Page 83 of Ruined By a Devil

I remain on the sofa, carefully listening to every word that’s said in this room, trying to keep myself calm while also figuring out a way to help Malachi. I hate sitting around and being useless.

“Nothing,” Malachi sighs, throwing the burner phone onto the counter. “We couldn’t find anything. There are no blind spots and no one was caught on camera.”

“Not even a wandering stranger?” I ask.

“No,” he shakes his head. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“So we have no idea for how long Nolan has been watching every step we take…”

“We know one thing,” Malachi turns to face me, the look in his eyes terrifying.

“It must have started after the Mercedes was sent to be repaired.” Which means he only started tracking our movement after we paid that visit to my family and were shot at.

“Exactly,” he nods. “Also, if there had been a tracker on it, we would have found out then.”

“Right.” I bite my lower lip to hide the smile that sneaks up. It’s good to see that a part of him is alive again. “But he must have placed the tracker at some point after you started driving the BMW. Do you think he might have done it sooner and just patiently waited for you to start driving the BMW?”

“I don’t think so,” Malachi shakes his head. “But it is possible that he was expecting you to drive it.”

“We might have underestimated him,” I sigh.

“You need to cancel your appointments for the month. I already doubled the guards on the gates and told the drivers you won’t leave the property unless I am in the car with you...”

“Excuse me?” I push off the edge of the sofa.

“You heard me.”

“You’re locking me up like some prisoner, “I say, crossing the rug until I am standing directly in front of him. “We have an agreement, Mal. You promised me freedom and agreed not to interfere in my private life.”

“That was before Nolan started tracking you," he says, leaning forward over the counter.

“I wasn’t the only one who drove that car!” I shot back. “It’s your car.”

“Even if you had sat behind that wheel once by yourself, it’s enough for me to make this decision.”

“I’m not spending my life locked away every time a threat breathes in my direction. I refuse to live like that.”

Malachi steps into my space, backing me up until my hips hit the edge of the kitchen counter. He plants a heavy hand on the wood on either side of my waist, boxing me in completely, and leans down until his face is inches from mine.

“You can hate me while you're alive,” he says, his leaving absolutely zero room for negotiation. “Or you can love me after you're dead. And I’ve already decided which one I prefer.

“We ran the serial number on the tracker,” Elijah tosses a folded printout onto the center of the wooden table. “It’s ghost hardware. Completely untraceable.”

Malachi’s brothers and Riley came to the cabin with the excuse that they wanted to have dinner together, but I know better than that. They’re here to check on the security themselves.

“He didn't put it there himself,” Zeke speaks. Riley sits beside him, her hand resting on his thigh under the table. “Nolan has someone close enough to touch your vehicles.”

“Which means this cabin isn’t a permanent solution,” Cain agrees, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “If he can get to your cars, he can track the supply routes, so he could even poison your delivery food.”

“We’re not getting delivery food,” Malachi looks at his brother over the glass of whiskey.

“Even worse,” Cain insists.

“I’m going to risk being the bad guy here,” Levi finishes his whiskey and sets the glass down with a loud sound, turning to look at Malachi. “You should put Jade on a plane.”

“What!” I almost jump from my seat but they ignore me.

“The compound in Ireland is completely isolated,” Levi continues. “We have three gate checks and an armed perimeter. Nolan doesn’t have the men or the money to cross the Atlantic. If you keep her there until we put him in the ground, we can be certain that she’ll make it out of this war alive.”