“Easier?” Will lifted his arm and jerked out of Hunter’s hold. “Are you kidding me?”
“Don’t pretend to have clean hands.”
“I tried to stay away from the family and I have never been in the family business.”
“But you didn’t. When it came right down to it, sick daddy or not, you didn’t break away.” Hunter jammed his finger into Will’s chest. Did it a few times before flattening his palm and letting it rest against Will’s heart. “Everyone thinks they’d choose to be part of the resistance but when it comes right down to it, they pick the fastest road to survival.”
Will frowned. “What does that even mean?”
He’d tipped over and moved into hypocritical asshole territory. Even with his usual inability to read people, Hunter could see that.
“Forget it.” He waved off the talk and debated dropping his hand and stepping back for a breath. “Nothing.”
Will brushed his hand over Hunter’s. Just for a second, but it had an impact. “You’re trying to prove a point. So, prove it.”
The touching and coaxing in Will’s voice did Hunter in. Will sounded curious and genuine and Hunter saw so little of either in his line of work.
“It’s something my mother used to say.” He hesitated, not convinced he wanted to go down this road or share so much. His fingers slid down and settled on the top of the waistband of Will’s jeans. “My father was evil. He tried to pretty it up and had all of these excuses, but he was willing to turn in his neighbors and friends…”
“Was he with the BND?”
“He was East German secret police, the Stasi. He lived in the community and provided a list of names. He set up people he knew, many of whom disappeared off the street.” Hunter remembered reading the case files about his father’s handiwork. “He was a master at interrogation, at threatening people and their innocent families to get the information he needed.”
Will just stood there. “He lied.”
“About everything. And my mother pretended it wasn’t that bad and excused it as part of the times and a horrible struggle to survive.” The memories plowed into him. He tried to hold the words back but they tumbled out. “After the world changed, I was raised mostly in West Germany, so I didn’t know why I was bullied in school before we left. Most of what happened played out before I was old enough to get it, but the adults knew. They hated my father and mother, and me by extension.”
“I’ve read the accounts about the records and the trials.”
But he hadn’t lived them. Hunter had. “When I was a kid my mom and I would talk about Germany’s history and I’d insist that no decent person could side with the Nazis. She’d shake her head and talk about all the resistance groups and the danger those people worked in.”
Will frowned. “And?”
Hunter almost hated to finish, but he’d started them down this road. “Like I said, everyone looks back and thinks they’d be part of the resistance, but now I know, doing this work, that people reach for their own survival. They pretend they don’t see, and go along until they are standing in a pool of other people’s blood.”
He could almost hear his mother’s voice. She’d spent so much time justifying his father’s choices and insisting he’d done what he needed to do. Now Hunter knew better. His father had used fear and intimidation because he enjoyed it. In this business Hunter had seen it many times. There was nothing special about the type that liked to hurt others.
“You think that’s what I’m doing.” Will said it as a statement, not a question.
Hunter let his hand fall back to his side. “You’re wading up to your knees in blood.”
“You don’t really know me.”
But he did. This part he did. “I know you took the money. I know you don’t want to be like Stacia and Peter, and that your instinct is to run.”
“Exactly. I’m out.”
“No.” Hunter gave up on trying to keep his voice level and be reasonable. “Join the fucking resistance, Will. Put an end to the killing and to Pentasus.”
“You mean turn on my brother.”
“Absolutely. And don’t look back.” A part of him knew he was asking for a lot. He didn’t have a brother, so he couldn’t know how it would feel to have one ripped away. But the truth was Hunter hardly saw Peter as human.
Will shook his head. “That’s easy for you to say.”
True, all true. But still…“Running is easy. Playing house with me here is easy. I’m asking you to be the only Rivers that’s worth a damn.”
“Even if it means getting myself killed.”
The words sliced through Hunter. He felt the cut right to the bone. The idea of Will being hurt had the unexpected power to double him over. “I won’t let that happen.”
“Why should I trust you after everything I just found out?”
That was a damn good question. Hunter wanted Will to, but how to convince him? Maybe it wasn’t even possible right now. Maybe Seth’s entrance had managed to shred everything and ruin any chance of moving forward. Hunter couldn’t even think about that or the fact he’d spilled his biggest secret. All because he needed Will to understand.
“Because you no longer have a choice.”
Chapter 14
A rumbling sound cut off Will’s reply. He was almost grateful because he had no idea how to respond. The resistance story. During the whole thing he’d just stood there, listening. He’d been so desperate to know more about Hunter. Even that little piece told so much about the man he was and what had shaped him. Will knew there was so much more Hunter wasn’t saying. He shouldn’t care, not after being lied to and used, but he did care. Too much.
The rumbling gave way to a soft pop. As he watched, part of the far wall of the apartment disappeared. It moved to the side and Seth slipped through the opening. On any other day, Will would have rubbed his eyes and wondered what the hell was going on. Now he feared this sort of thing had become normal.
“Now what?” he asked, mostly under his breath because nothing surprised him at the moment.
Hunter glanced over his shoulder and did a double take. When he turned to Seth he threw his arms out to the side. “What are you doing?”
