“Yeah?” I mumble into the phone. This middle-of-the-night shit is getting old.
“Jax.” Max’s voice on the other end of the line is hesitant and subdued.
I sit up in bed, the warmth of Sasha’s body retreating as I snap to attention. “What happened?”
“It’s Madeline. I’m… sorry.” He stops to draw in a breath. “Nick Tate blew the whole compound up last night. She’s dead. All her servants are dead. And there was a meeting last night, Jax. Very important people were there. They’re all dead too.”
“What? How? I mean, how the fuck did he know where to find her?”
“We’re still trying to piece that together, but we’re pretty sure it was Sasha. You were there the night before last?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t her.”
“I need you here heading this investigation. Now. Madrid is going to take Sasha in, so get her ready.”
A hand traces down my back and makes me jump. I look down and Sasha is staring up at me. “I’ll call you back,” I say.
“You have dragons on your back,” Sasha says.
I sigh at the memory. “I do.”
“What’s it mean?”
“It was a promise. My brother and I made it together. We’re the dragons and we were gonna take over the world. He’s got the same tattoo. Two fire-breathing beasts with the world at our mercy. We were so angry after Michael was killed.” I stop talking and look at her for a moment. “It’s nothing. I mean, it was something, obviously. A promise that we’d see this through to the end together.”
“Get revenge and kill Nick.”
“Not just Nick. Everyone. But he wins again, I guess.” I gesture to the phone in my hand.
“What happened?” she asks, propping herself up on her elbow as I end the call.
I scrub a hand down my face and scratch the stubble on my chin as I think of how to word this.
“What, Jax? Tell me, dammit.”
I shake my head and just let it out. “How bad did you hate your aunt?”
“I barely knew her. It was just a gut reaction. Why?”
“She’s dead, Sasha. Nick went there last night and blew the place up. You said it reminded you of the house in Santa Barbara. Also blown up by you and Nick.”
“Whoa there. Also? I didn’t have anything to do with last night! I was here with you!”
“I’m not saying that, obviously. But Nick was here. You talked to him. Did you tell him where that compound was?”
“No! He never even asked, Jax.”
My phone rings again. I grab it off the bed and thumb the accept button. “Yeah.”
“You motherfucker!” Madrid’s voice booms out of the speaker so loud, I have to hold the phone away from my head. “We are partners, asshole! That means you tell me everything. And I’ve been sitting here for two days waiting for this girl to come home, and ain’t nothing goin’ on at her house. Now where is she?”
“She’s with me.”
“And just exactly where is with me?”
“Classified.”
“Classified my ass! I have my orders and so do you—”
I end the call and turn my phone off as I look at Sasha.
“Um,” she says, holding the sheets up to her naked torso, shielding her body. God, that almost kills me. “What’s going on?”
“I have to go head up that investigation. I’m supposed to hand you over to Madrid so she can keep an eye on you.”
“Keep an eye on me? Like I’m your prisoner? Jesus Christ! You did sell me out!”
“No, Sasha. I’m not handing you over to Madrid. But I need to figure this shit out. Nick killed your aunt last night. She was working with Max. Has been working with Max for years. This is not going to sit well.”
“Well, you better start questioning your loyalties to Max, then. Because Madeline was bad. I believe Nick. He knows what’s going on. Your father isn’t Company. He has no idea and neither do you.” She gets out of bed, still hugging those sheets to her body, and points to the door. “Get out of my house.”
“Sasha, look—”
“No. I’m not listening to you. Not after that accusation. Not after that justification. I trusted you with the secrets Nick told me last night and you turn around and blame me? Accuse me of working with him?”
“Look, I don’t think you’re working with him.” But I stop and take a deep breath. Because that’s not true. I’ve always thought she was working with him. And even Jake said she might be playing me. But last night felt so real. “I just need to know what’s going on. What exactly happened last night?”
“I told you. He came here.”
“How did he find you?”
“How should I know? I’ve been with you for the past two days!”
“Just walk me through it, OK? There has to be a logical explanation, but right now it all points to you.” Her face turns red with anger and I put up a hand. “I don’t think it was you, OK? But he’s clever. He has ways of making people do his dirty work. So just tell me what happened before he showed up.”
“I was checking my email. And I got a message from my mentor at school saying I wasn’t kicked out and she wanted to talk to me. And then I found a message from Nick—”
“Wait,” I say, stopping her. “You never told me that part.”
“I never had a chance! You showed up here and my world was falling apart!”
“What did the email say?”
She takes a deep breath and then points to the door. “I’ll show you.” And then she quickly dresses and says, “Follow me.”
I get out of bed and tug on my pants, then follow her out the door and downstairs. We end up in the family room behind the kitchen where she opens a laptop and brings up her email account.
“Here,” she says, thrusting it at me. “See for yourself.”
I look at the video of Nick and press the play button. Got you, he says. “What am I looking at?”
“Wow. You’re not all that bright for a guy who works for a secret black ops department of the FBI. Listen carefully, Agent Jax. There’s a shutter click just before he starts talking.”
I play it again. And again. And again. “Holy fuck.” I look at her. “He hacked your webcam?”
She nods.
“From where?”
“I don’t know, Jax. I swear to God. We never even talked about the email. He said, I have rats too. And I think he was talking about how your dad thinks he’s infiltrated Matias’ gang.”
“Matias.”
“Nick said Matias and Madeline were working together.”
“No.”
“I’m just the messenger, Jax. I have no idea. But Nick came here to ask me to help him and then he left without telling me how to do that. So I’m in the dark just as much as you. But here’s something you need to understand. Nothing is ever what it seems with these people, OK? Nothing. So I’m sorry you fell for Madeline’s bullshit, but I believe Nick. I know in my heart that what he said was true. And if you think I will let her take me down from beyond the grave, you’re insane. I will not go down because of that bitch.”
I look at the video again and try to make sense of things. And then I hit the forward button and send it to Adam.
“What are you doing?” Sasha asks, trying to grab the laptop away from me.
I yank it back and hold it up high, out of her reach. “I’m sending this to Adam. He’s not just a driver or a pilot. He’s my security, remember?”
“How do you know you can trust him?”
“I don’t, OK? But we’ve been working together for a long time. If he’s a traitor, it’s better to find that out now.” I hand her laptop back. “He can at least find out where that message came from. It’s a place to start. And there’s nothing incriminating in that video. If anything, it shows Nick was playing you.”
“He’s not playing me, OK? He’s my partner. He wouldn’t do that. Whatever he’s doing, he won’t hurt me.”
“He’s your partner? Really?”
She nods. “Really.”
Fuck, that stings. “You’re wrong about him, Sasha. But I truly hope you’re right. Because if you’re not, he’s gonna take you down with the rest of us.”