The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy #2) - Tijan by Tijan

It was the right thing to say.

As I sat and listened to Seraphina for the next hour, Chrissy sat with us, and both of us just listened, because it wasn’t lost on either of us that Seraphina was chatting away.

Seraphina had never just chatted.

Things were good, or things were getting there, and I felt something shift from my shoulders. Calhoun aside, Quinn aside, hoping Peter wouldn’t cheat on my mother aside, everything else would be fine.

I truly thought that, for the first time since the night a stranger slapped his hand over my mouth and told me I was going to be kidnapped.

This would be my third mistake that day.



* * *



Peter burst through the door five minutes later. “Where are the guards?”

“What?”

Seraphina stiffened next to me on the couch.

Chrissy sat upright in her chair.

He glanced back, then to me. “I asked Matt, but he said the guards weren’t around today. He assumed they were on the perimeter.” His mouth firmed a second. “They’re not.”

Oh—

I whispered bleakly, “I thought the same thing. I didn’t even notice.” They’d been gone since I woke up. Kash had called once to let us know he was boarding a plane from Berlin. He’d be arriving around one in the morning.

I looked at the clock.

That was six hours from now.

There was a pounding, the sound of a stampede, coming down the hallway. A guard came to a stop, looked at us, then jerked Peter away from the door. I didn’t recognize this one.

I was on my feet in the next instant.

“Bailey—”

I whipped around, but pointed at my mom. “Stay with Seraphina.”

She looked alarmed, but she did, taking my place on the couch and scooping Ser into her arms—a Ser who was suddenly shaking almost violently.

I stepped out in the hallway.

Peter cursed, but he moved to shut the door behind me.

He and the guard descended on me.

Peter spoke first. “They found the night guards. They’re dead.”

I lost my breath.

I started to fall, but no.

I stopped. Kash wasn’t here. He couldn’t ride in and save the day. I shared a look with my dad. It was up to us. I was trying to translate that to him, and he nodded. He got it.

The guard continued, “All the other guards are gone. We can’t reach any of them. The ones usually assigned to you were told they got a day off. None of them showed. I just got ahold of Erik—”

I fell.

Totally. I couldn’t stop myself.

Erik. Oh thank God.

Peter grabbed me, hauling me up, and I was surprised at how strong my dad was.

The guard kept on. “And Fitz. They thought it was weird to get that text, so they called in, and as far as we can tell they were directed to a dummy operator. You know what that is?”

I shook my head.

“It’s what scammers set in place. They hijack the call, direct it to their partner, and if they know all the proper protocols, then they can con whoever is on the other end of the phone. Erik and Fitz were conned. They came in. We’re looking at their phones. It seems their phones got swiped. They were given copycat phones.”

Oh jeez. He didn’t need to fill in the blanks. I knew exactly what happened.

Their phones were copied. Stolen. Replaced. The security protocol would look the same on their phones, but the actual line would be sent somewhere else.

I was shaking my head. “When they check in, they must have codes or something to identify themselves? The guards calling in and the security headquarters they’re calling into. Right?”

“They did. They called in and were given the passcode from yesterday. Both called in early in the morning, so they didn’t question the same code, just thought things were lax since Mr. Colello has been overseas since Saturday.”

But … why?

The guard got a suddenly bleak look on his face. He lowered his head, his eyes intent on me. “We are down guards. We need to move, and me saying that means we should’ve moved before we even arrived here. We need to move that fast.”

I didn’t notice the guards.

I’d been distracted with thoughts of Victoria and Kash together all day.

I ignored the feeling of impending doom.

And I let myself believe that everything was going to be fine.

Three mistakes. Three grave mistakes.

A guard suddenly came barreling from around the corner, waving at us and shouting, “Get inside! Now!”

We didn’t get the chance.

The ground shook beneath us, and the windows exploded over us.





FORTY-FIVE



Kash


The second we touched ground, my phone started blowing up.

I glanced at the number calling and my world shifted.

Ignoring how my phone kept buzzing from all the notifications streaming in, I answered.

“You’re kidding me calling me from this number.”

He laughed.

I stopped, knowing.

My grandfather had done something.

A sick, twisted sensation sidled right alongside that feeling. All of that happened when I heard him laugh, as we were stepping off the plane and I saw my security staff already waiting for me at the car parked on the tarmac.

“I left her for you.”

Her. Not my mother, whose number he was calling from, which I had programmed into my phone as “Mom” and which I transferred over each time I got a new phone, because a part of me couldn’t bring myself to delete it.