The Benefactor

by Nana Malone

  “No. No sleep until you tell me. What in the world is going on?”

  Quickly, I gave her the rundown of what had happened at his loft, the police interrogation, and what he’d just told me.

  Her eyes went wide. “The Elite, I knew it. The kind of encryption they were using is some next-level security. And those guys are notorious. Their secrets run deep. Ben didn’t think he needed to inform you that you were dealing with some seriously crazy fucks with skeletons buried so deep they were embedded in the roots of our history?”

  “I just feel like I was lied to. And he brought me into this knowing that there was danger, and there’s no way for me to extricate myself now.”

  Telly winced then. “Honey, about that, did you or did you not ask me to make a copy of that drive and try to decode it?”

  I lifted a brow. “That’s different. He slipped me something without my knowing it. When I discovered it, of course, I needed to know what the hell was on it.”

  She put her hands up. “Okay, okay, I hear you. But honestly, what if copying it triggered an alert of some type? What if no one knew you were involved until you tried to open it?”

  My stomach coiled. “Jesus Christ, is that what happened?”

  She shrugged. “Look, all I know is that there’s a lot of trip wires in that thing. Maybe you inadvertently tripped one when you tried to open it. Who knows, maybe Matthias did. But Matthias is one of the best. Scarily good. A real white hat who is also a former black hat, so I trust his skills. The point is, it could have been anything. Now, do I absolutely think Ben’s at fault for dragging you into this? Hell, yes. But he can’t shoulder all the blame. You did something you weren’t supposed to do too.”

  “How are you equating him dragging an innocent bystander into some bullshit with me trying to figure out what the hell is going on?”

  “All I’m saying is that, yes, Ben shouldn’t have pulled you in. At the very least, he should have told you who the hell he was and what you’re up against. As for the rest, maybe he was trying to protect you.”

  “Whose side are you on, Telly?”

  “Yours. Always yours. I’m just trying to get you to see that it’s not that black and white. Sometimes these things are complicated. And you want to do what you want to do.”

  “I don’t know. All I know is I can’t stay with him.”

  Telly sighed. “You are always welcome here. This is your home. Hell, if it hadn’t been for that fuckturd Dexter, you would have been living here all along. But things went pear shaped. You are always welcome to stay for as long as you need, but as your bestie, who is extremely worried about your safety, I have to say Ben’s more equipped to provide you with the best of security.”

  “I can’t look at him the same. I can’t pretend everything is okay.”

  “I know. And I’m not saying you should. But I’m saying, take the safety he’s providing and run with it. These crazies, they’re trying to hurt you. I can’t protect you like he can. Sure, we’ve got a guard outside, but who knows what will happen when we’re really exposed? So what, you’re never going to set foot outside again? I think Ben is the one with the means to provide you shelter right now. Where are you going to be the safest?”

  I ran my hands through my hair. It was so dry that I could practically hear it crunch. I needed a wash and deep condition.

  “I don’t want to think about that.” All I knew was that I didn’t want to be with Ben. How was this my life? There had been a time when I’d known exactly where I was going, exactly what I wanted to do, and how to get there. I had a plan. Now, I no longer had one. No longer could follow the directions that I’d made for myself. Everything was in flux, and it was terrifying.

  But as always, Telly was right. Her flat might not exactly be the safest place at the moment. Sure, I had a new guard, thanks to Ben. I didn’t necessarily trust this one anymore, but he said he’d vetted Erik and his men personally. He’d also alluded to Erik having saved his ass once before. But how long could they stay there with me? How long would the protection last? I wanted answers, and I wanted to be part of the solution for getting the crazies off my tail, so I only had one option. One way out, whether I liked it or not. Ben Covington was my only solution. Even if he was the cause of my current problem.

  “I hate it when you speak sense.”

