Читать книгу Loving the Lone Wolf - Ingrid Weaver - Страница 9

Nathan had thought the ride would do him good. That’s why whenever he could he preferred to use his bike instead of his customized Jaguar. There was nothing like the molar-jarring vibration from a Harley’s split carburetor and the slam of night air at seventy miles an hour to help clear a man’s head. Traffic on the expressway was light at this hour so he’d been able to open up the throttle the instant he’d cleared the ramp.

But it wasn’t working. How could he clear his head when every square inch of his body was humming with awareness?

Kelly was nestled behind him, her hands clasped around his waist and her thighs cradling his hips. Even through his jacket he could feel the pressure of her breasts as she squeezed against his back to shelter from the wind.

At least she’d changed out of that damn dress. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had a hope of getting this far. Had she realized what she’d been doing to him?

Yes. Absolutely. She’d known full well how to use her sexuality to her advantage. She thought she could manipulate him by leading him around by his libido. It was all part of her strategy.

It bothered the hell out of him to realize how effective it had been.

He clenched his jaw and twisted his wrist, accelerating to pass a slow-moving truck. Kelly leaned with him as he changed lanes, her body locked to his. He had assumed she would choose to postpone this part of their business until later, but she seemed as anxious to put the deal into motion as he was. She hadn’t balked when she had seen the motorcycle. Instead, she had told him to wait, then had reappeared outside the Starlight fifteen minutes later dressed in flat-heeled shoes, tailored pants and a modest sweater, a helmet she had borrowed from one of the club’s bouncers in her hand.

Her sensible outfit hadn’t done much to disguise her figure, especially since the way she was plastered to him now let Nathan feel even more than the dress had allowed him to see.

But that was probably all part of her game, too. Her determination was as formidable an asset as her body. Volski had chosen his emissary—and his trophy—well.

Right. Volski.

Nathan checked his speed and eased back on the throttle to bring it under the limit. Getting stopped by the cops at this stage was the last thing he needed. He had a bag of pure heroin in the pocket of his jacket and he had the girlfriend of a notorious Russian drug kingpin on the back of his bike. On top of that, he was using a name he hadn’t gone by for a decade.

What Kelly had learned about his past had been accurate. Ten years ago, Nathan Rand had run the most successful chop shop in Detroit. His network of car thieves had stretched from Michigan across the border to Ontario, targeting only high-end vehicles. His staff had been skilled and highly motivated, all pros like him. He’d been investigated by police forces in both countries and he’d been arrested three times, but he’d always beaten the charges. As he’d told Kelly, he was good at what he did.

But what Kelly didn’t know—and what Volski could never find out—was the real reason Nathan Rand had dropped out of sight. He had relocated from Detroit to Chicago and had become Nathan Beliveau, the president and CEO of what was now the third-largest courier company in the nation.

Nathan’s current network stretched not only around the Great Lakes but throughout North America. Every vehicle his company owned had been acquired honestly. Instead of working under the threat of prison time, his skilled, highly motivated staff could look forward to medical benefits and a generous pension plan. He had transformed himself from an international car thief to an upstanding, taxpaying citizen.

So what he’d told Kelly had been accurate, too. He was indeed in the transportation business. He was proud of the new life he’d built, but it hadn’t come cheap. Unless he paid his debt to Tony Monaco, he could lose it all.

The reminder focused his thoughts better than the ride could. He took the exit for O’HareAirport, switched off his headlight and headed for the back route he liked to use. Seven minutes later, they arrived at the sprawling complex of warehouses and hangars that bore the gray-and-white baying-wolf logo of Pack Leader Express.

It’s your turn to show me yours.

Showing Kelly what he had to offer was exactly what he intended to do. That was why he was about to go through the charade of breaking into the head office of his own company.

Nathan coasted to a stop in the shadows outside the chain-link fence that ran behind the Pack Leader main warehouse. Security was tight in the freight-handling areas, so he planned to stick to the administrative building. He pulled back his cuff to check his watch, then shut off the engine.

Kelly unclasped her hands from his waist. “Why are we stopping here?” she asked.

He set the kickstand, slipped off his helmet and twisted on the seat to look at her. “I know the security guards’ schedule. They pass through the main parking lot a few times a night, but there’s no entrance back here for them to check so they won’t notice my bike.”

