Game of Lies

by Amanda K. Byrne

  Cover Copy

  The ties that bind, the vengeance that severs…

  Cass Turner, promising UCLA student, is gone. All that remains now is Cass the rogue assassin. Her target: all those who’ve sworn their loyalty to Isaiah, a man so ruthless Cass won’t find peace until he’s destroyed. Yet Cass’s brazen killing spree has driven a wedge between her and the man she loves. As a lieutenant in LA’s largest crime family, Nick Kosta has his own reasons for wanting Isaiah dead. But if Cass continues to play by her own rules, she'll have to choose between Nick and getting even.

  When her one chance at the ultimate revenge is snatched away, Cass's world begins to fall apart. Now they’re going to play by Nick’s rules—even if it means betraying her trust. Because the danger to their lives, and their future, is far from over. But with the body count rising, and a target on Nick’s back, Cass will have to find a way to unearth the lies that surround the Kostas and find the killer in their midst...before it’s too late.

  Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com

  Books by Amanda K. Byrne

  Game of Shadows

  Game of Vengeance

  Game of Lies

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

  Game of Lies

  Amanda K. Byrne

  LYRICAL PRESS

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  Copyright

  Lyrical Press books are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2016 by Amanda K. Byrne

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  All Kensington titles, imprints, and distributed lines are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotion, premiums, fund- raising, and educational or institutional use.

  To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

  Special book excerpts or customized printings can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write or phone the office of the Kensington Special Sales Manager:

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Attn. Special Sales Department. Phone: 1-800-221-2647.

  Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  LYRICAL PRESS Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  Lyrical Press and the L logo are trademarks of Kensington Publishing Corp.

  First Electronic Edition: January 2017

  eISBN-13: 978-1-60183-650-2

  eISBN-10: 1-60183-650-31

  First Print Edition: January 2017

  ISBN-13: 978-1-60183-653-3

  ISBN-10: 1-60183-653-8

  Printed in the United States of America

  Dedication

  To my parents. Because I don’t say I love you often enough.

  Acknowledgements

  A huge thank you to my editor, Corinne DeMaagd. This whole trilogy wouldn’t be as amazing as it is without your guidance.

  I’m convinced my critique partner, Liv Rancourt, has an unending store of patience. Liv, you always listen to me, and give me a well-timed smack upside the head when necessary. Thank you so much for everything.

  And as always, the BF, Aaron, for putting up with me when I was a giant ball of stress. I love you!

  Chapter 1

  This place is a prison.

  I drop my keys on the kitchen counter and don’t bother with any of the lights. It would only illuminate the chaos. Cleaning the apartment after the mess Josef and I made is pointless. Once I’ve finished what I’ve set out to do, I’ll be leaving it.

  For now, it’s my prison. One of my own making. I don’t have to be here. I could have stuck with the plan. A single day, multiple hits, crippling Isaiah’s little uprising where it would hurt the most.

  Then he decided to balance the scales by killing my father right in front of me. So. Here I am. Carving away little pieces of his infrastructure every day, and every night I come back here because it’s familiar. I know every creak, every whisper of sound. If I have to be constantly on guard, I want to do it in a place where there are no surprises.

  I pull open the fridge for the pitcher of water and see my dinner sitting on the middle shelf. Nothing fancy, just a sandwich and a salad from the deli a few blocks over. Last night it was Chinese. There were leftovers when I went to bed last night, so Nick must have eaten them when he brought the sandwich by.

  I snag the food and bump the door shut with my hip, then set everything on the counter before pulling out my phone. It powers on in silent mode, vibrating once in my hand as the screen flashes to life. One new text and several voicemails. I ignore them and call my mother.

  The answering machine picks up, same as it has for the last thirteen calls. “Hi, Mom. It’s Cass. Can you pick up today? Please?” I asked the same thing on my previous calls; she never does. I stifle a sigh and give her another few seconds of silence. “I’ll be by tomorrow. You can tell me if you need anything when I see you.” I swallow hard. “I love you,” I whisper. “I miss you.”

  I hang up before I break and bite into the sandwich. Turkey with avocado. The man’s a quick study. Tell him once that turkey sandwiches are always better with avocado, and he makes sure it’s on every one I eat.

  I dial in for my voicemails and listen to them on speaker while I work my way through the salad.

  “Cass, it’s Denise. Um. I hope everything’s okay. Nick called me the other day and said you were, but I still want to hear it from you. I wish there was something I could do. Just…call me, okay?”

  Maybe someday when I feel more like a person than a machine, I can talk to her again. But I have to use this numbness while I can. I’m not ready to let it go yet. I delete her message and fork up more lettuce. I’ll text her in the morning. That I can do, and I owe her that much.

  There’s a message from Lia, her voice timid in a way I’ve never heard from her, asking if there was anything she can do. Another from Con, telling me to come back, the guest room isn’t the same without me.

  But nothing from Nick.

