Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

MINA

Reuben sat behind his desk, hands in front of him, fingers laced together. To anyone who didn't know him, he'd appear calm and composed.

To those who did, he was filled with barely contained rage. His knuckles turned white. The vein in his forehead throbbed. He didn't say a word while Gianni and I told him what Leon said.

Everyone else in the room was equally silent, apart from the occasional mutter from the twins and gasps of surprise from Daze.

Damon and Caleb both sat in chairs, each as stony-faced as the other.

"That's horrendous," Daze said when we finished. She leaned against Ric, who insisted on coming with her, and closed her eyes. "If my father tried anything like that with me…" She shook her head.

Ric wrapped his arms around her and held her as if he could protect her from what she just heard. "This explains a lot. Including why we didn't know any of this. He had the funds to keep us from finding out." He glanced at me apologetically. Just because it made sense didn't make it right.

"He shouldn't have," Caleb snapped. "This shouldn't have gotten past our father. It shouldn't have gotten past us ."

He looked at Reuben with an expression laced with accusation, but also with a touch of annoyance and fear. If anyone should have known what was going on after their father died, it was Caleb. If their father hadn't told Reuben anything, that was unfortunate. Caleb had five years to figure it out. He wasn't alone in that, but he clearly took it on his own shoulders. Or at least suspected he'd be blamed.

"It shouldn't, but it did," Reuben said simply. "Now we know. We can take steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. That isn't the most pressing concern at the moment." His gaze went to Daze and Ric.

"You didn't bring us here to fill us in on that, did you?" Daze asked. She glanced over to the twins who clearly hadn't given her or Ric a choice. That made her visibly nervous as hell.

"According to Leon Graves, Kurt is in Dusk Bay," Reuben said. "Do you know of his whereabouts?" He wasn't pulling any punches today.

Daze stared at him, then at me. "Of course not. You can't really think I'd… We'd keep that from you?"

"We don't want to think that," I said. I hated this. We were supposed to be on the same side, not accusing each other. I wanted to believe her and my cousin. I needed to, if only for my own sanity.

"Then don't," Daze replied. "We don't."

"But your concerns aren't with us," Ric said slowly. "You think someone who works for us might have some idea."

"Has anyone been behaving particularly twitchy lately?" Gianni asked.

"Apart from Caleb?" Hunter said. "But then, he's always twitchy."

Caleb gave him a dark look.

"Not that I can think of," Ric said. "That is to say, everyone's been on edge since we started digging into what Kurt was up to. We all feel responsible for everything. Me, Daze, Gunnar and Hilton, in particular."

Daze nodded her agreement. "We haven't been able to tell our people much, just that we're looking for him. Our concern might be somewhat contagious."

"Keep an eye out," Damon told her. "Someone knows something."

"Do you know anyone named Jase or Hammer?" I asked.

Ric looked contemplative, but ultimately shook his head. "I can't say either name rings a bell. That doesn't mean we don't know them."

"Did they…" Daze started carefully.

"They were there," I said simply. I didn't need or want to explain any further. Nor did I feel the need to explain that we got Martina's number from Leon's phone. We'd deal with her on our own.

Silence hung heavy in the air, finally broken by Caleb clearing his throat.

"From what I've been able to ascertain, Kurt either hasn't noticed, or doesn't care, that the account balance of most of his accounts is approximately sixty-nine cents each."

Parker grinned at having done that, transferring the money into different accounts Kurt couldn't access.

"Yes!" Gianni pumped the air. "Maserati, here I come."

"Can I have one too?" Hunter asked. "Parker and I would look good in matching Maseratis."

"If you can afford to buy them out of your own pocket," Reuben said.

All three of them sagged with playful disappointment.

"Spoilsport," Parker muttered.

Caleb cleared his throat again, clearly becoming impatient. "There's the matter of the information Kurt has, that he might decide to sell." He carefully avoided looking at me.

Everyone else did instead, including Ric, who looked confused.

I sighed. "He might as well know too."

"Know what?" Ric asked. He looked around the room, then at Daze.

She shrugged, then looked over to me.

"I'm the Sparrow," I said.

He stared at me in disbelief for a few moments before my words sunk in. "I see." To Daze, he said, "You knew?"

"I guessed," she said. "We're all sworn to secrecy. That includes you now."

"Yes, it does," Reuben said, his tone a thinly veiled threat.

"No one will hear it from me," Ric assured me. "Does?—"

"Rose doesn't know," I said. "Neither do Dane or Asher, as far as I know. I'd like to keep it that way. For now."

"Because we need to sell the information," Caleb said. "To keep Kurt from doing the same thing."

"We talked about this," Reuben said.

"And we came to no conclusions," Caleb reminded him. "If I recall, Mina was in favour of this plan."

"As opposed to giving any more power to Kurt," I said. "We also talked about spreading the information that a woman was kept in his basement. Without naming me."

