Page 15 of Reckless

“I got something I think you’re going to want to see. May be nothing, or it may be something. Something big.”

Oscar had a way of delivering news. It was occasionally entertaining, but most of the time it was beyond irritating.

“All right. What is it?”

“You heard about that rich guy getting his head blown off last night?”

“Franco Bass? Yes.” The assassination had been all over the news ad nauseam. Twenty-four-seven news cycles made sure everyone, including the family pets, had heard the story at least a dozen times. The killing hadn’t been a surprise. Everyone in the criminal world had known Bass had been living on borrowed time. The man himself, however, had apparently never gotten that memo.

“Somebody filmed the whole thing.”

“Yes, I’ve seen the footage.” Watching someone get killed held no mystery or interest to him. He’d seen that dozens of times and had been the perpetrator for most of them.

“Well, somebody filmed the audience, not the actual kill.”

Trust Oscar to call witnesses to a shooting the audience.

“And?”

“There’s something you need to see.” With that, Oscar pulled his phone from his pocket, swiped his finger over the screen a few times, and then handed it to him.

Despite his irritation at Oscar’s penchant for drama, Kevin found himself intrigued. The gleam in his brother-in-law’s eyes told him something monumental was about to be revealed.

Kevin watched the scene unfold on the phone’s screen. So far, it was just overdressed men and women sitting at various tables. Some were eating, some were talking, a few were laughing. Upscale elevator music played in the background. There was an indistinct buzzing that, based on his experience, resulted from dozens of muted conversations joined together in a cacophony of sound.

The camera feed covered most of the restaurant. There was a slight pause in sound, as if everyone stopped talking at once. Then Franco Bass appeared within the view of the camera as he walked into the restaurant. Interestingly enough, the camera didn’t stay on Bass, but once again panned the room, perhaps to give the viewer the opportunity to see the impact the man’s appearance had on the patrons. In the background, Kevin noticed the buzzing noise increase, indicating the excited chatter. The camera continued panning the restaurant.

Kevin was about to growl his frustration at not seeing whatever Oscar wanted him to see when the camera swept past a couple seated at a small table in the corner. It was only a flash before the camera moved on, but Kevin immediately spotted exactly what Oscar was so excited about.

His heart pounding, he snapped, “Rewind it. Let me see it again.”

Oscar grabbed the phone, swiped a few times, and handed it back to Kevin.

The feed had been stopped, freezing on an attractive young couple. His pounding heart stopped, and his breath left his body.

“Looks just like her, doesn’t it?” Oscar whispered. “And she’s about the right age, too. That’s got to be her, don’t you think?”

Mesmerized, Kevin shut out Oscar’s yammering and focused on the woman. Hair the color of midnight, glowing skin the shade of a light pink rose, a pointed, dainty chin, a heart-shaped face, and dark brown eyes with a hint of gold in their depths. Small, petite, and delicate looking. Sheer perfection.

Admittedly, he had seen and enjoyed many beautiful women in his fifty-five years, some just as lovely as this woman. Beauty was fleeting—it would fade and dry up. But blood? That was what mattered. And it was her blood that he wanted. This beauty could bring him to heights he’d only ever dreamed to reach.

“Too bad Ryan is married,” Oscar said. “She’d be perfect for him.”

Ryan? Kevin held back a huff. His straight-as-an-arrow son wouldn’t know what to do with this gift. Despite all of Kevin’s urgings and occasional beatings, Ryan had turned away from his legacy. He didn’t deserve to reap the reward this beauty would bring.

Ideas and scenarios raced through his head. He had a lot to think about, a lot to do. His first order of business would be to ensure that she didn’t get away. Not this time.

“Guess she isn’t dead after all,” Oscar continued to prattle. “We looked high and low for her, though.”

Of course she hadn’t been dead. No one had believed that. But that had been during one of the darkest times in their organization’s history. They had been too busy trying to survive to concern themselves with one little girl, no matter how valuable she was to them. They were now on stable ground, but they were still fractured—the cohesiveness they’d once enjoyed had been demolished. This one woman could change all of that. She could change everything. She could reunite them all and bring about a revolution.

A revolution that he would lead.

Not taking his eyes away from her face, Kevin asked, “Do we know where she is?”

“Not yet. Still in Seattle, hopefully. I’ve already dispatched Miles and Kip. They’re like bloodhounds. They’ll find her.”

Yes, they would. In the meantime, he had a lot of things to work out.