  In a life full of ghosts, he’s become the newest one. The food is one way I know he’s been in my apartment. Sandwiches, soup, a new box of cereal, a small carton of milk. Have to keep my strength up.

  I wonder if I’ll see him before I fall asleep.

  I ball up my trash and toss it into the garbage can, then wander to the couch and switch on the lamp. Another sign Nick’s been here—the box holding my cleaning materials is closed up and moved to a corner of the coffee table. I used the whetstone this morning and forgot to put it away. I won’t need them tonight. Today’s marks were pretty clean, both dosed with potassium chloride. No blood to wash off.

  I pull up my pant legs, unstrap the knife sheaths from around my ankles, and set them on the table in front of me. Slumping into the cushions, I tip my head back and shut my eyes, letting the exhaustion drag me down.

  Revenge is tiring. It’s this physically, emotionally, mentally demanding monstrosity that swears it’s only looking out for me and wants me to be happy. It’s a fucking liar. Sometimes I picture it standing in a corner, snickering at me. Because as demanding as it is, it responds with a kick of adrenaline every time I get a step closer. Can’t give up now, Cass. Can’t give up after you’ve taken out two men in one day.

  Only five more to go.

  Rubbing my temples, I sit up and gl
ance over at the door. Locked, of course. He won’t come to me while I’m still awake. Lucky for him, I’m about ready to keel over.

  I make my way to the bathroom and strip, turn on the water as hot as I can stand, then let it stream over me as the steamy heat fills the small space. Nine men down. Five left at the top of Isaiah’s hierarchy, not counting him. Tris, his shadow, will be the most difficult. I’ve spent most of my spare time trying to find a way to get him alone, but he’s either at Isaiah’s side or surrounded by his fellow SWAT team members.

  I blink away the water dripping into my eyes. Maybe that’s the solution. Maybe I should be focusing on the time Isaiah’s alone rather than trying to take out Tris. He usually leaves Isaiah with another guy when he has to go into work, but Isaiah doesn’t seem to have much confidence in the other guy; he won’t leave his latest base of operations without his shadow.

  My brain ramps back up, pushing aside the dregs of fatigue as it tries to find a solution to this problem. I get out of the shower and dry off, annoyed with myself. Now I’ll never get to sleep. I have to get to sleep.

  Sleep is when I see him.

  It’s the one time of day I let my guard down because he’s there, surrounding me, making it possible to catch a few hours of rest. Those scant hours, four, five at a time, give me the strength I need to keep going.

  We don’t talk. Or I don’t, anyway. Occasionally he’ll whisper to me in the dark. Tells me he loves me. Asks if I’m all right, even knowing I won’t respond. Not with words. Because the truth is I’m not all right. I haven’t been for a while, and Turner’s death only made it worse.

  I ignore the goose bumps prickling my skin and braid my wet hair back. If I’m lucky, it won’t come loose during the night. Those are the nights he holds me tight enough I can’t move, the faint cinnamon scent of his soap lulling me to sleep.

  I force myself to pick up my clothes and take them with me to the bedroom. I dump them into the hamper before I crawl into bed. The light’s still on in the living room, but he’ll turn it off when he comes in. I pull the covers up over my shoulders, shut my eyes, and settle in to wait.

  The nightmares come first. They always do. Fragments of the moment I discovered Turner, bound to a chair with a gun to his head. Those horrifying seconds when I stare at my mother’s battered face. Scott’s pale skin as he realizes he’s been shot. Nick’s terror that I’m trapped in his house as fire eats away at the walls.

  “Cassidy.”

  With a shudder, I strain toward his voice. He repeats my name, my full name, not the quick and easy “Cass.” I roll over and grope blindly, swallowing a sob when my hands connect with warm skin. I scoot toward him, not stopping until my face is buried in his neck, his heartbeat sure under my palm.

  Nick.

  He wants me to stop. Wants me to come home despite the fact we don’t have one. It’s there in the way he holds me, in those murmured words I can’t always understand. I won’t go with him, and he knows it. So this is the compromise he’s reached. Every night, wrapped together in my old bed, and then he sneaks out in the pre-dawn light to leave me alone.

  I need more tonight. I need him everywhere, anchoring me, letting me fly. I need to forget. I want to lose myself in him. We sleep naked. It’s never been a conscious taunt on my part, but the skin-to-skin contact is soothing. Tonight, I did it on purpose.

  He murmurs a soft protest as I trail my mouth up the side of his throat, the stubble on his jaw rough against my lips. But he kisses me willingly, eagerly, as needy as I am for this connection.

  It’s like a circuit coming online. The instant our mouths connect, my body lights up and my brain says yes. Legs tangling together, hips rocking, his tongue strokes mine, and I dig my nails into his shoulders, ready for more.

  He loosens his hold and I whimper, afraid he’s pulling away. “Let me touch you, love,” he whispers.

  Touch. We’re practically glued together, but our hands can’t slip between our bodies, explore all those places we found before. I ease back, my skin cooling instantly with the distance, but heat flares once again when he tweaks a nipple.

