“Maybe, maybe not.”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

I stopped in front of him, the coffee table between us. “If he felt remorse, or

shame for killing, then yeah, he’d start to crack, but he’s a psychopath, Kayden.

Guilt? Shame? Those don’t exist for him. The only one that matters to Ellery is

Ellery. We screwed with his plans. Whoever hired him, left him hanging in the

wind, now he’s going to make us all pay. That scares me, because he has no boundaries, nothing to stop how far he’ll go. What if he’s using this possible sale

to lure everyone out into the open so he can take us all out in one big blow?”

“That’s awfully arrogant.”

“Right.” I moved to the couch and perched next to him. “What happens

when you believe you’ve got it all under control?”

Grim acknowledgement colored Kayden’s face. “You begin to make

mistakes.”

“Right.” Cautious excitement bloomed as I spotted a possible chink in

Ellery’s intimidating armor. “If you know who’s coming after you, and you have

access to Liza’s ability, you’re arrogant. You begin to believe your own press. To

get ahead of him, we have to change our role in the game.”

“And how do we do that?” There was a world of reservations in Kayden’s

question.

I took a deep breath. “We need to check out the other tower.”

There was a beat of silence. “Wait,” he said. “You want to go over to where

the shooter was positioned and do a walk through?”

Not understanding his disbelief, I frowned. “I’m not looking for physical

evidence. There’s no way anything traceable was left behind. I just want to figure out who was behind the scope.”

He pushed to his feet with a muffled oath. He took a couple of steps away,

and then returned to lean over me, his hands braced on the back of the sofa, trapping me without touching me.

At his unexpected move, I lifted my chin and met his glare head on. “What?”

“Are you a glutton for punishment?” he growled.

I lifted my hands and set them on the chest looming in front of me. My fingers curled into the heat under my palms. But it didn’t stop me from pushing

him back or growling with frustration. “No,” I scrambled to my feet, forcing him

to straighten. It put only a few inches between us, leaving me with nowhere to

go. I fisted my hands and set my jaw, trying to ignore how close we were. “You said it yourself, you don’t like being hunted. Why not try getting something from

the site and see if we can’t get the upper hand for once?”

“You keep pushing yourself into the past and you’re going to do irreparable

damage.”

“You don’t know that.”

His gaze darkened. “Nosebleeds aren’t good, Cyn. Add in the fact you’re

now seeing the past without looking for it, I’d say there are reasons to be concerned.”

“Getting shot is pretty irreparable, too,” I whispered.

This close to him, I couldn’t miss the pale undertones of his normally tanned

skin. Behind his shaggy hair, the knot on his forehead was now an angry-looking, reddish-purple, and rusty streaks marred the gold and brown strands.

All of it was a stark reminder of the terror that tore through me as he lay unconscious. As much as I wanted him to stay out of the line of fire, it was pointless to ask. He wasn’t the kind to stay behind, any more than I was. My fingers moved without permission, gently brushing along his jaw. “I’m tired of

playing catch-up, Kayden. If we don’t get ahead of him…”

“I know.” Frustration and worry lined his face. He captured my hand,

squeezed, and then let go. He stepped back, finally letting me move. “A quick peek, nothing more, understand?”

“Roger that.”

CHAPTER 15

There were only two ways to get between the condo tower, the main lobby,

or the fifth-floor gym. Since I wasn’t up to facing Terrance, I opted for the

gym. We stepped out of the elevator onto the fifth floor and my phone rang.