Basement Level 5: Never Scared (26 page)

A chill ran up Melissa’s spine. “You wouldn’t?”

“
Really? You want to try me?”

Melissa thought about it for a minute. If she didn’t give Alexa what she wanted, her parents would be killed. And if she did, she would be killed. Melissa decided to bargain. “You give me that thing and we’ll talk,” she offered, pointing at the cell phone in Alexa’s hand.

Kendrick snatched the phone from Alexa. “I don’t think you get it. You don’t call any of the shots. The way I see it you have two choices. You either tell us what we want to know and die by yourself, or you don’t tell us what we want to know and die with your parents. You pick?”

She poked her chest out and lifted her chin. “If you kill me you’ll never find out where your family is.”

“
Nice try
,” Kendrick said.
“But
I know where my family is. Do you know where yours is? I do. They’re at home chillin’. They don’t know there’s a bomb in their crawl space that can go off at any minute. In fact, I think they might even be having people over for dinner according to the maid. So make your choice.”

Melissa swallowed past a lump in her throat. At this point, she knew there was no way out. They had the upper hand. When she had been recruited into this, the plan seemed unflappable. They were supposed to ambush the family at the safe house, but only one truck showed up. The only casualties were her men and Nicholas.

Kendrick glanced at his watch. “You’re wasting time. In two minutes, I’ll make the decision for you.”

“
Okay. Just please don’t hurt my family.”

Kendrick pulled up a chair and sat down on it. “Talk. You have five minutes to tell me something good. Don’t play me and don’t lie to me. Or you can see your parents on the other side.”

CHAPTER 26

Kendrick waited for Melissa to respond. Of course, she was an idiot, but she was the idiot that was going to help them end all of this once and for all. He scanned the room and then focused on Alexa. She was, for all intents and purposes, the most important person in his life. Sure, he loved his wife and children more, but his bond with Alexa could never be diminished. And the place she had in his life could never be surpassed.

He narrowed his eyes at Melissa. She seemed to be considering her options, which was good for them. He was good at a lot of things, but he was best at reading people. Religious people called it discernment, but he called it power. He could look at someone and tell when they were being genuine or fake. That gift had never failed him. Of course, he didn’t know where his family was. Melissa didn’t know that
, though
. In fact, she told him a lot about the situation just by her response.

She gave herself away. At least, he knew that she didn’t know where his family was, which gave him hope that they were safe with Pop. And when he met Alexa’s gaze across the room, he knew that she felt the same way. Alexa could read people almost as well as he could, but she could read him best of all.

“
You have three minutes.” Kendrick warned, tapping his foot against the wood floor.

“
Uh—I—” Melissa said, obviously stalling.

Kendrick rolled his eyes. She was on the edge of his last nerve. This whole thing was tiring, and that was the understatement of the year. “Two minutes,” he informed her, looking at his watch.

“
I had an affair with him,” she whispered. “We were lovers for about nine months when he told me his true intentions. By then I already loved him. He lit the fire under me when he began talking about your family, especially Alexa’s father. I guess he knew him from way back. He had some sort of revenge scheme in mind and played on my distaste for Alexa. He told me who might be open for some revenge. We came up with a plan to use Tommy, Janine, and Adam to help destroy Martinez Organization.”

“
Did this man ever say why he had it out for Alexa’s father?” Kendrick asked.

She sniffed, as tears streamed down her face. “No, and I asked him numerous times. But he keeps everything close to the vest. The only thing I could get out of him was that he went way back with him. They grew up together, or served in the military, or something like that.”

“
What’s his name?” Alexa asked.

Melissa bowed her head.

“
What is his name?” Alexa repeated.

“
He’ll kill me if I say anything,” Melissa said.

“
You don’t have to worry, Melissa,” Alexa assured her. “You’re going to die anyway, so you might as well tell us.”

Melissa choked back a sob. “He’s very powerful. His name is Senator Clive Owens.”

Kendrick stood abruptly. “You just bought your family some time, Melissa. You can breathe a little easier.” He rushed out of the room. The others followed him to the safe house’s small living area.

***

October 21, 2000
:

Kendrick and Alexa walked into the restaurant holding hands. She was leaning against his side seductively, and he had to keep reminding her to chill out. They were in a public place, and he didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to them.

“
Hello, welcome to The Diamond Club,” the maitre
’
d said in greeting.

“
Hello,” Kendrick said. “We have a reservation under Guess.” They had made their reservation under a fake name so that no one would know they were there.

“
Yes Mr. Guess. I’ll show you to your table.”

As they followed the man to their table, Kendrick placed his hand on the small of Alexa’s back. He did a quick scan around the room, checking for people that would know them. Then, his attention was drawn to a large party in the middle of the restaurant—high rollers. The men were all dressed in expensive suits, their wives in fancy dresses. He wondered who they were.

“
Kendrick,” Alexa whispered in his ear once they reached the table. “Stop looking around.”

He pulled her chair out and waited for her to take her seat. The maitre d’ ran off a list of wines.

A waiter arrived at the table and introduced himself. As Alexa ordered wine, Kendrick watched her. She was gorgeous from head to toe on a regular day, but she was stunning that night. Her dress was a dark, crimson red. It was floor length, with a slit that ran to just above her knee.
M
ore than one of the gentlemen in the huge ballroom couldn’t keep their eyes off of her. Her hair was styled in an up-do with curls dangling from the edges. She wore smoky makeup around her eyes and bright red lipstick. His gaze dropped to the dazzling diamond necklace gracing her feminine throat.

