Page 73 of Desire Me
The pieces fell perfectly into place in her mind: her uncle, whose temper had been shorter than usual lately; the rumors Nathan had mentioned about gambling debts, laughing them off; the occasional odd glances she’d started to get from some of her men, including Vinny, who now stared at her with horror in his brilliant green eyes.
She zeroed in on her uncle. “What the fuck have you done, Francis?”
Her uncle narrowed his eyes on her, eyes so like her father’s that sometimes they made her chest ache. “This isn’t your business, Raegan. What are you even doing here?”
“Isn’t my business?” She stepped closer, ignoring the guns aimed her way. “What am I doing here? This is my fucking building, my fucking product. I started this business, remember? Brought you and my entire family on board. Now answer me, damn it: what the hell are these men doing here?”
“We’ve got a deal with your uncle, Ms. Conté.” Di Angelo smiled, the expression sending a frisson of fear down her spine. Rae straightened it in defiance. “A very lucrative deal. And if you know what’s best for you and yourfamily,you’ll turn around, walk away, and forget you ever saw us.”
“Walk away?” Her laugh was bitter. Her uncle had always been a hard man, but she’d never suspected he would stoop to using her, using their business. Risking her cousins, the people here she considered their family. “I think that goes the other way around, asshole. Get the fuck out of my building.”
“Raegan!” her uncle snarled. “Now is not the time to show how much of a bitch you can be. It’s only going to get you killed. Now get out of here.”
She stared him down. If she wanted any hope of fixing this situation, of protecting her cousins and the life she’d built for them and herself, she had to know what she was up against. “Not until you tell me. What did you do?”
“I don’t owe you an explanation, girl. This is my business too.”
Not for long, not if she had any say in the matter. “What. Did. You. Do, asshole?”
He was in front of her in a moment, his sudden slap shocking her to her bones. “I did what was best for us.”
Her hand covered the pain flaring in her cheek. God, it felt like he’d broken her jaw. He certainly hadn’t pulled his punch, so to speak.
She forced back the threat of tears. “Best for us?” she managed to get out, her words incredulous.
“Of course,” Di Angelo put in. “For your health. You see, your uncle owes us money. It was either this, or his life.” He looked her up and down. “Of course, we did offer to take yours instead. After we had a little bit of fun.”
Her stomach turned. “Why stop at stealing when you can add a little rape and murder, huh?”
Di Angelo shrugged. “Business is business, but I’m not above adding in pleasure.”
Jesus Christ, what had her fucking uncle gotten them into? Was he completely insane?
The hungry look in Di Angelo’s eyes answered that question for her. Francis was just as insane as the rest of the men in this room. Especially if he thought they would make it out of here alive.
“I’m calling the cops.” Her phone was in her pocket. She reached for it.
Di Angelo smiled. “Please do. Chief Culver is a good friend of mine. I’m sure he can talk some sense into you. Or maybe my men can.” He jerked his head toward the group, many of them leering, behind him.
Despite the rage flowing through her, Rae hesitated with her phone in her hand. Just as she decided,To hell with it,and clicked on the call icon, a commotion outside drew everyone’s attention. Another suited man ran through the open back door, right near where Rae stood, shouting. “Hey, boss, we’ve got it.”
A black bag was clutched in his hand.
“Good, good.” Di Angelo smiled, nodded toward the bag. “Conté?”
Her uncle turned carefully toward the new guy, keeping one eye on Rae as if she were a poisonous snake ready to strike—proving he wasn’t totally without brains. He knew her well enough to know she wasn’t going to roll over and take this. But to obey Di Angelo, to get to the newcomer, meant leaving Rae unguarded. Vinny, knowing her almost as well, moved closer until he stood next to Rae. She glared at him and Francis, who smirked her way.
“Just keep your mouth shut and this will all be over in a few minutes,” Francis said.
Her snort was as derisive as she could make it. “You’re dealing with criminals. Thieves.” She glanced over the guns fully on display. “Killers. It’ll never be over; you know that.”
“Just shut the fuck up if you want to live. If you want the boys to live.”
Bile rose to the back of her throat. The idea that he would threaten her cousins… Memories of the years their family had spent together, of her father hugging with this man, of him standing beside her at her parents’ funeral, flickered through her mind, taunting her with the knowledge that she’d never truly known him. At all. And now her cousins’ lives as well as her own depended on stopping him.
Terror shook her to her core. She knew, if whatever was in that bag changed hands, their lives were over. Her life was over, her business. The cartel would never let them be free.
The suit with his stupid sunglasses had continued moving forward, black back in hand, until he stood no more than three feet from her. Francis was just out of her reach when he held his hand out for the bag. Rae thought about her cousins, her employees—everyone whose life would change for the worse in mere moments.