  She shrugged. “Under normal circumstances, I try not to mess with things. But when it comes to your life, I have to. Obviously, you’re staying a couple of nights because I want to give you a cuddle, whether you like the touching or not, and then we’re going to binge-watch Burn Notice. Also, we’re going to make Ben sweat it out. I have a client meeting tomorrow at eleven. But other than that, I’m all yours. But after a couple of nights, you’re going to go to the safest place we can find. Under normal circumstances, I’d say that’s a bunker. But I think we need to figure out who the hell is trying to hurt you first, and then we’ll bunker you but not forever. You’re going to finish your mom’s book and be the next great thriller writer. I don’t want you hiding. You’ve already hidden for way too long.”

  “You’re right. Staying here, I’d be hiding.”

  “It would be fun as hell, but people are trying to kill you. And you are important to me, so we do what we must to keep you the safest as we can. And right now, that’s with Ben.”

  “Fine, I’ll go back in the morning.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, you will. And you’re also going to tell him that you made a copy of the drive.”

  I groaned. “Do I have to?”

  Telly lifted a brow and I burrowed deeper into the couch.

  “Fine. It’s so much easier to be self-righteous in my anger when you’re not making me confess to things too.”

  “I know. I’m annoying, aren’t I?”

  “Extremely, but I love you anyway.”

  4

  Ben

  A meeting with my mates was the last place I wanted to be. But Bridge’s office with a view of Soho Square was better than stewing at the house. But really, where else was I going to go? Livy had walked out on me and had zero desire to see me, so my only option was to bury myself in work. At least until I could convince her to see me again.

  “Okay, where are we?”

  East lifted a brow. “So… We’re not talking about Livy?”

  “Nope. Other than the fact that we’re not fully entrusting her security to Erik and his men.”

  Bridge agreed. “East, you have cameras and tracking on her right?”

  East unfolded a paperclip.

  “We should probably take shifts keeping an eye on her general whereabouts and listening in to make sure she’s okay.”

  I grunted my thanks. “She’ll bolt if she sees me, so I’ll take most of the listening duty. I don’t want Drew on watch. He already fucked this up for me.”

  Bridge rubbed at his jaw. “Mate, cut him some slack. He slipped.”

  “Considering our whole lives are about secrets it was a pretty big slip. I’m serious. No Drew.” I rubbed at the back of my neck. “If I had my way, I’d be perched in front of Telly’s building right now. But she’ll expect that.”

  The corner of East’s lips quirked. “Don’t tell me you’re clandestine training has gotten rusty.”

  One of the training modules when we joined the Elite was making it through Kielder Forest undetected. On the opposite spectrum, we’d also been trained to make it from one end of London to another without being spotted. “Not rusty. I’m just partial to my balls staying on my body.” Worth risking though if she’d let me—nope. I needed a whole new train of thought.

  I needed to try to focus on something. Anything. No fucking way was I marching back to Telly’s like a pussy-whipped git. No matter how appealing the idea of throwing Livy over my shoulder was.

  She’d come around. She had to.

  You sure about that?

  Caring about her was like an infection that had taken over my body. Now that I had no expectation of seeing her at home
, I felt like I’d lost a bloody limb.

  Or more like my soul had been excised forcefully against my will. That daily dose of light she injected was gone, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever get it back. Erik and his man were guarding her whether she liked it or not. I knew I could trust Erik. After all, he hated Bram almost as much as I did. Their mutual hatred was an old wound that never closed, forever seeping blood and pus.

  God only knew if she’d turn up at work. Technically, she could do her job from anywhere. And Jessa, her boss, wasn’t due into town for another week or so.

  Plenty of time for her to avoid you.

  I dragged my attention back to the lads. Obsessing over her wasn’t going to help.

  My dick chimed in with a very unhelpful, Tell me about it.

  We needed to go over our last likely possibilities for the Five, but we were still waiting on Drew to show up. Why was he perpetually late?

  East sat forward with his laptop. “Okay, we’ve got Taron Davies, Malcolm Witsel, and Jace McClaren.

  Jace McClaren was an actor in the 70s and 80s. A-list, older now, but still influential in Hollywood. He was one of the early Brits to make a name for himself back then across the pond. Studios still had him on speed dial.