  I lose track of time. My world consists of Nick’s hands and mouth on my skin, his low groans and shudders, warm darkness, and a strange, sweet tenderness I hoard for later. He props my leg on his hip and plunges into me, then rolls me onto my back and pins me to the mattress.

  I can’t move. I don’t want to move. I wrap my limbs around him and hold on tight, his weight a comfort. Stroke after slow, shallow stroke, I climb with him, my mouth on any part of him I can reach. And when I finally break apart, he’s not far behind, leaving a rush of heat and love.

  I moan quietly and reach for him as he shifts away, not comforted at all by the kiss he places on my palm. He leaves me huddled in the bed, slick between my thighs and listening to his movements, hoping he won’t leave but unable to tell him not to go.

  The mattress dips behind me, and I turn over to see him sitting by my hip, washcloth in hand. Oh. Right. Sex is a messy business, and the smart thing would have been to get out of bed and clean up. Instead, he brings the cleanup to me.

  After, he slides in beside me, skin to skin, my body warm and loose. “I miss you,” I mumble, lips moving over his collarbone.

  He glides his hand up my spine and cups the back of my head. “It’s time to come home, Cass.” His chest rumbles with the words. “Time to stop. Come home with me.”

  I hold him tighter because I know in the morning he’ll be gone.

  Chapter 2

  He’s still here.

  Don’t ask me how I know this. We haven’t been together long enough for me to have developed that mythical sixth sense of knowing when my boyfriend is in the same space as me, but he’s here. A giddy bubble of happiness rises, then pops when I remember my task for the day: eliminate crony number five.

  The walls come back up, the shields slam down, and I get out of bed and pull on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. I tug the band from the bottom of my braid as I walk out of my bedroom.

  Nick’s on the couch, dressed in jeans and a dark blue button-up with the sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms. “You look like shit,” I say, working my fingers through the remains of my braid.

  He does. Despite the tidiness of his appearance, there are lines digging in around his mouth and between his brows. His hair has progressed beyond the casually messy stage and into the unkempt stage. But it’s his eyes that threaten to break me. They’re as weary-looking as I feel. If the hours of solid sleep I manage are few, his must be fewer, given he wakes before I do and steals out of my apartment.

  “You don’t look much better.” He stands and gestures to the kitchen. “Coffee?”

  I nod. “This is a change. You’re usually gone when I wake up.” Braid finally undone, I duck into the bathroom, retrieve my hairbrush, and run it through my hair, wincing as it snags on a few tangles. I pull it into a ponytail and step back into the living room, murmuring my thanks when Nick hands me a mug of coffee.

  “Circumstances necessitated the change. We can do this two ways—the easy way or the hard way.” He swallows coffee and takes his seat on the couch. “You have to stop, Cass.”

  I arch a brow as I sip my coffee. “I assume this must be the hard way you’re referring to? Talking me out of it? Isaiah’s still alive, Nick. I’m not stopping now.”

  “You’ve done plenty of damage on your own in the last two weeks,” he agrees. “But some of the families are asking questions, and while we’ve gotten to most of the bodies in time, there were a couple discovered before we could take care of them.”

  “And the police can’t bury the cases?” Clean up isn’t in my wheelhouse, and while I did my best to take out my targets in concealed spaces, it wasn’t always possible. Leaving Nick to deal with my fallout is a selfish move on my part.

  It’s eating at me from the inside out.

  “Our pull with LAPD only goes so far. You go after Tris,
and we’ll have none.”

  “Actually, I think I have a way around that.” Worried by the sudden weakness in my legs, I make my way to the opposite end of the couch. Guess I didn’t sleep as well as I thought I did. I gulp more coffee. “Whenever Tris has to report for work, he leaves another guy with Isaiah, but I get the feeling Isaiah doesn’t trust him. He won’t leave his safe house until Tris returns.” I lean forward and set my mug on the table. My hands are starting to shake, and I’d rather not burn myself. “If I can get inside the safe house, or get Isaiah out without Tris dogging him, I can end this.” I dig my nails into the side of my thigh. The pain is a weak, brief flash that does nothing to overtake the encroaching fatigue.

  “It doesn’t matter, Cass. You’ve lost the family’s backing. Any more bodies turn up, they won’t help you hide them.” He sighs and places his mug on the table.

  I scrub my hands over my face. “So I refocus on Isaiah. That’s fine. Another week, it’ll all be over.” My head is heavy. I turn sideways and rest it on the back of the couch.

  He shifts around to face me, the weariness in his gaze absolute. “That’s just it. I can’t run damage control for you any longer. You don’t get another week. My father, Con’s father, they’re not disagreeing something needs to be done, or even the way it’s being done. You changed the plan, and no one knows where you’re going to hit next. That’s what they object to.”

  Goddamn patriarchy. “I’d rather hit first, apologize later.” I’ll come up with a different plan. Tris doesn’t strike me as a leader. It’ll take the remaining five men some time to figure out how—or if—they’re going to continue with this little revolution.