Page 83 of Vicious Little Games

“Showtime!” Cole says with a clap of his hands when he pops up off the sofa and turns off the television.

“I’ll be with Mike, making sure they don’t call the cops or make a run for it when they see the front door,” August tells us before he hurries out the back.

“Why is he going out that way?” I can’t help but ask as I get to my feet and remove my gun from my ankle holster.

“To come up behind them,” Cole replies as he removes his firearm from his shoulder holster. “Are you ready for this?”

I shrug. “They don’t look like the type to shoot at us.” I’ve also had time to examine the photos on the wall of their wedding.

“Probably not, but be prepared, just in case.”

One of my guards comes back inside, and even stands directly in front of me, which is a little annoying since it’s hard to see around him. But I let him shield me until everyone is back inside.

“Keep your hands up and walk in slow and easy,” I hear August say when the broken front door is peeled open. “There you go, just like that. We’re all armed.”

“Wh-what’s going on?” the twenty-something, heavy-set man asks when he appears in the living room first, followed by his much smaller wife.

Her eyes dart around the room at each person, then widen when she sees me peeking my head out from behind my guard. “Oh, shit.”

“Oh shit is right,” Cole says to her. “You were paid about, what, thirty grand to give up details on Dante Salvato’s daughters by Lochlan Dunne, weren’t you?”

Her jaw drops open momentarily, as if surprised that we figured it out. Or that Cole figured it out.

“I-I thought he was a…a family friend,” she says softly.

“Bullshit,” Cole snaps at her.

“But…he just married Sophie. Didn’t he?” she asks.

“Yes, but you couldn’t have known in advance if he was going to use the information you provided to harm the girls, could you?”

I vehemently oppose being called a girl, but I let it slide this time.

The woman shakes her head.

“Give us the rings and we’ll leave. We already found your cash stash and confiscated it.”

The woman, Annette, glances up at her husband as if asking his advice. “You heard him. Hand it over, baby. I knew this would bite us in the ass.”

Finally, she lowers her hands. Twisting the rings off her finger, she holds them out. August reaches over her back and plucks them from her. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“You’re lucky we’re only taking back what you made off your betrayal,” Cole tells her. “And good luck finding another job in this city now that your ‘me time’ is over. You’re going to be blacklisted at every hotel.”

“Head out the back whenever you’re ready, boss,” August says. “I’ll keep an eye on them until you’re both secured in the car.”

With a nod, Cole heads for the back door with me following him, my guard behind me.

We gather Mike and the other guard to load up the SUV parked down the road. A moment later, August slides into the passenger seat, then twists around to drop the two rings into Cole’s waiting palm.

“Nice work tonight, gentlemen,” Cole tells them. He holds the rings up to the windows, the streetlights glistening off the diamonds.

“What are you going to do with the rings and the cash?” I can’t help but ask him. Not that I want him to give me a diamond or anything. That’s just silly.

“I’ll take the rings back to the gemologist who helped us earlier and see what he’ll give me for them.”

“Then what?”

He slides the rings onto his pinky finger, the only finger they will fit on. “Then…I’ll settle up some old debts.”

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