Isabella’s stomach clenched. “And what makes you think I’ll come to you?”
His answer was as immediate as it was matter-of-fact. “Because if you don’t, I’ll start purging my inventory. One girl every four hours. And trust me when I tell you, it will take that long for them to die.”
For a second, she couldn’t breathe. “You wouldn’t.”
DuPree’s laugh was sharp enough to cut glass. “I think we both know that I would.
I do hate to waste commodities, but there will always be more where they came from. And alas, there’s only one you, Detective Moreno. There will be a keycard for you in the lobby. If you tell anyone else about this meeting—and I will know if you do—I’ll start killing girls immediately. So do take care to be discreet.”
Her mind scrambled for a last-ditch ploy, anything to give her leverage. “You don’t really think I’m going to walk in there without backup, do you?”
“Seeing as how this is your only chance at getting anywhere near me, yes, I actually do. Oh, I nearly forgot. Do us both a favor and don’t arrive armed. That would be poor form. Am I clear?”
She had no choice but to say, “Perfectly.”
“Then we have a date.”
The line went dead, and dread filled Isabella’s chest like ice water.
But the sensation was nothing compared to what she felt when she turned around and saw Kellan standing in the doorway.
* * *
Kellan scraped in a breath, doing his best to hold on to the last ounce of his composure as the conversation he’d just overheard trickled all the way into his brain.
You don’t really think I’m going to walk in there without backup, do you?
Nope. Screw composure. He was about to lose his fucking mind.
“What the hell are you thinking?” he asked, closing the space between them in only a few strides. “You’re going to meet with DuPree? Alone?”
A look of panic stole across Isabella’s face. “I’m…that’s what he wants.”
“No.” Kellan fired off the word like a mortar. “Isabella, you have to call Sinclair.”
“No!” The force of her emotions brought her chin snapping upward. “I can’t.”
She had to be kidding. “He’s your boss. Why the hell not?”
“Because he’s my boss,” she said, and damn, she so wasn’t kidding.
“Start talking. Right now.”
Although the whiskey-warm flash in her eyes said Kellan was pushing the boundaries of her tolerance by getting chippy, she started to explain. “DuPree wants a meeting with just me, at his penthouse. No backup, no weapons. Just me and him.”
Jesus. This guy had stones the size of an aircraft carrier. “He really is insane if he thinks you’ll agree to that.”
Although Kellan didn’t think it was possible, Isabella’s expression grew even more grim. “He’s going to start torturing and killing the girls from the party if I don’t.”
His blood whooshed hard enough in his veins that his knees loosened. “What?”
“One every four hours, starting at midnight, if I don’t show or if I tell anyone. And believe me, he means it.”
“He’s fucking deranged.” Kellan bit each syllable to the quick. “He wants to hurt you, and he won’t stop at anything until he does. You need to call Sinclair. Or at the very least let me go with you.”
Isabella’s breath flew out in a frustrated huff. “I can’t. I have to protect these women. Don’t you see? I don’t have a choice here. If I don’t go completely alone, he’s going to start killing people. I have to do this his way.”
Fear exploded in Kellan’s chest, hell-hot and frigid at the same time. She couldn’t do this. She could not.
“But you don’t,” he said, all the emotion he knew he should hold back rushing to the forefront and directly out of his mouth. “You don’t have to catch DuPree all by yourself, and you don’t have to keep chasing ghosts. Putting yourself on the line like this isn’t going to bring Marisol back.”
She froze, just for an instant before her spine straightened into a rigid line, and fuck. Fuck. “What did you say?”
“Isabella, I didn’t mean—”
“Oh yes you did.” She stepped back on the floorboards to nail him with a glare. “Let me assure you, I know all too well that nothing will bring Marisol back. She’s dead. She was raped and murdered by a man just like DuPree. I know that. I live with that every single day, and I’m not going to sit around and let it happen to any more women just because I’m afraid of taking a risk!”
Realization sank into Kellan with razor-wire teeth. “You’re going to do this no matter what I say, aren’t you?”
Isabella hesitated, and for one thin second, hope ignited in his belly.