“Ah. You’re looking for help, huh?” He tsked me. “You’re going to be a pain in my ass, aren’t you? No one’s here, Addison. They’re gone, and you want to know why? Because I’m the building manager. I’ve been with Cole since the beginning, even before he came back. I was one of the first he put in place, so that means they trust me. They all trust me.”

We moved through the kitchen to the elevator. Then he let me go. My hip hit the floor with a thump—a fresh burst of agony. Layers of pain on top of more pain. It was all starting to blend.

Dorian put the code in, calling the elevator, and as we waited, he glanced down at me.

He was smiling.

The asshole was smiling.

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” he said, shaking his head. “You have no idea what I’ve been through or what I’ve had to do. Do you know what it’s like? I’ve been loyal to the Bertal family for years, and when they said they needed a rat in the Mauricio family, I volunteered. They told me I was going in deep, and they weren’t kidding.”

He squatted, looking at me with narrowed eyes. “I buddied up to Cole when he was in hiding. I waited six weeks, and then I made the call. I knew what party he was going to, what car he was riding in. I gave them directions. They were supposed to kill him, and my job was supposed to be done. But it didn’t happen that way. The fucker killed them instead. Some of those guys were good guys. They were my friends, Addison.”

The elevator arrived. When the doors opened, his hand clamped around my ankle, and he threw me inside. I hit the back wall and crumpled to the floor as he stepped in with me, whistling. He hit the override, and then the button for the basement.

He leaned back, folding his arms, and winked. “We can’t have any surprises. Cole and his men are gone. I gave them the location of one of the Bertal warehouses. Told ’em it was another tip. The drive out there is a good four hours each way. The guards left behind are circling the running track. There was a breach by one of the exit doors there, and apparently I saw someone slip out. They’ll be searching for a good hour.” He grinned, so smug. “All the cameras are down, and the only one who could do anything to stop me is Ken. Too bad someone knocked him out. Oops.”

Fucker. “Why? Why are you doing this?”

He laughed, rolling his eyes. “That’s the funniest part. This is all because of me, but everyone thinks it was because of you.” He shook his head, his laugh lingering. “This all started before your husband died. In a way, it’s the reason he died.”

I frowned. “What?”

The elevator stopped, but he hit the button to keep the doors closed and locked the elevator in place. “This might take a while, so bear with me. Once I get you in the car, that’ll be it. I’ll shoot you, throw you in the trunk, and ditch you as soon as I get to my spot. But you can die knowing why you’re dying. I mean, I’d want to know.”

I sneered. “How generous of you.”

He frowned. “You don’t have to be snooty. If you don’t know want to know…” He reached for the button to open the doors.

“No!” I cried. “I want to know. Please. I want to know.”

He held my gaze, studying me.

I held my breath. Please, God—I need more time.

He withdrew his hand, folding it over his chest once again. “Okay. I’ll tell you, and then that’s it.” He sat on the floor of the elevator with me, softening his voice. “Your husband was a counselor at Haven Center, the place where my brother, Dusty, was a patient. He’s an addict. He was in for treatment, and he trusted your husband because he came from Bea’s line and because everything’s confidential, patient/counselor privilege or whatever the hell it is. COPA? COBRA? No. HIPPA. That’s it. Anyway, apparently Dusty ran his mouth about the family, and about me, too. I’d just been promoted because I volunteered for deep cover. Everything was fine until one day my brother was leaving his session, and as he walked out, a Mauricio walked in. Another fucking patient, can you imagine that? So my bro recognized this guy, and he backtracked. He watched as the dumbfuck went inside and went right to your husband. And you know what those two did?”

Clearly he didn’t expect an answer. He barely paused to take a breath. “They shook hands. That was it. That was all Dusty saw, but it was enough. In one instant, your husband went from alive to dead. I heard he was a nice guy. Dusty told me later he probably kept the secrets like he’d promised. But he died anyway, so it didn’t matter. Everything got shelved away.”

My stomach flipped over. If I’d had anything in it, I would’ve spewed it out, right on Dorian’s feet.

“I was in deep cover doing my thing, keeping watch over the fucking spoiled kid. I didn’t find any of this out until I got back, but a war started between my family and the Mauricios. Sure, there’s peace now—well, not now, but there was. And we’d had moments of peace before then until the Mauricios, they wiped us clean. A lot of good guys were killed by that fucker Carter and your boy. We kept getting hit, and we had no clue how they found us, but they did. There was a lot of stuff happening at that time. Some of Cole’s uncles turned on him—one of them was the reason I was put in place, but then the war was over. They told me to stay put, just in case Mauricio backtracked, trying to find out who tipped off the Bertals about his car. That was the first of two breaks. Cole came back, and guess who he found still in place? Me. I was still there, pretending to be his buddy. But inside I was mourning my friends who died. I didn’t know what to do. I had no mission anymore, and I wanted to make someone pay.” He rolled his eyes. “I said all the right words, and it worked.” A cold gleam resurfaced in his gaze. “Your boy asked me to work for him, and voila! I’ve been in his trusted circle ever since.”