Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

LAINEY

E m went deathly pale and her gaze wasn't on me or Pretty Boy or even Ezra. It was on my bodyguard.

"Em… What's wrong?"

She said nothing, her eyes seemed almost unnaturally large. My stomach dropped at the clear horror reflected in them.

"Ivy?" Pretty Boy prompted. He and Ezra were both on their feet. Ezra cut his gaze back and forth between Em and me. He seemed nearly as mystified as I was by her response.

I'd never seen her look like this…

"He worked for my uncle…"

The words seemed to rip out of her like we were tearing off a sheet of paper. Ice threaded through my veins at the mention of that vile man twined with Em staring at Karagiani.

He worked for her uncle.

He worked for her uncle .

It was like a dozen scenarios cascaded through my mind, each one going from terrible to worse. Dead almost a year and Bradley Sharpe still inflicted wounds.

Hell. No.

A flash of movement warned me as Karagiani shifted his stance. I had no idea what I intended to do before, but he didn't give me time to consider any of them. I twisted, caught his forearm as he went to seize me and pushed him past me.

Using his momentum, I pivoted on my heel. There was a stutter of disbelief on his face as he went past me. I didn't have to do another damn thing because Ezra was just on him. He pummeled Karagiani with a series of blows. His fists struck with meaty force and blood spattered me from a cut that opened on Karagiani's face.

Ezra charged him in the middle and half-picked him up as he slammed him into a table. Something shattered and there was a crack in the wall. Fists clasped together Karagiani drove both down to hit Ezra in the back.

My baton was already out but I needn't have bothered. Milo caught the next swing of Karagiani's fists and he wrenched his left arm down and back. Ezra took advantage of the distraction and slammed his fist into the man's stomach until he doubled over.

Then the bastard staggered Ezra with a blow from his foot right to the center of his chest. I half-caught him as he fell backwards and then slid around him and used the space to strike the baton against Karagiani's knee as he pulled it back for another blow.

The head butt he gave Milo had no effect, he kept twisting Karagiani's arm until the man actually let out a scream. Then he pushed it further. The sickening crack of bone echoed into the silence and Milo used the force and the pain to put Karagiani on his knees.

Ezra started forward again, blood in his eyes. Milo shook his head once, I put up an arm to block him. My purse was somewhere on the floor and I had the baton in my right hand.

"I want answers," I said before Ezra could begin beating the man again. "We need them."

"We need to secure him," Milo said, not that he seemed to have any struggle keeping Karagiani on his knees. Pretty Boy's expression arrested me, however, his glower at the man he held couldn't shake the worry and the pain in his eyes whenever he glanced at Em…

Fuck. Em.

I pivoted to where she now stood. There was no hiding the violent trembling as she fumbled with what to do with her arms. I collapsed the baton and slid it into the inner pocket of my jacket.

"Em… come on, we're gonna go get the Zip-ties."

When I held out my hand, she gave me a shaky look. Her pupils were enormous. "I don't want to run away…"

"You aren't," I promised her. "We're going to do this together." Right now, she needed to be the fuck away from Karagiani. She needed to catch her breath. We needed to secure the bastard.

I needed to send messages to the guys.

Em hesitated for only a second longer, then her hand was in mine.

"We'll be right back. Ezra, close the door. Pretty Boy, you have him?"

"Yes." He still lifted his chin to me, with a flick of a look at his sister. I ushered her along with me. Bodhi's office was back this way and I knew exactly where he kept the restraints there.

I had my phone in my pocket, rather than my purse, and I pulled it out as I tugged Em into the office. Two quick texts, one to Bodhi and the other to Adam.

Karagiani worked for B. Sharpe. Em at the apt. Pretty Boy restraining him. Questioning imminent.

They both read the message almost immediately and Adam's response was as colorful as I would have expected. Bodhi's was far more succinct.

On my way!

Lowering the phone, I turned to Em. "You don't have to spend another moment with him."

"I love you," she whispered. "But I can do this."

