Tristan was high profile, meaning he had a lot of money, was in the news often whether it was about his development company or his bachelor life. He was generous with several charities that involved helping children and on paper was an upstanding citizen, but Vic couldn’t find anything on his family. No past. And no past meant it was hidden
What I really didn’t like was the fact he came to Georgie’s coffee shop when there were two others closer to his office. But there wasn’t anything to indicate he was involved in illegal activity of any kind.
Then why did Vault want Georgie to get close to him? What purpose? And why did Kai receive a message for Georgie to meet up with Tristan tonight?
That didn’t sit well with me. As a team, we went into every situation with as many details as possible. We had a plan for every possible outcome and we knew what to do if things went bad. This was a crap shoot. We had no idea who was involved with Vault, what they wanted or if Kai was on our side or Vault’s.
I watched Georgie … no, Chaos. She was playing a part and yeah, she was hot. Fuck, I hated that Chaos was part of her, but it was something I had to accept, as it was part of who she was now. And any fuckin’ guy would be turned on by his girl bold enough to do what she’s done all these years. I didn’t have to like it—shit, I didn’t like it—but my girl was tough and that was fuckin’ hot as hell.
TRISTAN WAS A hard nut to crack. He didn’t drink from his beer and he didn’t react to my slight touch on his arm. He was stone cold and it reminded me a little of Kai. Well, my job tonight was just to make contact and he was obviously interested because he’d agreed to meet me here.
We chatted about the coffee shop and his company, Mason Development, and got into how I knew the band members of Tear Asunder. Then he hit me with, “He was a liability.” Tristan’s grip on his untouched beer was light, not a flicker of tension in him.
“Who?” A shiver went down my spine. I was uncertain what he was talking about, but I didn’t like where this was going.
Tristan didn’t look over at the booth where Deck, Tyler and Vic sat, but he gestured with his head, tilting it in their direction. “You know exactly who I’m talking about, Chaos. And so do they.”
Fuck. Double-fudge-fuck. It took everything I had to remain relaxed and not react.
“I assume Tanner’s dead?” Tristan said. “Did Kai kill him or Deck?”
Jesus. How did he know? I didn’t have to fake taking a sip of my beer because I needed it. I also knew when to shut the fuck up. There was no hiding from this. Tristan obviously knew about Vault. Shit, was this why I was given orders to get to ‘know’ Tristan? Did they already suspect that he knew about them?
“Kai won’t be far behind him, despite who his mother is.” He shrugged. “They’ll know soon enough who his loyalty is with.”
“And yours?” Because I was wondering why he’d tell me this. He must know I was part of Vault, although it wasn’t willingly.
It was the first time I witnessed a slight grin as if he was impressed I was keeping it together. Well, I was good at pretending because right now I was freaking out big time.
“My loyalty is to myself.” He leaned forward, placing both arms on the bar, beer between his hands. “They find out your boyfriend over there knows about Vault, they’ll kill him … and you … you’ll be taken to them and shown what happens to those who betray them.”
I really didn’t give a shit about me, but I still felt the fear settle.
He was quiet for a second before he looked at me and I met the cold, unfeeling eyes again. “I’m pretty sure they know by now you’re with Deck and for now, they’re allowing it.”
Allowing it? Shit. And fuck. Because they’d wonder why Deck would allow me to date Tristan if I was with him. Deck wasn’t the sharing type.
“They’d know I told Deck the second I called to meet you tonight. Deck would never let me date another guy when I’m with him. That’s ludicrous.”
He grinned and I caught a glimpse of his pearly-white teeth. “Ah, but they don’t know I’m meeting you. The order Kai received to meet me tonight was from me.”
It was that comment which made me lose my composure and my eyes widened as I turned to meet his eyes. “How? Why? And how do you know about them? About Tanner’s death?” I had so many questions flying around in my head I didn’t know which one to start with.
“It was unfortunate what happened to you.”
“To me? You knew Tanner took me?”
He nodded. “It had to happen. Tanner was very loyal to Vault and him kidnapping you gave Kai a reason to take him out. Although, I suspect it was your man over there who killed him. And before he loses his cool and comes over here, it’s better we end this now. What you need to know now, Chaos, is we’re taking them down.” He smirked at my shocked expression then got up and put a fifty on the bar. “Lay low for a while, would you? We need this shit with Tanner and Kai to settle. I’ll be in touch.”
I stood and grabbed his arm before he could leave. From the corner of my eye, I saw Deck get out of the booth and stand, but he didn’t come toward us. “Tristan.” He looked at my hand on his arm, but I refused to back down. “Who the hell are you?”
His brows rose. “I’m exactly who I say I am, Tristan Mason, owner of Mason Development.”
“If you’re telling me the truth, then give me something to make me believe you. For all I know, you’re Vault trying to set me up.”