With a final wary look, Hyland descends the staircase back to the factory floor. I exchange a quick whisper with Raye, ensuring she doesn’t follow, then trail behind him as we exit the warehouse. Spyder watches us leave with narrowed slits.
Climbing into Hyland’s blacked-out, company SUV feels somewhat like climbing into the jaws of a great white, but I hold back my reservations. He throws the vehicle into gear then pulls out with a squeal of tyres, setting his sat-nav for their penthouse.
The ride is fraught with uncomfortable silence. His total ignorance of my existence allows me the opportunity to think. We may have eliminated several of Gael’s operatives, but his location still remains elusive.
Dangling the Livingstone girl under our noses screams of desperation. He wants us to acquiesce to his demands. But luckily, there are ways of finding people without relying on the whims of madmen. Methods I happen to be well-versed in.
By the time we reach their fancy high-rise building buried deep in Canary Wharf, I have the formations of a plan. A risky, dangerous plan that would involve calling on someone bound to destroy the precious Anaconda Team.
Even better.
As Hyland manoeuvres into his assigned parking spot, I pull out my phone to fire off a message. Our last conversation was nine months ago, but for my liking, it’s still too soon to ask for help again.
Blaine: Got another job for you.
At any given time, my dark web contact can be located on any continent. Meaningless things like borders or lines on a globe mean little to him. Once a mark has been ordered, results are guaranteed. That’s the service you pay a small fortune for.
“Move it,” Hyland grumbles, clambering out of the car. “Before I change my mind.”
I don’t deign to respond, tucking away my phone and following him out in silence. The atmosphere remains frosty until he lets me into their apartment, illuminated by London’s eternal nighttime glow.
“I need a drink,” he announces.
“Where is everyone?”
“Warner’s at the hospital with Tom. He was eased off sedation earlier. Ember agreed to come home to rest before we talk about pulling Gracie’s parents in for an update.”
I nod and move to escape the awkwardness, heading down the corridor towards Ember’s room. I’m half-expecting Hylandto follow and crack my skull when I lightly tap on her door, but he remains out of sight in the kitchen.
When she doesn’t answer, I click the door open to peer inside. Her bedside lamp is on, bathing the sparse room in low light. There are two figures tangled up in the bed—the purple haired liar himself is wrapped around my girl like a python.
Sprawled out on her back, Ember looks peaceful. Her lips are parted as she lightly snores, completely oblivious to my presence. Neither stirs when I sneak in on light feet to sit down in the chair tucked into the corner.
Watching her brings me a sense of peace that I have never experienced before. Not even in the time since I retook the family business and enacted my plan to clean it up. With her, the bleeding wound still leaking inside my chest feels closer than ever to sealing shut.
She doesn’t just see The Phantom. Nor the caricature of a person I’ve built over the years. The almighty Blaine Madden. Ember couldn’t care less for the pomp and circumstance that my family’s generational power has gifted me.
No.
She sees the real me.
The person I didn’t even realise existed until her little smiles and cutting remarks pulled him out from the deep grave I’d constructed in my psyche. No one has ever looked at me like I’m little more than another fallible human… and I fucking love it.
I don’t have to be invincible.
Or anything but… me.
Watching her quietly rest, even in the arms of another man, settles my still-racing heartbeat. I get comfortable in the chair, content to observe. I’m almost falling asleep when my phone vibrates in my pocket, prompting me to move.
The Hunter: You still owe me for the last job. What’s in it for me?
A smile tugs at my mouth as my gaze lifts to the shock of purple hair splayed across Ember’s pillow.
Blaine: The man who erased your existence.
It doesn’t take long to get an answer.
The Hunter: When do I start?