She lifted off her helmet and fluffed her hair with her fingers. A whiff of floral-scented shampoo mingled with the exhaust from the bike. “What about surveillance cameras?”

“They’re focused on the entrances and on the loading bays. This is a dead spot.”

She surveyed the area. “I’m impressed by how you’ve studied the security, Nathan, but it still doesn’t show me how you propose to move our merchandise.”

He swung his leg over the gas tank, got to his feet and held out his hand. “Come with me.”

She slid off the bike, hesitating for a telling moment before she slipped her hand into his.

Nathan knew it was crazy to feel a shock from the contact, since he’d felt her body rubbing and jiggling against him for the past half hour, yet the sensation of her skin pressed to his made his mouth go dry.

She didn’t need stage makeup or a sequined dress to get to him. Although the shadows were deep here, he could feel the impact of her gaze. Her eyes were the vibrant green of springtime, fresh with life and hinting at earthy passion that was still tightly coiled.

Did she save her passion only for her singing? What would she do if he took her in his arms and eased her further into the shadows, pressed his mouth to her lips and her back to the wall and…

Damn, he had to keep his mind on business. He was taking a hell of a risk by bringing Kelly here, but it was the quickest way to cement this deal. Everything she saw and did was going to get straight back to Volski, so he had to put on the show of his life.

He tightened his grip on her hand and guided her across the tarmac to the small square building at the hub of the complex. The wolf logo was done in lights here, unlike the painted signs on the other buildings. He gave the glow from the sign a wide berth as he bypassed the main entrance and led Kelly to a door that was set in the middle of the side wall. Angling his body so that she wouldn’t be able to see what he did, he went through the motions of jimmying the lock, then punched in the combination on the keypad, opened the door and tugged her inside.

As he’d anticipated, the corridor was empty. Most of the people who worked the midnight shift would be monitoring activity from the communication center at the front of the building. If someone did happen to see him using his private entrance, they wouldn’t find his presence here unusual—Nathan didn’t sleep much, and he preferred a hands-on style of management, so he often wandered the complex at night.

But if Kelly heard someone address him by the name he used now, the game with Volski would be over almost before it had begun.

She opened her mouth as if she were about to ask another question, but he silenced her by shaking his head and holding his finger to her lips. He leaned down to put his mouth close to her ear. “We’ll go upstairs,” he whispered. “You can see the entire layout from there. It’s safer than going around to the warehouse.”

She nodded and one of her curls tickled his nose.

His eyes half closed as he inhaled. There was the floral shampoo, feminine and sensuous, but beneath it there was a hint of something sweet. A mild, powdery aroma that was oddly…innocent.

Longing, pain…rage.

The memory of her voice rose with her scent. The calculating woman who belonged to Stephan Volski wouldn’t smell like this any more than she would be able to sing with so much emotion. Again, Nathan found himself thinking there had to be more to Kelly than what showed on the surface.

But that wasn’t his concern, was it? He wasn’t looking for a complication any more than he was looking for a woman. Kelly’s only reason for being here with him was to negotiate a way to move her boyfriend’s heroin.

As for Nathan’s reason for being here with Kelly…well, they were standing in the middle of it.

He straightened up and led her to the stairs.

Nathan’s nerves had to be made of steel, Kelly thought, crouching behind the low ridge of concrete that ran along the edge of the roof. And as for that other part of the male anatomy that supposedly went along with courage, he must have a pair of the largest, firmest—

She gritted her teeth, refusing to consider anything else about his body. She’d already felt plenty of it on the motorcycle trip here. Yes, thanks to that ride, she’d been treated to hands-on knowledge of his wide shoulders, his slim hips, his hard thighs and his broad chest. And she’d learned his scent was from more than leather and aftershave. He had the compelling, musky tang of a dangerously virile man.

“The shipment will get stored in that warehouse after it comes in,” Nathan said. He squatted beside her and pointed toward a building to their right.

The airport spread out before them in a giant tapestry threaded with rows of lights. The terminal buildings were far enough away to look small, yet the well-lit complex of warehouses that surrounded them made Kelly feel uncomfortable. There was no cover here on the roof. If anyone decided to look in this direction, they would be spotted for sure.

But compared to the crimes Stephan had drawn her into, a little breaking, entering and trespassing were insignificant. Most of her anxiety arose from the fear that if they were caught here, the distribution deal would be blown and so would her and Jamie’s escape plan.

