Page 66 of Vicious Sabotage

Her stomach bottomed out, and her bowels cramped.

Jered Smythe’s eyes glimmered with a hint of menace and another part madness that frightened her almost as much as the silence coming from the stockroom.

“Were my scare tactics too subtle?” Smythe’s remark jerked her brain back to reality.

The break-in. The rattlesnake. Carver had been right—they weren’t coincidences.

Smythe stepped back, folding his arms over his chest. It was evident he earned his muscles in a gym, and the greasy slick of his hair was nothing like the sexy way Carver’s hair looked after his shower.

“Let’s talk, Livia.”

She recoiled at his use of her name. “Say what you need to say and leave us alone.”

“You owe me. In fact, you owe me a lot.”

Oh god. Dad, what the hell did you do?

“I was trying to be a nice guy. I let the debt die with your father. I don’t believe the offspring should suffer for the sins of their fathers. But then you stepped on my toes. And well…now it can’t be overlooked anymore.”

She blinked. “What did I do?”

He unfolded his arms and held up a finger. “There are fees associated with what you did. A you-Tased-my-guy fee. A you-shot-my-guy fee. A you-looked-at-my-guy-wrong fee.”

Her brain clouded with all he was saying. Colton, Hunter and Carver were right—she hadn’t just helped Ivy that day when the men returned for her truck. She’d stepped in quicksand of her own, and pissed off a man who probably didn’t require much reason to attack her.

Worse, the back of her mind worried over the lack of fight sounds coming from the stockroom. What had they done to Carver?

“I have money. Let me go to the cash register.”

He shook his head and twitched up the cuff of his jacket to stare at a gleaming gold Rolex. “You’ll need way more money than that.”

How did she get out of this? If only she’d listened to Carver and called 911, but she had been out of her mind with worry when she heard those men beating him up.

She needed a panic button. Wasn’t there one on the app that Carver installed on her phone?

“I need to get to the safe.” She masked her expression, hoping he didn’t see her desperation and the fib.

“Now we’re talking. Where is the safe?”

She wet her dry lips and slowly inclined her head toward the desk behind him. Where her father had worked on the books and alcohol orders and made bad deals with loan sharks.

“Behind that poster of Dogs Playing Poker.” The knockoff of the famous painting was her father’s favorite. It wasn’t exactly Livia’s style, but she hadn’t gotten around to making the office hers when she had so many more important things to sink money into.

He stared at her for a long moment. Then he nodded at his thug who stood over her, assuring that she wasn’t going anywhere without their consent.

He grabbed her by the arm, thick fingers biting into her flesh. She tore it free and sent him a glare. “I can get up alone.”

But could Carver? What was going on? Her heart ached from not knowing if her lover was even alive.

He was strong and capable, but he was outnumbered.

So was she.

But she was not outwitted.

She pushed to her feet and took three steps to the desk, purposely coming within inches of Smythe. He didn’t back away, but she didn’t expect him to. She only wanted to prove she wasn’t afraid of him.

Her shaky insides said otherwise, though she refused to let him see that.

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