"We're happy to do that," Hunter offered. "Parker and I have many skills. Spreading gossip is one of them. We can make it sound as bad as you want, but keep your name out of it."

Reuben glanced at me before nodding. "Do it. But Caleb is right, we need to address the issue of the Sparrow. We need to take that information out of his hands and stop him from capitalising on it."

"By capitalising on it ourselves," Caleb said.

"Is it really necessary to mention Mina?" Ric asked.

Silence fell again while everyone processed his words.

"How difficult would it be to convince everyone Kurt is the Sparrow?" I asked finally. "We give out that information and he'll have people going after him, right along with us."

Hunter burst out laughing. "That's fucking awesome. Like throwing him in the centre of a shark-feeding frenzy."

"Right where he belongs," Parker agreed.

"Easier if we can find Kurt," Damon said. "Or better yet, have him turn up at a location where the Sparrow is expected. The second part will be easier than the first."

"We need to draw him out," I said. "We need to offer him something he won't be able to resist."

"No," Reuben said. "You're not putting yourself out there as bait. We've had that discussion."

I shook my head. "We already know that won't work. He didn't come for me in person when he used Leon as bait for us. There has to be something else."

"Like what?" Hunter asked.

"I have no idea," I admitted. "What does he care about more than me or his money?"

"Power," Ric said. "The same thing that drives most of us. If we can whittle down his power, he'll have no choice but to show himself. If we tell everyone he's the Sparrow, who…abducted a woman he met while he was working, people will start to turn on him."

"Definitely," I said. "That goes against the assassin code of conduct. But we can go one further. We can tell everyone he murdered an innocent child. They only need to look into it to learn the truth. We give them the place and the dates and they can confirm it."

Her face flashed in my memory, small and perfectly innocent. Another pawn in Kurt's fucked up game, like I was.

"I can provide the logs of my movements that night."

Reuben rolled his lips before he said, "Do it."

"Are you sure, sweetheart?" Gianni rose and came to put his arms around me.

The nicks in his neck had stopped bleeding, but my pulse ratcheted up at the sight of them. Each one of them. I had to push the thoughts aside before my panties ended up drenched again.

"Once the name of the Sparrow is tarnished, it's going to be hard to clear that," Gianni said. "Once people believe it's really Kurt, that's what they're going to keep believing. They're not going to want to hire the Sparrow when the rest of it comes out. You may never work under that name again." His brow creased, dark eyes worried for me, and the implications of the idea.

I appreciated his concern for me and the reputation I'd worked so hard to build. He was always first to think of me, and make sure I was all right, no matter what was happening.

I leaned into him and inhaled his masculine scent. Today he smelled like cinnamon and leather, and satisfaction. Maybe with a tiny hint of blood.

"I'm starting to think that persona is my past," I said. "I can build a new one. If this is the only way we can get him, I'll gladly give it up. It was a part of me, but not all of me. Not my entire identity."

"No, you're Mina fucking DiMarco," Gianni said. "My badass woman."

"Our badass woman," Reuben growled.

Damon grunted his agreement.

"Our badass woman," Gianni corrected himself. He kissed my forehead.

"I'll start to put out hints that we have this information to sell," Caleb said. "I doubt it'll take more than a day or two to get a few bites."

He looked satisfied at this compromise. That was fortunate, because I'd wondered if his intention was to throw me to the wolves. Evidently, he was more interested in the same agenda as the rest of us. Putting an end to Kurt Lasalle.

"I found references to a Gage Prior," Damon said, his blue eyes on me. "Apparently he worked for Reuben's father. As far as I can tell, he was investigating something, but there's no mention of what. If I had to guess, I'd suspect there were suspicions about Kurt and he was trying to uncover what he was doing. He disappeared around the same time as Mina. They never found his body." He looked regretful.

Caleb, on the other hand, looked shaken. "Gage Prior was investigating Kurt?"

"You knew him?" Reuben asked. There was more concern in his tone than I'd ever heard from him when he addressed his younger brother. He appeared genuinely concerned at Caleb's response. Even the twins were staring at Caleb like they might actually be worried about him.

"He… We were…" Caleb swallowed. "Yes, we knew each other. I was aware he disappeared, but never knew why. I always thought…" He looked rocked to his core.

"We only have Leon's word for it that he's dead," I said. "It's possible he's…somewhere else. I was." I briefly explained what Leon said.

Caleb swallowed, his skin slightly green. "That sounds like Gage. He was always trying to be a fucking hero. Like he could save everyone. He never understood some people couldn't be saved." He seemed to be talking about himself.

"Everyone can be saved," I said softly. "They just have to want to be."

He gave me a sharp look, and a curt nod. "I should get to work. The sooner this is dealt with, the better."

I got the feeling the matter had become personal to him. I also got the impression I'd never get the truth out of Caleb, but at least he had answers about his… Friend.

Although, maybe it gave him more questions than answers. That might be cold comfort.