Page 99 of The Wrecked One

I took hold of her wrist, leaned in, and dropped my mouth over her ear. “You’re trying to calm me down so I don’t explode, huh? It may be having the opposite effect.”

She arched into me as if only the two of us were here. “Racing heart, but calm mind, right?” she asked, her tone provocative.

“More like a dirty mind.” But nevertheless, a mind no longer contemplating murder. So, yeah, she was successful in her efforts to calm me.

Well, sort of. I did want to fuck up that dress. Rip it from her in one fast movement and see if she’d been a bad girl, one who’d left her panties in our suite.

“Need a room?” Jesse joked—interrupting my thoughts about panties—as he and Gwen joined us. “They’re here,” he let us know, and those words were bullets to my brain, wrenching me from the moment I’d been locked in with Mya.

I let go of her and forced myself back into operator mode, scanning the crowd of criminals in search of our marks.

Gwen offered Mya a champagne flute while lifting her chin in the general direction of yonder. “We’ve got the father and the son here, but most definitely not the Holy Spirit.”

It took me a few more seconds to search through the sea of rich assholes to find the Sorens, but once I did, my stomach turned at the sight of the two of them. “Wonder why only Hugo’s here with his dad.”

“Maybe his other son likes to be fashionably late.” Like Mya, Gwen’s jokes were probably flying on my behalf, both of them trying to help downplay the moment.

Did the two of them have a sidebar conversation about how to prevent me from changing my mind about my desire for revenge?

I had to remind myself I did take off on them and quit the team, so I couldn’t blame their skepticism, or not taking my word for face value after that. Maybe I wasn’t quite ready to trust myself, either.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood when I made eye contact with Hugo. He halted behind his father, who was walking with a cane, staring right back at me.

A few men in suits walked between us, obstructing my view of the pricks, so I stepped around the nearby high-top table to get a better look at them.

“Carter’s still talking to Nicholas, but based on all the owner’s head bobbing and beard-stroking, he looks to be going along with his proposal,” Jesse noted.

I followed his gaze toward one of the white tents off to our side where Carter and Nicholas stood talking. “The Sorens just spotted Carter, and they’re heading right for him.” I hooked my arm with Mya’s, not wanting her more than an inch away from me. “We should join them.”

At that, the four of us cut through the crowd of guests while the orchestra played ominous music in the background like a soundtrack to the moment.

“Dominick. Soren. Not sure if you two have met before . . .” Nicholas was already in the middle of his introductions as we joined, the Sorens having beaten us there. Based on the owner’s name and accent, he was French.

Carter wordlessly gestured for the four of us to surround him. Jesse and Gwen went around Carter to his left, and Mya and I stayed on his right.

Remain on mission. Don’t let Hugo get to you. I repeated that mantra again, continuing to keep hold of Mya’s arm to get me through this.

Carter reached for Stef Soren’s hand, then shifted to Hugo’s outstretched offer. “You could say we know one another. We have a few mutuals, don’t we?”

That was one handshake I’d never have been able to stomach. Not after what that man had ordered done to us in Thailand.

“Dominick here has agreed to match your bid,” Nicholas shared, keeping his tone casual as Carter returned his hands to his pockets.

“Oh, you don’t say?” Stef arched a thick, gray brow. “And how does he know my bid?”

“I don’t.” Carter’s aloofness had to be meant to get under Stef Soren’s skin. “I offered to match whatever number you throw at him.”

Hugo pulled a cigar from his pocket, offered one to Nicholas, and lit it for himself after he declined. So help that man if he blew smoke in our faces.

Mya gently bumped her hip into me as I held on to her, a reminder for me to stay cool and focused. Yeah, roger that. Just barely.

“I’ll keep upping my bid, then.” Stef’s challenge drew my eyes away from his evil son and to him.

Carter shrugged. “I’ll match that one, and every other one, too.”

“Surprised the money your wife left you hasn’t run out by now.” Stef’s cheap shot didn’t land.

“You of all people know money makes money.” Carter lifted a hand from his pocket, gesturing toward the woods off in the distance at the back of the property. “Practically grows on trees now, doesn’t it?”

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