Page 46 of Point Blank
“A lot of good it’s done me.” He was right: she’d always been beyond prepared. Back then, it had paid off. Even in her real estate career, she’d benefited from the skills she’d honed in the past. But her perfectionist personality was crippling her now, in terms of tackling Dani’s kidnapping.
Brock’s footsteps scuffed over the hardwood and she turned from Milo, breaking their contact.
“Who else can we reach from the team?”
Serena tapped her middle finger on the laptop’s touch pad and brought up Dani’s email again. She’d show Brock and Milo the other two names. Maybe they’d know them. She typed Vivi’s name into the search box and stopped at an email from Peyton.
Sending the plans via WeTransfer. Please confirm receipt.
“Peyton,” she said. “She’s working on this with Dani. I sent her an email earlier, but maybe she didn’t get it.” Out of anyone on Dani’s team, Peyton would be the most trustworthy.
Milo leaned into her side, viewing the email. His thick arm rubbed against hers and a little thrill raced through her. She’d never get over their size difference and the pounds of muscle that stacked his frame.
Ex-boyfriends shouldn’t be so damn hot.
Milo made a frustrated sound, pushed himself to his feet, and stalked into the kitchen. Serena let her eyes wander after him. Every powerful movement of his legs showed his angst. His hands hung at his sides and his fingers curled and uncurled.
“What is it Milo?” Her words came out small. If Milo was on edge, then it wasn’t good.
“I hate being pessimistic, but whoever has Dani has us by the balls.”
Warnings fired through her cells. She met him in the kitchen. “What are you getting at?”
He planted his hands on the island, eating up the wide expanse of stone. His eyes, hard chunks of steel that only hours before had roamed every inch of her body with delicious need, were now darkened with doubt.
He worked his mouth as if the words wanted to spill out against his will. “Even if we succeed at raiding Titus’s, there’s a good chance they’ll still kill her.” His voice didn’t wobble but rang with conviction.
His words threatened to shove her to the floor. She gripped the stool next to her and slid her butt into it before she collapsed. Her pulse spiked. Blood oscillated against her eardrums at a painful speed. She closed her eyes. It didn’t dim the sound.
He was right.
That very fear had kneaded its way into the back of her mind when the whole nightmare began. Acknowledging that the kidnapper would keep Dani alive only until the exchange was made was too much to bear. It made all their efforts futile. She focused on her breaths until the raging storm in her head subsided to a tolerable level.
“What are we supposed to do then? Not bother?”
Milo’s mouth tightened. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
“He’s trying to prepare you for the worst, Serena,” Brock said from the living room. His footsteps followed. At the moment, she wanted them both to disappear.
Silent minutes passed.
A warm, heavy hand on her bicep shook her until she lowered her hands from her face. She stared at Milo.
“We’re doing everything to get her back, I promise. All I’m saying is we need to expect the worst?—”
“You want me to accept that they’re going to kill her?” Serena’s voice rose to a shrill level. Milo winced. She shook away from his hold on her arm. “I won’t do that.”
He didn’t touch her again, but his body remained close. Close enough that the heat that radiated from him in waves soothed her chilled skin.
“If you’d let me finish, you’d understand I’m not telling you to accept they’ll kill her. I’m telling you to expect that they’ll try. We have to outsmart them.”
She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. Irritation seared up her neck to scorch her ears. “How do you suppose we do that? You said yourself they have us by the balls.”
Tension crackled between them. Milo held her gaze for two heartbeats before he shifted his focus over her head, to Brock. Then he looked at her face with those soul-sucking orbs again.
“We need to kill them first.”
Her mouth opened and she stared at him.