She wiped her damp palms against her pants and turned her head to follow Nathan’s gesture. She didn’t want him to see her nervousness. It might give him an advantage.

“I didn’t think to ask before,” Nathan said. “Are you bothered by heights?”

His question sounded sincere, as did the note of concern in his voice, but Kelly couldn’t be sure. Bringing her here might be a ploy to rattle her, the same way she’d been trying to rattle him before. “Not at all,” she replied. “Besides, this building is hardly the Sears Tower.”

“It’s too close to a flight path to be any higher.”

As if to prove his statement, his words were drowned out by the roar of a jet taking off. Kelly pressed her palms over her ears and instinctively ducked her head.

Nathan dropped to one knee and slipped his arm around her shoulders to steady her as the noise washed over them. Once it subsided, he didn’t pull away immediately. He moved his fingers, toying briefly with the ends of her hair.

She told herself that she shouldn’t feel anything from the caress. After all, it was only her hair that he touched. So why did she have this strange impulse to lean toward him for more?

Her jaw was starting to ache from clenching her teeth. It was a good thing that this was almost over.

He withdrew his hand and grasped the top of the concrete ledge. “The other courier companies go for small packets and speed,” he said. “Pack Leader offers the same service, but specializes in bigger shipments. Loads are held in that warehouse, then get moved out as soon as a truck is available, usually within six hours.”

“That suits us. The longer it sits, the more chance there is of someone getting curious about what’s in it.”

“How is it going to be packed?”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard Volski’s last pipeline brought his junk in by stuffing it into outboard motor parts.”

“That method was compromised. We’ll be using something else.”

“Which is?”

“Stephan will let you know when he feels it’s necessary,” Kelly said.

Nathan paused, then shifted closer. “Unless you level with me, this isn’t going to work. I need to know the weight and dimensions of the shipment so that I can arrange the most efficient transportation.”

“I understand. He’ll give you the specifics ahead of time, but not yet.” She inhaled slowly as the breeze brought her his scent. He was close enough for her to feel his body heat. Sexual awareness rippled down her spine. Was he doing this purposely, trying to turn the tables by using her own strategy on her?

What she had begun at the Starlight was backfiring. Instead of faking an interest in him, she had to convince herself that she wasn’t interested. She tipped her head to follow the blinking lights of another plane. “You still haven’t explained how this is going to go down.”

“If I told you that, what would stop you from double-crossing me and using the information I give you to go with someone else?”

She was glad that she was already facing away from him, so she wouldn’t have to worry about hiding her thoughts. He couldn’t know how close to the truth he had come. “Don’t you trust me, Nathan?”

“About as much as you trust me, Kelly.”

He was surprisingly direct, different from the other criminals she’d met through Stephan. “Could someone else offer us what you can?” she asked.

“No one else has my particular connections.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about. I’ve found that mutual interest is more reliable than mutual trust.”

“So young, and so cynical,” he murmured. “Is that why you save your passion for your music?”

Another direct hit, she thought. She had to finish this now. “As much as I’m enjoying all this witty repartee, Nathan, it’s getting late,” she said, pushing to her feet. “I’d like to proceed with our business.”

He looked at her for a minute, his gaze hooded with shadows, then stood and led her to the other side of the roof.

A sea of trucks, all painted gray and white with the Pack Leader wolf logo, stretched out in a fenced yard below them. The sizes ranged from small delivery vans to eighteen-wheelers. As they watched, a man in the dark gray company uniform strode to a midsize van and drove it through the gate.

Nathan drew her back from the edge of the roof as the van passed by. “The best way to smuggle anything is in plain sight,” he said.

“How?”

“All it takes to clear a load from customs is the right documentation. I know someone in the main office here who can create that with a few keystrokes.”

“And then what?”

“We put it on a truck and drive it wherever you want it to go.”

“It sounds too simple.”

“It’s the flaw of a big system. Pack Leader processes so many shipments daily that adding one more to the schedule won’t make a ripple. One hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing. And the company is so well established, it’s above suspicion.”

“Aren’t there tracking mechanisms?”

“Sure, there’s an order number, but once it’s in the system, there would be no reason for anyone except the client to access it,” he said, raising his voice over the roar of another jet. He guided her back to the stairs that had brought them to the roof. “I’ve been transporting merchandise into the country by piggybacking it with legitimate goods for years. This company has been a gold mine, and the suits at the top don’t even know it.”