  I studied the list. None of them seemed likely options for the Five. “Are these the best candidates we’ve got?”

  East nodded. “Yeah, they’re on the original list, so we need to try to talk to them.”

  Bridge sat forward. “I’ll take Witsel. He seems to loathe my father, so at least we’ll have something in common.”

  “Fine.” I said. “I’ll take Davies. I don’t really know him well, other than he used to play rugby, right?”

  East nodded. “Yeah, now he’s a team owner. Youngest on record. Became an owner at just thirty-five.”

  I rolled my eyes. “How many thirty-five-year-old team owners do you know? Teams are expensive endeavors.”

  East laughed. “He’s fifty now. But he’s brought that league from some minor players to the majors. If anyone’s Five, I bet it’s him.”

  Alyssa, my assistant, knocked on the door and pushed it open. “I’m sorry, Mr. Covington, I apologize for interrupting.”

  Her gaze skittered when she reached Bridge. Her eyes went wide, and a flush crept up her neck.

  What the hell was that about?

  “Yes, Alyssa, what’s wrong?”

  “Well, um, there’s somebody here to see you.”

  “Yeah, that’s Drew Wilcox. What’s the problem? I told you to expect him.”

  “No, sir, it’s not him. It’s a Miss Emma Varma.”

  My brows lifted. “Emma? Emma’s here?” Shit.

  Emma, apparently having grown tired of waiting for Alyssa to announce her, just marched up and scooted by her. “Oh good, all three of you are in one place. That will make this easier.”

  Alyssa’s gaze skittered over to Emma as if assessing if she could physically block her way, but I put up my hand. “It’s okay, we’ll see her. She’s a friend.”

  Alyssa still pursed her lips, but when her gaze rolled over to Bridge again, her features softened. Oh, Christ. Had Bridge dipped his quill in company ink? Not that I was particularly fond of Mina, but it didn’t seem like him at all.

  When Alyssa left, I turned to Emma with a smile. “Well, if you had called and said you wanted to meet, we would have taken you to lunch or something.”

  She glowered at the three of us. “Just so we’re clear, I don’t appreciate you lot stopping me at the initiation.”

  East gave her a warm smile and attempted to give her a hug, but she turned a scowl on him, and with a grumble, he sat down. “I was just trying to say hello before we get down to business.”

  Because it was East, she softened. “Sorry, love, I’m not really here for a social visit. But it is always good to see you.”

  That seemed to assuage East’s bruised ego. The brunt of her ire was directed at Bridge. “If you ever put your hands on me again, I swear to God, I’ll cut them off.”

  Bridge stiffened, and then he planted his hands on my desk as he returned her glowering disdain. “You’re welcome to try. But you’re not going to get very far.”

  “Test me and see.”

  What the hell is going on with Bridge and Emma? Yeah, of course, she was probably pissed off that we’d bundled her off like a recalcitrant teenager. But something was up with them. Their level of hatred was too strong.

  “If you want, Emma, I can carry you out of here the same way. Right over my shoulder, ass on display for everyone to see.”

  Her upper lip curled. “You can try. But this time, I’m ready for you. You put your bloody hands on me, and I will sever you from those balls you love so much.”

  Even my balls shriveled up thinking about just what Emma would do. I figured I should probably end their verbal sparring match, but it was akin to watching a train wreck. “Ems, it’s always a delight. Why don’t you have a seat? You and Bridge can fight another time.”

  She sighed when her gaze shifted to me. “Sorry. I don’t like being man-handled.”

  Bridge tried to perk up. “Man-handled? I barely—”

  I put up my hand and sent him a shut-the-fuck-up look.

  “I’m sorry that Bridge man-handled you. We did it for your own safety, but it must have been uncomfortable.”

  From one of my leather chairs, East beamed at me. “Look at you, being diplomatic. Maybe Livy is rubbing off on you, after all.”

  I shrugged. “Hardly. But what’s up, Emma? What can we do for you? Or are you just here to read us the riot act?”

  She reached in her back pocket and pulled out a flash drive. “You need to see this.”