Away from him, some of the color had come back to her face and her pupils weren't quite so huge. The trembling was still right there. She was also still panting. My dislike for Karagiani had magnified a thousand times over.

"I need to do this, Lainey." That I understood so much.

"Okay." I squeezed her hand once then let her go. "Give me a sec."

It didn't even take me that long to find the zip-ties. They were stored in a credenza of all things. The drawers were neatly organized to include handcuffs, zip ties, and some kind of other flex tie. There were also a variety of gags. Then the drawer next to it had several lengths of rope.

Em let out a little laugh as I turned with the zip ties in hand. "You know, I'm just going to accept that Bodhi has those like I do the guys."

I grinned. "We get all the toys and the fun."

Real laughter escaped her and more color came back to her face. That was better. She didn't hesitate to follow me back out to the living room where Karagiani was sweating and glaring.

He wasn't begging or complaining either. Ezra and Milo seemed to be in the same positions as they had been before, but Karagiani seemed to be bleeding more. His jacket was open and his gun was no longer apparent in the shoulder holster.

Em followed in my wake and she stayed near me while Milo got Karagiani secured. I didn't know if we were going to move him from here for the interrogation, but we would need to do something.

It irked me that this happened in Bodhi's space. His home that he'd opened to all of us. I shifted my attention to Ezra. He leaned against a chair, his posture betraying more than his pained expression.

Karagiani had kicked him in the chest.

"I'm alright, Kotyonok," he murmured as he caught my gaze. He flattened his hand as if to tell me to stay where I was. "Really. It hurt, knocked the air out of me, that's all."

I glared at Karagiani. So many questions burned on my tongue.

So. Many. Questions.

Pretty Boy swept me from head to toe with a look then he glanced past me to Em. He wanted to go to his sister. Wanted to comfort her. But he wouldn't leave Karagiani unattended.

All we had to do now was wait. First Tally. Now this. As aggravating as this discovery was, I was glad to know it before Karagiani learned anything else about us. He worked for her uncle. No one decent could work for that man.

No one.

That wasn't just guilt by association, that was evil by choice. I rather doubted we would have long to wait, but I was going to have a coffee and maybe something a little stronger.

Interestingly, Karagiani still said nothing at all as I collected my purse. "Did he have a phone?"

Pretty Boy nodded to where the weapons had been laid out on the coffee table. Yes, there was a phone. I picked it up and studied it then waited for it to ask for facial ID. It didn't. Just wanted a passcode.

Disappointing.

We'd figure it out later.

"Em, you want another coffee?"

She was staring at Karagiani again, but Ezra actually moved into her line of sight and broke it. I threw him a smile. There was more stiffness to his motion than I cared for, but I would get a good look at his chest later.

Blowing out a breath, Emersyn glanced at me, then shook her head. "Not really sure I could drink it."

"Come with me while I make mine?"

She gave me just a small reproachful look but I didn't back off on the offer. In my opinion, Em was one of the strongest people I'd ever known. She'd had to be, to survive everything her family had put her through.

Thankfully, she offered no argument and followed me into the kitchen. The silence from the other room was more telling than anything. Karagiani had a broken arm and he wasn't making a sound. Pretty Boy was ready to gut him, but he wanted answers for Em.

Ezra? I'd never seen him so angry. He could barely take his gaze off Karagiani. Then again, he'd been the one to hire him to look after me.

I tilted my head back and closed my eyes.

"Hey," Em said as she slipped an arm around my waist. I leaned into her, accepting the offer of support. "We're okay."

Yes. We were. We stood like that for a long moment. "We are okay," I repeated. "We're going to keep being okay."

"Of course we are," she said. "Because who would dare argue with us?"

It was my turn to chuckle. "Every single man we're involved with and we wouldn't have it any other way."

"You have a point." Still, we didn't pull away from each other. I needed the comfort as much as I needed to offer it.

"I talked to Tally today," I told her. She knew what Tally had done, and who she was involved with. It had been Em who said she didn't believe Tally could know who King really was or how it would affect us.

