Page 156 of Always Be an Us

I can still spot the place where we made passionate love.

Right now, it’s hard to even believe it’s the same place. Everything is stark, severe, and dark, making the room look even smaller.

And then there's the half dozen men who have now occupied the space.

Rick’s eyes nearly bulge out of his head when he sees me. "You."

About half of the men are behind Rick, their hands frozen on their holsters.

The other half are behind a gray-haired man holding a gun to Rick's head.

He turns to me and raises an eyebrow. "Who is this?"

Rick doesn’t answer at first. He pales and confusion lights in his eyes. He doesn’t know why I’m here since he didn't call yet to schedule a ransom exchange. Which means he doesn't yet know that I figured all this out.

Sudden rage freezes through me.

"What?" I allow a sneer to touch my lip. "You thought you were going to kidnap my daughter and I just wouldn’t show up?"

He swallows, eyeing the man in front of him as he replies carefully. "I wasn’t kidnapping her. I just needed her help in finding something."

"You should have taken me instead, you bastard. I know more than she does. But you went after my daughter instead of me because you're nothing but a spineless coward."

Rick's face flushes. I don't know if he's pretending but he does look truly ashamed.

"Okay, I’m done with this." The gray-haired man still has his gun trained on Rick while still staring at me. His eyes are cold as ice, his tone detached. "I don’t care who you are, but unfortunately, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Which means I'll just have to get rid of you too. This whole thing has turned into such a mess."

"You don't want to do that," I say. "I'm the only one here who can get you what you actually need."

That gets his attention. "What?"

"The Rainbow Pearls? That’s what you want isn’t it?"

He blinks at me, then glances at Rick, then me again, and back to Rick. "I thought you said no one else but your crew knew about this."

"He lied," I say. "Because he wanted to keep the business to himself. He didn’t want to cut me in on it." I raise my eyebrow. "But you seem like a smart man, so I’d like to make you a deal myself. You interested?"

Interest gleams in his ice-blue eyes now.

I try not to shift my gaze so he doesn’t become suspicious, but I mentally count off how many men are in the room and where they’re located, plus the one at my back. I have no way of knowing who is part of Rick’s crew and who is with this thug. Either way, there's no way we’re getting out of this alive without a big miracle or some really fast talking.

"Cut him out and cut me in," I say. "I own the land that you find the Rainbow Pearls on."

"He’s lying," Rick says quickly.

"I’m not. It’s why he kidnapped my daughter," I say. "I can grant you access to the land to do all the extracting you want for a reasonable fee."

"And why would you want that?" Grey-Eyes says.

That’s a good question.

"For starters because you have a gun on me." I shrug. "Also, I don’t see why not. Rick has apparently been making a fortune from this business, so I don't see why I can't also do the same."

The man carefully regards Rick. "Well from what my friend Rick here was telling me, you’ve been preventing him from doing what he’s supposed to."

"That’s because I didn’t know at the time that the Rainbow Pearls were real," I say. "Now I know, I want a cut. Here’s what we can do. You let me go and I can draft a contract that allows you access to the land for an annual fee. How does that sound?"

"Or I can kill you now, and take the land for myself," he says. "Or did you not think I would figure out that the land you’re talking about is the Pink Hotel? And that you're Declan Tudor, the new buyer?"

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