Page 25 of At Their Mercy: Part I

On the way out, I picked up Reese’s ball cap on the coffee table and borrowed it, and I turned it backward.

Once outside, I settled down in one of the loungers, and I dug out my pack from the box on the side table. It held my smokes, a lighter, a deck of cards, and some random receipt.

I lit up a smoke and checked what it was. Pizza delivery. All right.

You never knew. Shay never threw away receipts, but he didn’t know where to save them yet, so they ended up all over. Folded in a crap drawer, crumpled in the menu drawer in the kitchen, as bookmarks in books…

The latter was how we’d discovered his secret meetup with a mystery person.

We believed it was Penelope.

Ash and I had discussed it the other day, and I’d received KC’s two cents on the matter too.

We didn’t know what to do about Shay and Pen’s prank yet, and we were in no rush. But yeah, our boy had played us at the interrogation.

I exhaled some smoke and leaned back, and I closed my eyes and soaked up the sun.

It was getting hotter every day. The humidity had started creeping in too, like a heavy blanket.

My phone vibrated against my thigh, reminding me to put that group chat on mute. So I pulled it out, trapping the smoke between my lips. Well, hell. It wasn’t from the group chat, and it wasn’t a regular text. It was Squeezy.

I opened up Signal.

Your favorite SIGINT girl here. Your POI is in debt. Major debt. I didn’t know one could be a member at that many online casinos. He’s being audited too, and he’s being chased by four debt collectors. Did you need anything else? I’ll forward the information for where he’s staying.

“Fuck.” I took out my smoke and replied to her.

I’d expected something like that. Thank you, hon. How do you wanna get paid? The usual way?

Motherfucker.

Well, I wasn’t gonna let Reese give Dad the money. Building an entire fucking house wasn’t free. The rest of our savings was reserved for our living expenses, and we had to tighten our belts a bit. At least till we started working properly again. We had a three-year plan.

Squeezy responded.

No payment necessary. I need a favor instead. Would you mind if I used your phone to alert me if Darius and Ryan are in the DC area? I’d only use the phone to bounce their signals. No other intel. Not that there’s anything to find on your device. You’re more careful than I am.

I smirked to myself. The reason I was more careful was because I didn’t have the access she had to the right software.

All that aside, what she was asking was a lot.

If it had been anybody else, then maybe. But I can’t do that to the Quinns. Ask another favor or let me pay you.

Her reply was short and made me laugh.

Goddamn your integrity. I’ll think of something.

CHAPTER 3

Shay Acton

My Saturday morning couldn’t have started out better. We’d woken up in a sweet spot in our kink that tended to be sort of fluid—but today, we were all in. I’d gotten some good fucking dick. I’d been promised pain later today. Then, after breakfast, we’d driven the toilet gift over to the estate, ’cause it was time to set up for tomorrow’s ceremony.

And that was where the good feelings got a cold shower.

Okay, cold shower was strong, but…

Master Lucian and KC were here with Cam and Noa, and I’d overheard the latter two whispering about Kit’s reveal tomorrow. That he had also changed his last name to Carter.