“We’re coming in through the secret passage.” Seth shot Hunter a look that suggested he should be faster in figuring these things out. “I thought that seemed obvious.”
But it wasn’t just Seth this time. As Will watched, two more men snuck through. They marched together into the apartment’s living area. Behind them he could see into the place next door. It looked remarkably like the one they were standing in. And the men were familiar. Too familiar.
“That door needs some work. Good thing we own both apartments.” The guy in the lead focused only on Will. “I’m—”
“I know who you are.” Will absolutely knew.
Fisher Braun. The CIA special ops guy Stacia wanted to grab to add to her collection of high-powered targets. Learning about him, overhearing her plans, was what had tipped Will off to the real purpose of Pentasus. Once he’d heard Stacia and Peter talking there was no going back. No way to keep pretending his family was ruthless but that was it.
He also remembered meeting the man behind Fisher. Zach…the guy who’d once worked for Stacia but did so without her suspecting he was undercover until the very end. The one who’d been tied to a chair, being interrogated, when the house exploded.
They’d blown it up. These guys. This mix of CIA or BND or whoever they were. It all made sense now.
Fisher stopped right in front of Will. Actually walked them both backward until they moved near the door. “Right, because you stood in a room and watched your sick fuck of brother aim a gun at my head. At his.”
The “him” in question—Zach—stepped up and put a hand on Fisher’s shoulder. “Fisher, it’s okay.”
“Fisher can be a dick. You’ll get used to it.” Seth shifted until he stood next to Will.
Will figured it was some sort of protective measure.
Seth likely thought Fisher would launch a strike. Fine, let him. Trained agent or not, Will would make sure the guy only did it once.
“Just making it clear where I stand.” Fisher took another step. Got right in Will’s face. “You’re supposed to be a smart guy, right? All pretty and bright and—”
“Enough.” Something snapped in Will’s brain. Unable to rein in the frustration running through him, he grabbed Fisher, clearly surprising him, and slammed him up against the stone wall next to the door. Put his arm right across his throat and pressed. “You need to know when to stop talking.”
Seth whistled. “Well, now. Looks like he’s not just a pretty boy.”
Despite the pressure on his windpipe, Fisher didn’t flinch. He actually held up a hand to stop Zach when he moved in to help.
Fisher locked gazes with Will. “Daddy teach you that move?”
“Do you want to know what else I can do?”
“Will, you made your point.”
Hunter’s calm voice registered and Will let go. He stepped back, ready for a second shot if Fisher came at him, but the other man just stood there. A movement caught Will’s attention and he looked down. Fisher held a gun. Had it pointed right at Will’s stomach. Probably had the whole time.
Fisher smiled, but it was cold and emotionless. “One more minute and I would have shot you.”
“No you wouldn’t have. And to be fair, you were kind of asking for it.” Zach put his hand on the top of the gun and lowered Fisher’s arm.
This time Fisher’s smile looked genuine. “Thanks, babe.”
“Now that the mandatory testosterone battle is over, everyone knows everyone, right?” Seth pointed around the room and stopped at Hunter. “You know him.”
“Obviously not.” Will was beginning to doubt everything Hunter ever said. He was clearly part of a coordinated team. BND, CIA…it really didn’t matter. Point was, he killed for the government and would not think twice of adding another Rivers to his list of targets.
“So, you’re not just the quiet, hang-around-in-the-shadows type.” Fisher touched his neck, light and quick. “Good to know…I think.”
Will was happy to see he’d made an impression. He might not be the deadliest Rivers, but he’d been trained to go on the offensive when threatened. “You can’t grow up in my family without learning how to fight.”
“Then why have all the guards around all the time?” Zach asked.
“Those were to protect us from outside forces. Learning how to shoot and stab was about surviving inside the house.” And on that point Will wasn’t exaggerating even a little. His mother hadn’t developed the skills and look what had happened.
Fisher shook his head. “Nice family you’ve got there.”
Nice was the absolute last word Will would use to describe them. “I never claimed it was.”
Now that they all stood there, sizing one another up and on guard, some of the tension seeped out of the room. At any moment that switch could get flicked and the weapons would likely come back out, but for now they all waited. Will just didn’t know what for. They were the professionals. He was merely trying to survive.
Hunter’s gaze swept over Will. He could feel it through every cell. It wasn’t sexual. More like Hunter had slipped into bodyguard mode and was checking to make sure no one had gotten injured on his watch. Will didn’t know if that was a good sign or not. Hell, he didn’t even know what he wanted with Hunter at this point. He’d barely understood that he had emotions for Hunter other than wanting him when the punches started flying and everything got mixed up and confused.
“What’s the plan?” Hunter asked.
“We think Peter was telling the truth, which means the immediate concern is Gatt and making sure he doesn’t consolidate power.” Seth looked around and didn’t talk again until they had all focused on him and what he was saying. “Stacia got tied up with a very dangerous man.”