Kendrick had always tried to think of Alexa as a sister, but that didn’t always work for him. She was a very attractive woman, but most times, he was immune to her charms.

Then there were times like tonight where he was reminded that his best friend was indeed a woman. And he was definitely a man. But he respected her more than anything. She was his equal, and he definitely appreciated that when he needed someone to have his back. She had been there every time he was caught in a less than ideal situation. And he’d had been there for her the same way.

There was one thing that he knew and embraced—they had a sort of soul tie. He wasn’t going to say they were soul mates, but there was something that inherently connected them. Over the years, that connection had caused problems with Dro. And Kendrick understood where the other man was coming from. Dro was in love with Alexa and always had been, in Kendrick’s opinion. Dro liked being the man in her life and didn’t appreciate the fact that she relied on another man to help her through any problems. It caused many arguments for Dro and Alexa as well as Kendrick and Dro. But he had let Dro know early on that he had no intentions of coming between them. He also let Dro know that she loved them both in different ways and Dro should respect that and not interfere.

Of course, Kendrick fought for his life after that comment, but he didn’t regret speaking his mind. Deep down, he knew that Dro respected him for it.

Kendrick cleared his throat after his eyes traveled down to the low cut “V” in Alexa’s dress. If Dro knew what he was thinking right then, he would be killed. But he couldn’t say he cared all that much at that moment. After all, he was only human. When he met her eyes, she was staring at him. He shifted in his seat. “Sorry.”

She arched a brow. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“
I think I’ll keep those to myself.”

Her light and airy laugh floated to his ears. “You don’t have to hide anything from me,” she whispered, leaning forward. “Besides, I can tell that your thoughts were less than pure.”

He laughed. “Well, then you know some things are better left unsaid.”

Her attention was drawn away from Kendrick when a loud boisterous laugh erupted from the ‘big party’ table. “I wonder what he’s laughing about?”

He gently picked up her hand and placed a soft kiss to her palm. “Let’s dance.”

“
Sure.”

He stood up and held out his hand to her. As they walked onto the dance floor, an older couple from the big table
stepped on
the floor
as well
. Kendrick wrapped his arms around Alexa and pulled her closer. “You do look nice tonight.”

She smirked. “Nice? I thought I looked damn good.”

“
Okay, you look damn good.”

They both laughed. He pulled her closer and kissed her bare shoulder. The soft music played as he took in her scent. She had on just the right amount of perfume. He closed his eyes as he buried his head in her neck. He slid his hands down her back and rested them just above her ass.

She pulled back, smiling seductively. “Move your hand one inch lower and I’ll cut your dick off.”

He snapped out of his thoughts and tried to play it off with a chuckle. “Whatever. You’re supposed to be watching our target, not flirting with every man in the restaurant including me.”

A loving smile spread across her face. “We’re supposed to pretend we’re a loving couple. I’m supposed to be flirtatious tonight.”

He dipped her. “Just keep an eye on her and we can get out of here.”

“
I would if I didn’t have to worry about you groping my ass.”

He spun her away from him and then back. “Hey, I’m a man.”

She laughed softly as she wrapped her hands around his neck. “Yeah, I can tell. But don’t get brand new on me.”

Kendrick smiled at her, keeping up the charade. “Look, I’m not getting brand new on you. I just got caught up for a minute. But the threat of a knife to my important parts has cured me of that.”

They continued to dance. To everyone in the room, they looked like a couple in love and they even inspired some others to get out on the floor.

The older couple slowly walked off the dance floor when the song changed. Eventually, Alexa and Kendrick headed back to their table to sit down. When Clive Owens and his party left the restaurant, Kendrick and Alexa followed.

CHAPTER 27

November 6, 2011, the safe house
:

Kendrick paced back and forth in the living room. “Clive Owens was the senator who hired us to kidnap his wife.”

Alexa’s eyes widened. “You’re right. This is about Daddy.”

“
It looks that way,” Kendrick agreed. “If it is Senator Owens, this is bigger than we thought.”

“
We need to focus our energy on finding Pop,” Dro surmised. “We can’t assume he’s okay anymore.”

“
Pop doesn’t know this is about him either,” Lei added. “We need to hurry.”

“
Have you heard anything from any of his contacts?” Kendrick asked.

Lei picked up his cell phone and began punching in a number. “It’s like he dropped off the face of the earth.”

Kendrick grabbed his laptop, tapping furiously on the keys. “We have to do something.”

“
So what are we going to do with Melissa?” Chase asked.

“
Keep her alive until we don’t need her anymore,” Kendrick replied, glaring at Lei. “We may have to use her to get a line to Senator Owens.”

“
What happened with Owens?” Dro asked.

Kendrick looked at Alexa. They’d done a couple of jobs for Pop that the others didn’t know about. Pop was very secretive, and his policy was that everyone knew only what they needed to know.

When it came to Senator Owens and his wife, no one had needed to know anything. Until now.

Kendrick nodded at Alexa.

“
It was supposed to be a simple kidnapping,” she explained. “We were to snatch his wife publicly and take her to a safe house, which we did. Daddy switched the plan. I guess Senator Owens wanted her dead, but—” she paused. “Daddy faked her death.”

Dro frowned. “Why? What’s his connection to her?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He never told us. I always just assumed that he knew her. Or maybe they were having an affair. He told us to bring her to the safe house and then he excused us.”

“
So he handled it from there?” Lei asked.