They were babies trying to play spy games, and Levi should die horribly for taking advantage of them. But first they needed to get to safety because something had gone wrong. Maybe Levi had someone on the outside working for him.
Or someone on the inside and he’d gotten away.
Either way she needed to get herself and Tasha to safety. “Come on. We need to go back to the main house.”
Tasha nodded and then her eyes widened in pure terror.
“Too late for that, Solo. You should have known I would do anything to win.”
She turned and Levi moved from behind a tree, a gun in his hand.
Chapter Nineteen
Kim’s heart threatened to stop, and she knew she had mere seconds to avoid a tragedy. She hadn’t spent months trying to find this kid all those years ago only to watch Levi Green kill her today.
She stepped in front of Tasha. “Stay behind me.”
“But I told him where you were.” Tasha’s voice shook as she whispered the words.
“It doesn’t matter. Stay behind me. If I tell you to run, go for the house and I’ll try to keep him off you.” Kim never took her eyes off Levi.
“Ah, there’s my Solo.” He looked worse for the wear. He was dressed down, in all black, wearing a hoodie despite the heat. He likely had more weapons than that gun on his person. “You look good. Seven years hasn’t aged you at all, sweetheart. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
“What are you doing here?” She knew but she had a game to play, one that was hampered by the fact that she couldn’t let Levi kill anyone else. She didn’t even know where all the kids were. What would happen if they ran up?
“You remember when I told you about my wedding?”
“Yes. Is it this weekend or something? I thought you would be getting ready.” She had to stay calm. Levi was between them and the trail to the house, though she had to hope Tasha knew these woods. She’d been coming up here with her family for years.
“Well, turns out my lovely bride has changed her mind. I bet I know who helped her.” Levi had a dark gleam in his eyes. “You know, baby, if you’d told me you objected, I would have left her in a heartbeat. It was always you.”
“What are you talking about?” She hated this man. It was a churning fire in her gut, but spitting bile wouldn’t solve the problem. She had to keep him calm until someone came looking for them.
His eyes rolled. “Like you don’t know. I bet Beck threw a party when he found out. My question is who found her? Reva, that is.”
“Do you honestly think Beck tells me anything? He doesn’t trust me.” She could play off Levi’s desire to see them fractured.
“Reva was a dirty little whore hacker I hired and paid good money to. She wasn’t supposed to keep her Wayback Machine version of my crimes. I’d really like to pay her a visit,” he admitted. “I’ve been looking for her for a long time. So long it makes me wonder who knew about it. Me thinks there’s a spy in our midst.” He laughed, a slightly maniacal sound. “Spies within spies. But you should know all about that, right?”
“I’ve been out of the game for a long time,” she admitted. Was he alone? If he was alone, she might have a shot if he got much closer.
Levi shook his head. “I wasn’t talking about you. Hi, Tasha. Like father like daughter, I see. You know I got your father to betray his friends, too. They’ll all lie to you and tell you stories about Sasha, but he was willing to sell every one of them out to buy himself some safety. Like you sold out the Taggarts. You’ll never be one of them now.”
“Don’t talk to her that way.” He was a monster. How had he ever tricked her into believing he was a human being? She’d genuinely cared about him once, and now all she could see was the selfish sadist he was.
A real sadist. She’d thought of Beck that way, but it wasn’t true. Levi enjoyed ripping people apart, but Beck had been hurt and angry and he hadn’t known how to deal with it.
Seven years. He’d spent seven years in therapy to make himself a better man, to have a chance to solve their problems because somewhere along the way he’d grown up.
God, would she ever see Beck again?
He would take care of Roman. They all would. This weird family had stuck together over the years through all kinds of hardship. They’d seen each other through it all, and they would take care of her son.
They would take care of her husband.
“Why not?” Levi shrugged a shoulder. That was when she realized there were two men coming up to flank her. They were dressed like Levi and both held guns. One had a pair of handcuffs peeking out of his pocket.
Only one pair.
She had to work him if she was going to get Tasha out of this alive. “Because she’s a kid. Give her a break. You’ve been working her over for how long now?”
“Eighteen months. Ever since I realized I was going to have to change plans and marry that cypher I found. She was dumb as dirt but well connected, and her father owed me. I had to make sure Beck didn’t know where you were. I had to make sure there wasn’t any way we could still be together. And as for Tasha, we were all kids once.” Levi moved in. “It’s better to understand the world is shit now