“You talk like you didn’t know Stacia,” Will said. They all looked at each other, then stared at him. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Will still wasn’t sure they got it. So many people had seen Stacia and pegged her as this sophisticated, mysterious, attractive rich woman. That was all true, but she was not just a pretty face. She could outlast almost all of them in a game of wits and stamina. “She was ruthless. Much worse than Peter.”
“We know.” And Fisher’s dark eyes suggested he meant it.
From the reaction, Will could tell they’d seen her in action. He wondered what they knew from experience that he hadn’t been able to cobble together on his own. “So, Peter thinks he can keep me in line. Gatt wants to fill Stacia’s shoes and decided to use me to get there.”
Fisher hummed. “He is smart.”
If only it were that simple. “No, I’ve just seen this before. My father and uncle played a similar game. Until my father had my uncle killed.”
But they had to know that. Will guessed they had thick files on his family and their dealings. They’d collected enough intel to track them down, to know they hid something behind their legitimate businesses.
Zach’s eyebrow lifted. “You knew that?”
Will had worked through that long ago. His mother and uncle had died suddenly and in odd circumstances. They were the two people who treated him like family His father was cold and demanding, seeing his kids more like soldiers than children. His uncle was the one who walked outside with him and took him boating.
His father had gotten rid of both of them.
A churning started low in his stomach. It hit him whenever he thought of his mother and his uncle, of losing them. Of how them trying to support and protect him likely cost their lives. “Suspected. I’m not sure who was poisoning my dad at the end there before the explosion, but I’m guessing—”
“Me.” Hunter’s harsh voice rang out. “Stacia knew and approved.”
Pain whooshed through him but Will had no idea why. He shouldn’t care about his father. Not after everything. The Stacia part didn’t even surprise him, but Will hated what the revelation said about the man he was sleeping with.
“Damn.” Seth shook his head. Sounded half amused. “You two are going to have some messed-up relationship shit to deal with later.”
Hunter didn’t say anything.
“No, we’re not.” Will didn’t know what they meant to each other but the word relationship certainly didn’t fit. He didn’t know much about how normal humans interacted, but he’d seen people at school. Went to friends’ houses while he was away.
Being locked in never-ending combat and an elusive quest for power was far outside of the usual family dynamic. In most families there was a bond, an unspoken understanding that they—as a unit—came first. He’d never had that security.
Hunter’s gaze lingered for an extra second before switching to Seth. “Since you didn’t bother to follow Peter, what’s next in terms of contact?”
All of the amusement left Seth’s face. “We did and he has a tight circle protecting him. We didn’t want to risk blowing our cover and making him twitchy by going in too early. We need Peter to come and go, visiting Will as much as possible.”
Will felt Fisher staring at him and turned to face him. “What?”
Fisher shrugged. “We’ll just have to hope Ed is wrong about Peter wanting you dead.”
“No one is going to get to Will,” Hunter said.
“Huh.” Zach nodded. “That’s pretty romantic.”
“Gatt can’t wait to make a move.” Seth talked louder, drowning out the rest of the conversation. “Now that Peter is in Paris, he’s going to want to get Pentasus up and running as soon as possible. Prove to the clients he is in control and it’s business as usual. Gatt has to stop all that. He needs you in power, calming any client concerns, and he can position himself as your right-hand man.”
He didn’t need to spell out the rest of the plan. Will got it. Hunter had dropped clues, but now was the time to just get to it. “So, we set me up
to lure Gatt out.”
They all viewed him as bait. Worse, as fodder. He was the dispensable one. Even Hunter wasn’t giving him eye contact right now.
“Yes. Ed knows you’re here. He’s watching, so we’ll make it easy for him to contact you,” Seth said. “Again.”
“Wait.” Hunter seemed to snap out of the haze surrounding him. He looked up from the spot on the floor that had had his attention a second ago and turned his gaze to Seth. “Gatt needs to come here. To this apartment, where he’ll be stuck with a limited security detail and an inability to scope out the place first without us knowing about it.”
“You mean the place where all these other innocent people live?” Zach asked. “We don’t have control over the entire building or the street.”
Fisher looked at Hunter. “Again, you dropped into our territory without notice. We’ve been scrambling to move the neighbors out one by one using excuses like gas leaks and extermination, but we don’t want to tip off Gatt or Peter.”
“Right.” Seth continued to talk like the final call was all his. “The club where you beat up everyone you saw. That’s the next move. We almost have control over that space. We’ve been working on that because we saw this coming and, as far as we can tell, neither Peter nor Gatt is watching that space closely.”
Will wanted this over. Now…ten minutes from now, but soon. He had the call button and could get Gatt and Ed to come here, but no one else in the room seemed to know that. For now, he’d keep that bit of information to himself. They’d go with Seth’s plan and hope to avoid a shoot-out. Maybe it was less likely anyone would fire out there than in here.
“Fine.” It wasn’t, not really, but Will figured it was as close as they were going to get to fine.
The anger ratcheted up as the energy spun around the room. Seth and Hunter looked ready to battle this out to the death. Will knew one thing with complete certainty: he should have run when he had the chance. Should have resisted the urge and skipped trying to see Hunter one last time. Not lured him into the club.
The Talented Mr. Rivers Page 14
