamant she doesn’t have to fight him? None of them want to be on the receiving end of his fury if he realizes any one of them betrayed him.
Dane squeezes my hand. “Alice can convince them.”
I frown, doubtful.
“She’s seen the Guild and the people in it. She wants to be a part of it, and I’m sure she wants that for her siblings, too. If anyone is going to persuade them to help us, it’s her. She was in the same position as them not that long ago,” he presses.
“Our last failed attempt isn’t going to look good to them,” Kellan remarks, his arm thrown over the back of the couch behind me.
“No, but the destruction of one of their headquarters and the underground facility will,” Dane retorts.
Kell grins at me, and my neck crawls with heat. “That’s right. They’d be fools to not see the winning side now.”
Aiden taps his fingers on the armrest, a sign of his mind working in overdrive. “We’ll offer them our protection as well. Regardless of the outcome, if they can get us to the board member, we’ll ensure their escape and protection.” His hand stops. “That can give us the intel we need on where they are and what protections are in place, but it’s still messy to deal with. It would be easier if—”
An idea hits me.
“If they’re all in one place?” I breathe, a rush of adrenaline surging through me as the idea solidifies.
All eyes are on me.
“What if we could draw them out? Get them all in one place? Maybe another HQ like the last one just as a big eff you to Charles?” I rush out.
Aiden frowns. “Slow down. How would we draw them out?”
“I’m not sure yet. Maybe lure them out with Charles somehow? Make them think he wants them to meet him at a specific location? And then I destroy it like I had the last one. Charles didn’t hesitateto cover it up, so I’m sure he’d do the same for another GE building.” He can’t have officials sniffing around and finding evidence of Gifted Enterprise’s true nature.
“If we have the invisible spy network on our side, I just need information from one of the board member’s phones,” Dane tags in. “I can spoof Charles’s number to the board members’ phones so they think it’s him texting them to meet.” He glances at Reid. “Reid can help me write the message so it sounds like him.”