“But what about the driver? Wouldn’t he have to be in on it?”

“In this case, I’ll fix it so I would handle Volski’s shipment personally.”

“How?”

He didn’t reply until they had stepped into the stairwell and the door had swung shut behind them, muffling the noise of the plane. “By putting on a uniform, walking into the yard and driving out with a truck.”

She shook her head. “Stealing a truck would bring too much attention.”

“I didn’t say I would steal it.”

“Then how will you get it?”

The light over the stairs was bright enough to reveal a glimmer of humor in his expression. “Easy. I work here.”

Kelly stared. Was that a smile? It was only a shift of a few facial muscles, a soft crinkling of the skin at the corners of his eyes, a deepening of the lines beside his mouth, yet it hinted at a warmth she hadn’t seen before. It was so at odds with his warrior demeanor that she found herself intrigued. What would it be like to see him smile fully, or maybe to hear him laugh?

Wait. What was that he had said? “You work here?” she asked.

“You’re welcome to check that out, too. My name’s on the Pack Leader payroll as a relief driver. There isn’t a vehicle with wheels that I don’t know how to handle.”

Her mind clicked back on track as she evaluated the potential of his scheme.

One hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing.

This was exactly what she’d been looking for. She had enough information now to set the deal into motion.

She felt a stirring of regret over what would happen to this man when it was over, but she tried to ignore it. With Jamie’s future at stake, she couldn’t afford the luxury of a conscience.

She did her best to disregard the warmth she sensed in Nathan’s almost-smile, too. It made no difference. After tonight, they would never see each other again.

It looked as if she had found the perfect scapegoat.

Although it was 2:00 a.m., the chandelier that hung in the three-story foyer of Stephan Volski’s fortified mansion blazed with light. It was a monstrous piece, heavy with crystal and studded with gilded eagles that were ornate enough to belong in a czar’s ballroom, which was where Stephan claimed it had originally hung. It was one of his prize possessions.

Kelly shuddered as she passed beneath it, her footsteps echoing on the marble floor. She knew that Stephan regarded her and Jamie as possessions, too. Prizes to be polished and put on display like his gaudy chandelier. They were tributes to his ego.

Sometimes she couldn’t believe she had once been naive enough to think otherwise. Could she really have been that young? Had the innocent woman she remembered ever truly existed?

There was a metallic clunking noise from behind her, followed by a series of electronic beeps as the guard at the front door locked up and reset the alarm.

Kelly kept walking. She knew there was no point looking back. It hurt too much. The only way out of this was to go forward.

The door of Stephan’s office was open when she reached it. Her shoes made no noise here—the hand-knotted carpet that covered the floor was thick enough to muffle a scream—so she took a moment to observe him in silence.

Despite the late hour, Stephan Volski was dressed in a light gray suit, his only allowance to comfort a slight loosening in the knot of his tie. His fine blond hair was neatly combed—he had it trimmed weekly. His elegantly handsome features and slender build gave him an air of sophistication. He appeared as harmless as a scholar as he bent his head over the papers that were scattered across his massive walnut desk.

Four years ago she had been dazzled by his charm, flattered by his attention and so hungry for love she hadn’t wanted to see past it. He’d been her Prince Charming, riding to the rescue, sweeping her into a fairy-tale future. Their affair had lasted one month. By the time Kelly had realized that what she saw in Stephan was an illusion, a carefully cultivated veneer to hide the ugliness beneath, she was already carrying his child.

No, not his child, she thought, curling her nails into her palms. Jamie was hers. All hers. There was nothing of his father in him except for the pale blue eyes. Her son was kind and loving and sweet and innocent and…

Dear God, she had to get him away from here before that changed.

Stephan rubbed his eyes and lifted his head. He gave an involuntary start when he saw her. He scowled and pushed his chair back from his desk. “You’re late.”

When they were in private, Stephan made no pretense of affection toward her—he had moved on to other women well before his child had been born—yet it suited his pride to let people believe that Kelly was his.

It suited her, too, by providing her with protection. Because the men she had to deal with believed she was Stephan’s girlfriend, they knew they could look but not touch.

Her true relationship with Stephan was a combination standoff and balancing act. As long as he had Jamie, Kelly would stay with Stephan, and as long as she stayed with Stephan, he would demand that she earn her keep by singing in his club and occasionally helping him with his business.