She was right, but I just couldn't find it in me to forgive it. Gross oversight or no, Tally's choices had hurt people I loved. I wasn't sure I could ever forgive them or her.

"I'm sorry," Em murmured. "That had to be hard."

I nodded. Tally and Emersyn were my oldest friends. Emersyn had been my secret best friend and Tally had been my public one. Neither ever begrudged the other. Even now, I suspected I could call Tally for help and she would drop everything.

It didn't change anything and that was the part that left regret souring in my stomach. I was still turning that over in my head when Em started making the coffee.

"I was going to do that," I told her and she gave me a small smile.

"I know. But we take care of each other. It's what we do."

Yes, it was. "I'm sorry you found him here." This piece of her past that brought her uncle to mind.

"I'm sorry he's anywhere near you." The fierce declaration made me smile.

"You know," I told her. "It occurs to me that he's made a grave mistake." She didn't ask me what it was and I didn't have to explain. After the coffee was ready, I took a sip and we stayed in the kitchen long enough for Em to pull herself together again.

The scars were there. The places where the knitted together tissue of her life pulled taut. She'd survived so much brutality and betrayal. More, she'd begun to thrive and I hated that anything threw a wrench at her, much less something like this.

At the same time, I marveled at the way she gathered her composure. When we walked back out to the living room, she seemed far more like her. Karagiani, however, was bleeding from more wounds.

Ezra's knuckles were bruised and bloody. Funnily enough, Pretty Boy looked neither annoyed nor moved. Karagiani listed hard to the right, but defiance was still etched into his face.

Thankfully, we didn't have to wait for answers much longer. The door opened to let Bodhi and Adam in, along with Liam and Rome. I was surprised the others weren't here yet, but I didn't doubt if they were on their way.

Rome paused to stare at the man on his knees, as did Bodhi. Adam swept me from head to toe, then Ezra. His eyes narrowed at the bloodied knuckles, but Ezra's stare was so bland, I almost laughed.

Liam though, he came straight to Em and I loved that for her. "Hellspawn?" Then he wrapped her into a hug and I drifted closer to Ezra and Adam, rubbing a hand down Ezra's arm to offer him comfort. He snaked that arm around me and pulled me to him.

Letting them take care of me was how I took care of them. Like Emersyn, Ezra shook a little. His trembling wasn't fear.

It was rage.

Rage that he pointed wholly at the man on his knees.

"How do we want to do this?" I asked because I really didn't want any more blood in Bodhi's place. I rather doubted he would mind, but…

"Soundproof room." Bodhi seized Karagiani by one arm and Pretty Boy took the other. They hauled him through the apartment with all of us following. Instead of the research room he'd opened from his office, the soundproof room was located on the other side of the downstairs guest room.

It was small, plain and utterly unremarkable save for the plastic sheeting on the floor, and the large eyelet screwed into the ceiling. Well, those and the entire shelf full of sharp and rather menacing looking devices.

"You know," Ezra said. "I'm really starting to like you, Bodhi."

"I grow on people," Bodhi answered as they secured Karagiani to the eyelet. It meant loosening his restraints, but he wasn't going anywhere. A grunt of pain escaped the man as they pulled his arms higher.

No sympathy existed within me.

"PPG?" Bodhi said and I shook my head. That nickname was amusing, if it bothered Em, Trouble would never have used it. But the tense air around her lightened and the source of the nickname gave her room to breathe.

I would never find fault with that.

"He worked for my uncle," Em explained and she had the attention of everyone in the room. "The day I was taken back… he was there. He stopped the one guard who sliced my wrists, but he wasn't my friend. He made that very clear."

Every word came out stronger than the last.

"Did he hurt you, Ivy?" Pretty Boy's question belied the intensity in his glare.

"Not directly."

Well, that was one point in his favor.

Not that it was going to sway much.

"So, you didn't hurt her directly," I said, meeting Karagiani's gaze and holding it. "But you were ready to assault me the minute she recognized you." The temperature in the room plummeted. "I want to know why."