Kelly was waiting outside when her phone buzzed. She hung up, glanced at the man beside her, and nodded. “Go.”
He opened the car door and got out, but before he could walk away, Kelly’s phone rang again. Whatever she heard made her scowl. “Can’t even handle the simplest job,” she muttered under her breath.
Upstairs, Patricia slid off the bed, pressed a gun to the back of the man’s head, and when she heard a knock at the door, she dragged one of them into the bathroom with her.
“They’re coming in. When they do, give them a taste of their own medicine. You understand?” Her eyes were cold and sharp. “Otherwise, I can’t promise you’ll make it out alive.”
The man was drenched in cold sweat. Wasn’t she supposed to be crippled? He’d heard she couldn’t even stand. So how was she standing here, gun in hand, radiating the kind of danger you only saw in war movies?
There was a beep as the door unlocked. The man hiding behind the door sprang out, taking down the first guy who entered. Then he turned to Kelly.
She tried to bolt for the door, but someone grabbed her arm and yanked her back. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Do you even know who I am?” she snapped. “I paid you to fix my problem, not to turn on me!”
She barely got the words out before a hand clamped over her mouth. She knew enough to realize that talking too much could get you killed.
She never even got a chance to struggle. Both of them were stripped, dumped naked on the bed, and someone took photos as evidence.
Once it was done, the man turned to Patricia. She was stunning–so beautiful it was almost painful to look at her, but with a cold edge that warned people to keep their distance.
“So what now?” he asked. “What did she want you to do?”
“Call the press,” the man said, voice shaking. “Then, when the reporters show up, her mother–in–law’s supposed to barge in and catch her in bed with another man.”
What a setup. If Patricia hadn’t been prepared, she would’ve walked right into Kelly’s trap.
Jackson showed up just as Patricia stepped out of the room. The second he saw the man with her, he grabbed him by the collar and jerked him forward, eyes burning with fury. “Do you have a death
wish?”
The man trembled so badly he could barely get the words out. “We didn’t know who we were messing with. Please–we didn’t know.”
This woman was ruthless, but the man with her was just as intimidating–he had the kind of presence you only got from years in the military.
They thought they’d landed a big job. Instead, they almost lost everything.
Chapter 37
Inside the suite, Patricia stared at the naked couple sprawled across the bed, her eyes dark and unreadable. She pulled out her phone and made a call.
Theo was surprised to hear from her. In two years of marriage, she’d hardly ever called him directly.
“Your mother tried to set me up with another man,” Patricia said without any preamble. “Grandview Hotel, room 2608. Half an hour. If you don’t show, I’m not responsible for what happens next.”
The so–called “Grandview Hotel” was basically a glorified motel. Of course Kelly would pick a place like this–she’d never waste money, especially not for something as dirty as this.
The room was damp, reeking of cheap air freshener. Patricia wouldn’t have set foot in a place like this before her accident, let alone now. She hated anything cheap, and Kelly knew it–she’d gone out of her way to make this as humiliating as possible.
Theo rushed in to find Patricia sitting calmly on the sofa, Jackson standing behind her, hands clasped, eyes cold and watchful. Two men knelt at Patricia’s feet, heads down, too scared to move. Theo glanced around, then fixed his gaze on Patricia. His voice was low and cold. “What happened?”
Patricia didn’t answer him. Instead, she looked at the two men on the floor. “So, who wants to go
first?”
Chapter 38