It astounded her that she had once thought his accent was romantic and his brooding silences were sensitive. How could she have allowed him to touch her?

Yet Nathan Rand was a criminal, just like Stephan. How on earth could she have found Nathan attractive? Why hadn’t she found his touch repulsive?

Dammit, hadn’t she learned anything?

“The meeting with Rand took longer than I expected.” She walked past the fireplace with its carved marble mantel and gilded screen to the table that held an ornate silver samovar, another item that had supposedly belonged in an imperial palace. Moving mechanically, she drew a cup of steaming water and fixed herself some tea. Not that she had ever developed a taste for Russian tea, but she needed something to keep her hands busy. “I just got in.”

“Tell me what happened.”

She added some sugar to her cup and stirred while she gave Stephan a summary of what she had learned from Nathan. “I think we should look for someone else,” she finished.

“Why?”

“Rand wants a percentage of our profits. He says it’s insurance so he can trust us.” She kept her gaze on her swirling tea. Stephan’s only weaknesses were his pride and his paranoia, so the best way to get him to agree to something was to suggest the opposite. For the same reason, she didn’t want him to know that giving Rand a percentage was her idea. It was insurance for her—without money up front, Rand would be less likely to bail on the deal.

“That would work in our favor,” Stephan said. “I can delay paying him his share. What percentage does he want?”

“After I saw his setup, we settled on thirty-five.”

Stephan pursed his lips as he considered that for a moment. Kelly guessed he was probably thinking of ways to cheat on the percentage. “We won’t look for anyone else,” he said finally. “We’ll go with Rand.”

She concentrated on keeping the spoon from rattling against the cup despite the sudden jump of her pulse. That had seemed too easy. Now for the next gambit. “I’m not sure we should trust him. He’s very…contained.”

“Are you losing your touch, Kelly?” Stephan lowered his voice slyly. “Or do Rand’s preferences lie in another direction?”

The implication that Nathan wasn’t heterosexual was so absurd, Kelly almost lost her concentration. The man put out pheromones that would be unmistakable to any female who possessed a pulse. She set the spoon down on the silver tray beneath the samovar. “Neither. He doesn’t seem to want supervision.”

“It’s not his call. We have too many customers depending on this shipment. If Rand says he doesn’t want supervision, he might have something to hide. We’ll have to keep a close eye on him until my merchandise is delivered. I’ve decided to bring it in next Friday.”

Kelly caught her breath. Friday? That was only a week away. In seven days, the nightmare would be over. And the seed of suspicion was planted. This was what she wanted. The pieces were falling into place better than she could have imagined.

Because while Stephan worried about trusting Nathan, and Nathan worried about trusting Stephan, Kelly planned to betray them both and disappear with Jamie.

The sheer daring of her plan terrified her. She knew how ruthless Stephan could be. If she failed to get away this time, she was certain she wouldn’t get another opportunity. He tolerated her presence in Jamie’s life because of their child’s age, but if he suspected for an instant that she was planning to double-cross him, he had the wealth and connections to move Jamie someplace where she would never find him.

Her hands trembled at the thought. Tea slopped down the front of her pants and onto the carpet. She put down the cup and grasped her pant leg to hold the scalding liquid away from her skin.

Stephan rounded his desk and walked to her side. “Is something wrong, Kelly?” There was no concern in his voice, only irritation. “You seem on edge.”

“It’s been a long day and it’s late.”

“Do not lie to me.” He narrowed his eyes. They were the same height when she wore flat heels, so his gaze bored into hers. His eyes were so much like Jamie’s, and yet so empty of warmth, the resemblance made her shudder. “I can see that something is troubling you,” he said.

Kelly felt a bubble of hysteria. She was about to cheat an egomaniacal heroin czar, put the blame on a drug smuggler who looked like an Indian warrior and she was facing the rest of her life on the run from both of them with her child.

What could possibly be troubling her?

“I know what it is.”

She pressed her tongue hard to the back of her front teeth, an old singer’s trick to stem the panic reaction and force her body to relax. God, he couldn’t know, could he? She’d been so careful.

“Gloria told me the boy got his hands on a gun.”

It took a second to change gears. With everything else going on, Kelly had pushed that particular nightmare to the back of her mind. At Stephan’s words, the image from this afternoon returned full force: Jamie in his playroom, his hair tousled as he backed out of the couch cushions, the sunlight gleaming from the pistol.

