“Three,” Chris said, his voice loud in the silence of the room.
“Chris.” Relief hit me, hard and fast, and my knees threatened to give out on me. After all this tension and fear, my blood brother had swooped in to save the day. I wasn’t fighting alone. “Thank God. Kill this little shit.”
Chris laughed. “Yeah . . . I can’t exactly do that. I kind of hired him.”
“What do you . . .?” I curled my hand that wasn’t holding the gun into a fist, unable to believe what I was hearing. “You hired him.”
It wasn’t a question. Not really.
“I did.” Chris laughed again, walking closer. His steps were slow. Unhurried. Steady. “Oh, right. Surprise. Your brother isn’t trying to kill you. I am.”
My stomach rolled into a tight ball. A bird flew by the window, singing a cheerful song, and I wanted to fucking shoot it. Because the one man I’d trusted was going to be the one man who brought me down. He knew all my secrets. Knew saving Heidi hadn’t been an act of kindness. He knew.
And if he’d found Heidi . . . Please, no.
But he couldn’t see my fear. Couldn’t see me panic. I uncurled my fist, one finger at a time, and forced myself to relax. “So all that shit about Scotty?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral. “You made it up?”
“Yeah.” He leaned against the wall, crossing his ankles and looking as if he didn’t have a care in the world—even though he’d just blown mine to pieces. “Scotty has no idea what’s going on, and it’ll stay that way.”
I swallowed hard, my stomach still threatening to eject its contents, and tried to figure out the big picture. If Chris had been plotting to kill me along—and he clearly had—then why were we standing here, shooting the shit? Why wasn’t I lying on the floor with a bullet in my brain? “Why?”
“The original plan was to convince you to kill your brother. I would, of course, be there with you. The second you pulled the trigger, I’d pull mine. I’d go back to Tate, tell him you were working with the police and killed your own brother in cold blood before I could stop it. I’d be the hero. And you’d be dead, like you should have been long ago.”
“Wow.” I swallowed hard. “That’s pretty fucking cold, man.”
Chris lifted a shoulder. “It never should’ve been you.”
“What shouldn’t have been me?” I slowly rotated a little to the left. “The—?”
“Don’t even think about moving another inch,” he snapped. “I know all your tricks, brother.”
“Brother.” I snorted, rage finally taking over the shock that had punched me in the throat. “Fuck you. You’re not my brother.”
“Ouch. That almost hurts.” Chris stared down at Heidi’s purse, a smirk taking over his face. My other gun sat on the table behind him. “You shouldn’t have gotten promoted, or even gotten in the gang. If I’d known then that you’d swoop in and take my position from me, I’d have shot you as a kid.”
I forced myself to smirk. “As if you could. You never could beat me.”
Chris’s face flushed, and he stepped closer, anger and jealousy coming off him in thick, tangible waves. It made me wonder how I’d missed it before—the jealousy. “Funny, because I’m winning now. When my original plan didn’t work quickly enough, I had to come up with a new one. I couldn’t risk you talking it out with Scotty and realizing it was me who wanted you dead.”
I refused to ask him what his new plan was. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “I fail to see how that means you’re winning.”
“That’s because you didn’t even see the fourth guy come in.”
Fourth guy? Shit. I clenched my jaw, knowing the answer to my question but playing along anyway. “Where is he?”
“He was retrieving something for me while Phil distracted you with the pretty view of Boston you’ve got there.” Chris cocked his head. “Bring her out, Tom.”
I stiffened, knowing what I was going to see and hating it. Hating that it had come to this. The second I’d found out it was Chris, not Scotty, who wanted me dead, I’d known how this would end. He knew too much.
I should have run with her last night. Should have run, to keep her safe.
I’d do anything to keep her safe, damn it.
And Chris knew it.
The man I’d let live the other night came out of the bedroom, one arm clenched around Heidi’s throat way too tightly, and the other holding a gun to her head. She had both hands wrapped around the man’s forearms, and stumbled forward as he nudged her with his knee. He laughed and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Easy. Wouldn’t want you to get hurt . . . yet. Not before we finish what we started the other night.”
“My, my.” Chris grinned and dusted his hands off. I knew that grin all too well. It was the one he’d always worn right before he did something that would get him, and me, in trouble. “Welcome to the party, doll. Good of you to join us. Please contain yourself, and save the begging for your lives for later.”