Free No One to Trust by Katie Reus

you’ll do
what I say.”
    “ You have something of mine?”
Doubtful. Orlando was ruthless in checking people when they came to
his home. No wires, no weapons, and he had scramblers set up all
around his house to make it almost impossible for the Feds or the
locals to listen in on him. Not that he did much business at his
house anyway. But it paid to be careful.
    “Why don’t you check that false bottom in
your desk and tell me?” There was a smug satisfaction in Benny’s
tone. Also something he’d never heard from the other man
before.
    For the first time in as long as he could
remember, Orlando experienced real fear. As Benny’s words
registered, something glacial slithered over Orlando’s skin,
chilling him straight to his bones despite the even temperature in
the room. “What did you just say?”
    “Check it,” Benny ordered.
    Orlando’s hands actually shook as he did what
the other man said. It took a few tries to get the bottom off—the
seaming was impossible to see with the naked eye thanks to
brilliant craftsmanship.
    His hiding spot was empty .
    A dull ringing started in his ears as if he’d
been smashed in the back of the head with a bat. Benny had stolen
from him?
    His father had always taught him to hide
things most treasured in plain sight. Safe deposit boxes were
discovered, safes could be broken into and those were often the
first places anyone with any training looked. So Orlando had
kept his most cherished possession close at hand—in case it needed
to be destroyed. He’d always felt smug that it was hidden right
under everyone’s noses.
    Now, all smugness was buried and only the
rising bile in his throat remained. “You son of a—”
    “Save the threats and the curses. I just want
to be left alone or I go to the Feds. But not before I make copies
of what I took and send it to everyone you work with.”
    Those words almost stopped Orlando’s heart.
Or at least that’s what it felt like. “When did you take it?” He
wasn’t sure why he asked. That wasn’t important. But some morbid
part of him needed to know.
    “When you invited me over for that fight.”
Now Benny laughed, the sound sharp and cutting. “I didn’t even know
if I’d find anything in your office but you have the same
ridiculously expensive desk as my dad. Imagine my surprise…” He
trailed off again for a moment before continuing. “I thought that
was why you brought me to your house yesterday, because you knew
what I’d done.”
    The other man’s words hung heavy in the air
and heavier in Orlando’s heart. Getting Benny to place that large
bet on the televised UFC fight had been part of Orlando’s ultimate
plan to blackmail Elizabeth into aligning herself with him. Of
course he’d checked everyone when they’d entered his home but when
they’d left…Orlando never would have considered Benny enough
of a threat to take anything of value from him. Least of all this . He’d gotten cocky and stupid in his desire to use the
pathetic junkie. “You have signed your own death warrant and that
of all those closest to you. I’ll start with that pretty sister of
yours. But I’ll play with her for a long time before I kill her,”
he growled.
    Benny sucked in a sharp breath. “Anything
happens to her and I’ll not only do everything I said, I’ll post
copies of it on the Internet.” The phone line went dead.
    For a moment, Orlando stared at the phone,
disbelieving that Benny had actually hung up on him. Him.
    With a snarl he heaved his arm back and threw
his phone across the room. It splintered into pieces against the
wall before falling onto the plush carpet with a soft thud.
Orlando’s hands balled into fists. He needed to break something.
Namely Benny’s face.
    As he stared at his Louis XV style vintage
desk he wanted to rip it apart with his bare hands, one piece at a
time. The desk had been his father’s. Expensive, sturdy, masculine.
He’d kept it out of respect for the man and because it had