Page 27 of Lake House Killer

We never said her name.

He knows exactly who she is. And I have a feeling he’s not bluffing. He could lead me to my sister tonight.

“What do you want?” I’ll give him anything. And right about now, I think he knows it all too well.

“The Morettis have a need,” he says, his expression growing sober. “They need a dirty cop.” He shrugs. “A dirty fed is even better. If I deliver you on a silver platter, I get a bonus. In other words, you’re my winning ticket out of this place.”

“What’s wrong with this place?” Jack asks as a pair of boobs bounce by, and I shoot him a dirty look for going there. “What? It’s practically paradise compared to any other jobs the Morettis could have him doing.”

“He’s right.” Marco shrugs again, and at this point, I’m likening it to a tick. “But that, too, is a payday I can’t refuse. So what do you say? You want Erin? I want you.” He nods to me specifically. “I’ll give you some time to think about it. I’m here most nights. I’ll give you a week to decide. If don’t see you, I’m tipping her off that you’re after her.”

“She’s aware,” I say.

“I meant I’ll make her disappear.” He gives a curt nod and a chill rides through me. That could mean so many things, all of them potentially life-ending for my sister. “You come on board and all we ask is three favors at the discretion of the Morettis. When and where is up to them.”

“Just three?” Jack muses.

“They like to work in threes. It’s a holy number. They figure it’s fair.”

Jack turns my way. “Nice way to square things up with the man upstairs.”

I can’t tell if he’s teasing or not or what his thoughts on the matter are, mostly because the lights are flickering like mad, the music has turned up ten decibels, and my head is spinning with all sorts of dark thoughts. Not to mention the words dirty fed are playing on repeat in my brain.

“A week,” I say as I slide off the stool. “We’ll see.”

Jack and I take off back into the crowd. “Let’s collect the goofballs we’re related to and get out of here,” he shouts over the music.

We head to the front, only to find Riley and Jet have migrated their way onto the stage and are busy collecting their own wad of ones.

The music switches to some throwback song from the eighties and Jack gives a Cheshire Cat smile. The entire club is on its feet swaying to the beat and even my own body begs to move despite the trauma that just ensued.

“Come on.” He pulls me in and begins to sway to the music. “Let’s forget about everything for two minutes,” he says it low enough for me to have to read his lips.

Soon, Jack is swaying his hips with the best of them and it feels as if I’ve got my very own erotic dancer using me as a pole, as a willing victim to his ceaseless good looks and wicked charm.

And then I become one.

With the lights flashing on and off in shots of pink and blue, it all feels surreal, like a bad dream, a nightmare I can’t seem to claw my way out of.

I wrap my arms around Jack, close my eyes, and dance the night away. And in a fit of lunacy, I thrust that wad of bills he gave me into the air and make it rain all over us.

I don’t see why not. It’s already raining misery.

Either I become a dirty fed or Erin winds up dead.

I’ve inadvertently put a price on my sister’s head in an effort to bring her home safely.

I’ve always said I’d do anything to bring her back. And now the rubber meets the road.

Jack comes at me with a lusty look in his eyes as he cradles the back of my head.

He’s coming in for the kill, I can feel it.

What’s one more sidestep from my good senses?

He comes in close and I turn my head away at the last second.

Maybe there’s hope for me yet.

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