Page 31 of Deadly Revenge

Jenna looked down at her hand and back up at him. “I, ah, dropped it, and it rolled under the bed.”

He leveled a hard gaze at her, and her cheeks flamed. “Don’t ever play poker.”

Jenna’s shoulders sagged. “I was checking on something.”

“And ...?”

“Everything seems fine.” Relief sounded in her voice.

He eyed her with raised eyebrows, waiting for her to explain. When she didn’t respond, he said, “You can trust me, Jenna.”

“I’m ready to leave,” she said.

She ought to know evasive tactics never worked with him.

“Have I ever let you down?” When she still hesitated, he said, “Come on, tell me when did I ever not have your back?”

16

“Did you find them?” Anxiety laced the cop’s voice. Good.

“No.” Rick Sebastian turned on the road that led to the remote cabin he’d rented. He’d been listening to the conversation from the bugging devices he’d planted in the kitchen and Hart’s office when Ross’s call came in. Her boss and probably the man who’d burst into the house seemed to think she had fainted. Good. “Are you certain she has photos of us together?”

“Yes,” Ross said.

“You’ve seen them?”

“Yes. I deleted them from her phone, but something she said the last time we talked makes me believe she has copies somewhere. I searched her apartment before she moved but never found them.”

“Maybe because she doesn’t have any.” He hadn’t heard her mention any photos.

“Oh, she has them all right. She practically bragged about it.”

“Then why hasn’t she used them?”

Heavy breathing came through the phone. “I don’t know. Maybe to torment me for ending our engagement.”

Give me a break.But it was plain the narcissistic cop believed what he said. “I still don’t understand why you can’t claim you were working undercover that night.”

“It’s not that simple. I’ve never worked undercover, and to claim it would look suspicious. It’s better if the photos never show up. For both of us.”

Sebastian smiled. It was no skin off his nose—he’d paid his so-called debt to society—but if Phillip Ross wanted to think it was, so be it. Then his smile faded. While he was in prison, his lieutenant had taken over the Scorpions, and Viper had made it plain he wasn’t giving up the position.

He narrowed his eyes. Jenna Hart was to blame for all of this—prison, the loss of his organization ... maybe his hatred of the cop bordered on obsession. But it was what had gotten him through the long nights in the noisy cell block.

Getting his position back was his main priority ... and taking her out was a close second. Unfortunately Ross had other ideas for the former Chattanooga cop, but Ross’s determination to find the photographs fit in his plans. Sebastian could keep the detective happy while making Jenna Hart’s life miserable.

“She interrupted me, so I’ll go back and search again.” Sebastian turned into the gravel drive and parked. It would be an opportunity to make sure she knew someone had been in her house.

“Did she see you?”

“No.” And she wouldn’t see him the next time, either. He fingered the key he’d taken from her kitchen cabinet after he’d picked the lock to her door. He would have a copy made at a nearby town and then return this one where he found it.

“Did you plant the drugs?”

“I didn’t have time—I wasn’t expecting Hart to come back.” Not that he intended to, anyway. If he’d been caught and the cops found drugs on him, it would have been his ticket back to prison. He wasn’t taking that chance.

“Well, did you at least find something you can leave at the farmhouse implicating her in the drug operation?”

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