“You should have told me,” Stephan said. “Instead I heard it from the nanny.”

“You were busy,” Kelly said. “And I had to leave for the Starlight.”

“Simply because I do not spend as much time with our son as you do, don’t think his welfare doesn’t concern me. When he is old enough, he will be trained to take his place at my side.”

Trained? The prospect chilled her to her bones. She couldn’t let that happen. Whatever the cost, she had to get Jamie away before he fell under his father’s influence. “I spoke to the guards,” she said. She took a step back. “I told them not to bring their weapons into my and Jamie’s suite.”

“Pah!” He muttered a string of oaths in Russian. “That is not enough. I have dealt with it myself.”

“How?”

He returned to his desk and pressed a button on his phone. “Dimitri? Where’s Alex?”

A guttural, heavily accented voice came through the speaker. “In the basement, Mr. Volski.”

“Bring him to my office now.”

A few minutes later, the marble in the hall clattered with a set of heavy footsteps, along with a scuffing, thudding noise. The tall, blond Dimitri Petrovich, Stephan’s lieutenant, entered the room with a burly, middle-aged man in tow.

It was Alex Almari, a veteran guard who also served as one of Stephan’s enforcers. Kelly barely recognized him. His lower lip had been split open, the skin on his cheeks was raw from abrasions and his eyes were reduced to slits behind pulpy, purple swelling. He staggered a few steps sideways when Dimitri released his arm, then locked his knees and managed to stay on his feet.

Kelly pressed her fingers to her mouth. “Oh, my God. What happened to—”

“This is the imbecile who endangered the boy,” Stephan said.

Kelly swallowed hard. When she had seen the weapon in Jamie’s hands, she had been so shaken that if the person responsible for leaving the gun had been standing in front of her then, she probably would have struck him herself. She would do anything to protect her child.

But these injuries weren’t the result of a parent’s impulsive blow, they were from a methodical beating. Even though Alex Almari had probably inflicted far worse on others over the years, the sight of his face left Kelly sickened.

Stephan walked to the man and grabbed his chin to turn his face toward her. Fresh blood welled from Alex’s lip and trickled onto Stephan’s hand. “Do you not approve of my punishment, Kelly?”

“There shouldn’t be any guns allowed near Jamie,” she said. “That’s the only sure way to prevent it from happening again.”

“I prefer my way,” Stephan said. He stepped back, taking a handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit to wipe the smears of blood from his fingers. “Dimitri?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Take Alex outside and shoot him. Use his own gun.”

“Stephan, no!” Kelly cried.

The gaze Stephan turned toward her froze her where she stood. “I value what’s mine, Kelly. Anyone who threatens my son deserves no mercy.”

“Please,” Alex said. The burly enforcer’s voice was distorted by his swollen face, his accent thick. Through the purpled slits over his eyes, his gaze was pleading. “It was…mistake. Didn’t mean…no harm.”

“He’s right, Stephan,” Kelly said. “Jamie’s fine. It was a mistake.”

Stephan glanced at Dimitri and held up his palm, then focused on Kelly once more. “If I spare Alex for you, what will you do for me, Kelly?”

Too late, she recognized the trap. Stephan knew her too well. Pride and paranoia might be his weaknesses, but sentiment was hers.

Damn! She was using her heart again instead of her head. She really hadn’t learned anything, had she? “What do you want, Stephan?”

“You think we shouldn’t trust Nathan Rand. To ensure we can, I want him here where we can keep track of his movements until the shipment is safely in our hands. And since you presented the deal, I believe it would be best if you continue to be my liaison with him.”

“I had only agreed to negotiate. That’s all I’ve ever done in the past. My part in this is over. I won’t participate in—”

“You have no reason to pretend squeamishness now.” Stephan’s gaze sharpened. “Or is there something you’re not telling me about this deal?”

Kelly jammed her tongue to her teeth hard enough to stop her breath. This complication was the last thing she needed.

“Kelly?”

“No,” she said. “I’ve told you everything.”

“Excellent, then we shall proceed.” Stephan flicked his hand toward Alex. “Take him back to the basement, Dimitri. Don’t shoot him. Cut off his trigger finger instead.”

Kelly gagged, fighting to keep her revulsion inside as the men moved away.

“I seldom give second chances, Kelly,” Stephan said. He folded his handkerchief, tucked it back in his pocket and returned to sit behind his desk. “You would be wise to remember that.”