  I frowned. “What’s on it?”

  “The truth. I don’t know. Someone left it for me under the handle of my car.”

  East lost some of his good nature then. “What do you mean under the handle of your car?”

  “I mean, when I put my fingers there to open my car door, that was taped to the handle.”

  Bridge exploded on her. “And instead of calling the police, you took it and brought it here? God, how stupid are you? For all you knew, moving it could have set off a car bomb or something.”

  “Oh, my God, there he is, the persistent, consummate arsehole.”

  “Well, maybe if you didn’t act like an idiot teenager, I wouldn’t have to be an arsehole to keep you safe.”

  “News flash, dummy, I never asked you to keep me safe.”

  “Well, you can’t seem to do it well enough on your own.”

  I put my hands up. “That is enough, both of you. Emma, Bridge has a point. Maybe you should call the police.”

  “Yeah, sure. Fine. But first, watch what’s on it.”

  East held out his hand. “Give that to me. This laptop is secure, and I'm not going to connect this to the network, so anything malicious on it won't infiltrate our system.

  She gave it to him, and he stuck it in. When I strolled over there and looked over his shoulder, I saw something that I saw every night when I closed my eyes. The night of our initiation. The night Toby had died.

  My gaze pinned her. “Where did this come from?”

  “Look, I already told you. Somebody taped it to my car. I brought it straight here. Someone did this for Toby. I know you’ll do the right thing for him, but I don’t want to be in this anymore. It’s up to you three to fix what you broke.” Then she stormed out and slammed the door behind her.

  East hit a few keys, and then the video projected onto the big screen. It was then that Drew chose to walk in. “Hey, was that Emma?”

  Bridge urged him to be quiet. “Yeah, she brought something to us. It looks like someone is passing her information.”

  Drew crossed his arms and leaned back against my bookshelf. “Yeah, but who? And what’s their agenda? I say we don’t watch it.”

  East rolled his eyes. “The hell we’re not going to watch it. We need to know what they know. Information is key. No
sticking our heads in the sand.”

  I sighed. “Yeah, I agree with East. This is going to hurt, but if it has some useful information, we need to see it.”

  Drew eased himself into the seat opposite East. “What the hell is going on?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, mate, but I guess we’re all about to find out.”

  When East hit play again, my stomach clenched. In one of the frames was a room I recognized. After all, we’d all been reborn in that room.

  All except one.

  I checked the timestamp. Other frames showed other rooms in the Van Linsted estate from different vantage points. The rebirth room was where we all were.

  After Toby’s death, we learned that there were safeguards in place to protect us, to keep us all safe. Not that any of them had worked. There were some who were meant to be watching the recruits inside their coffins.

  There was someone meant to be listening, in case anyone said anything or made any confessions in there. And then, there were medical staff on hand. That much we knew. We’d seen them working to revive Toby, but it hadn’t worked.

  As I paced, we saw the events of the night unfold. East focused on one screen. The coffins were being placed in the room of rebirth.

  Drew, myself, East, Bridge, Toby, and then the others were placed around a circle. Drew had woken first, then me, East, and Bridge. We saw Toby not waking and then me trying to haul Toby out of his coffin, trying to get him to wake up.

  A sheen of sweat popped all over my skin as I remembered crying over my friend’s body, trying to perform CPR but being shoved away, trying to fight anyone pulling me off him. Drew and Bridge pulled me back as East also ran forward to check on him. I remembered all of it as if it was yesterday. It was the stuff of my nightmares. The weight I carried like an albatross.

  Wordlessly, East pulled up the other screens. They were timestamped thirty minutes earlier. We saw Toby in his coffin, struggling to breathe, pulling at his tie, and he was banging on the coffin. “I need out. Let me out.”

  Bloody hell.

  We’d all been shown the safety latch on the inside of the coffin, the one that would let us out no matter what. The problem with being let out was you couldn’t go back in. If you unlatched before your rebirth, that was it. You were out of the Elite and had to face the consequences. Toby had reached for his latch, pulled it, but it hadn’t worked.