Page 71 of Assassin's Mark
Derrick returned to his relaxed position on the chair, resting his hands on his knees as if he sat in the parlor at the club, his cronies around him, brandy and cigars at his elbow. If the sight of the gun fazed him, I couldn’t see it. “No.”
Levi’sfree hand reached for his gun, sliding the top back with a sharpclick. Didn’t that chamber a bullet? “Now.”
“You don’t want to try that on me.” One side of Derrick's mouth rose in a smug smile. “I have enough evidence here”—he nodded toward the safe—“to hang you out to dry.”
Levi didn’t even blink those steely eyes. “You can’t give it to anyone if you’re dead.”
Anxiety that had nothing todo with all the pointing guns in the room fluttered in my chest. “Levi—”
He flicked me a glance. I pleaded with my eyes, the only option I had, praying he would get the message. A slight nod settled some of the churning in my stomach.
His hard focus returned to Derrick. “What happened to Caroline?”
Thank God. He’d gotten it.
Derrick looked thoughtful. “I guess you don’t want my secrets todie with me.”
No flinching away from Levi’s intent, no fear in his eyes. Derrick had spent too many years winning; he didn’t believe he would die here tonight.
Levi stalked forward. “I am perfectly fine with you and your secrets going straight to hell.” He jerked his chin toward me. “But she deserves the answers. Where is Caroline?”
Derrick raised an eyebrow but stayed silent.
Levi pulledthe trigger.
The sound of the shot was far worse than the ones in the warehouse; this was a much more enclosed space, and my ears rang with the echo. I reached to cover them, only to remember I was still tied.
Derrick glared at Levi, but a hint of fear finally showed. Just over his head, I noticed a chunk torn out of a wooden shelf.
“Tell her,” Levi said.
Derrick glanced at me, and beneaththe anger I swore I saw a flicker of regret. If he’d been anyone else, I’d have believed it.
“I told her I was putting her up in the new apartment. When she arrived…well, she wasn’t happy about my plan.” His cheeks went ruddy as memories seemed to play in his mind. “When I tried to take you by force, we fought.”
I didn’t know what I was feeling, didn’t have time to process the words. I woulddo that later, after all of this was over. After I knew everything there was to know. “And?”
Derrick’s face went blank. “And she fell. Hit her head.”
Hard enough to die? I glanced at Levi, but he was zeroed in on Derrick.
“Where is…she?” I couldn’t sayher body, couldn’t think of Caroline decaying without anyone to mourn her or care for her.
Derrick stared at me now, his face hard, unapologetic.If he’d ever loved my mother, there was no sign of it. “Camilla knew how important my career was. I knew we had to do something. I’d started construction on the plaza just before, and they were about to pour the foundation. We took her—”
“Stop.”
The word came out strangled, and satisfaction glimmered in Derrick’s eyes all over again. “Of course you ended up costing me two women, didn’t you?Caro and Camilla. In the end my wife knew too much, had a way to control me. I couldn’t allow that.” He shrugged. “Her death came at just the right time to win my first political seat. The sympathy vote is a powerful thing.”
Tears stung, slithered down my cheeks. “You’re a monster.”
“Am I?”
The pounding of heavy footsteps over our heads startled us all. Between one breath and the next, Derrickwas beside me, his hand coming up to my temple. I caught a glimpse of black metal as the sound of a second gunshot echoed like thunder in the room. Levi advanced, but with Derrick’s gun to my head, he didn’t fire again.
“I’ve been planning on making her disappear just like her mother,” Derrick said, his breath hot on my face as he knelt behind me. Cool metal stroked my cheek, the contrast sendinga shudder through me. “But this works so much better. Two birds, one stone, right? Abigail ran away from her lover, but he wasn’t ready to let her go. You followed her home, fought, and she died. Pity.”
“It’s a scenario you’re intimately familiar with, isn’t it?” Levi asked. He stepped once, twice to the side, trying to get a better angle, but each move was countered by a shift from Derrick.“Too bad there’d be no proof.”
