Page 3 of Seduction in Blood
Everyone froze. I did a quick survey of the room, already knowing I wouldn't find an exit, but my gut reaction to run was instinctual.
"And I would drop the weapons." The man's voice came from inside the room near the shadows.
Two more men walked in, pushing Jamal, our exit man, to the floor.
I finally turned, shutting my headlamp off and taking a small step back, hoping the darkness in the room was enough to hide my face.
"Hello, Pandora. I've had a devil of a time finding you."
ChapterTwo
My gut clenchedat the sight of the man standing near a large armoire. I couldn't see his face in the dim light, but I recognized the voice.
I stepped out of the shadows, blinking as one of the goons turned on the bedroom lights. Now that I'd been found, there was no place to run. But how the hell had he found me? No one else would have known about this job. I glanced at Harlow. His face was as white as the proverbial ghost, which told me he wasn't our snitch. A quick scan of the others told me the same thing. If any of them had loose lips, surely one of them would have looked more comfortable under the bounty hunter's menacing stare.
"Sorrento." I kept my tone level and firm, not wanting to appear intimidated while I determined his mood.
Sorrento was an impressive man with powerful shoulders and a barrel chest that suggested a future slide to fat. But now, he was thick with muscle, easily seen beneath the leather vest he wore sans shirt. His biceps bulged to an abnormal size as he crossed his arms. His legs stood apart as if he was bracing himself on a ship, and the muscle in his thighs stretched the seams of his cargo pants. And while all that was enough to scare the shit out of most people who found themselves face-to-face with the man, it was his tattoo that made you pee your pants.
A Cobra tattoo covered the left half of his face, the snake's fangs large and impressive as they arched over the man's eyes. The ink covered a nasty scar. Only rumors surrounded how he received the old wound, each meant to add to his badass reputation. As if being the region's most successful and brutal bounty hunter wasn't enough.
He stepped forward, and the two other equally large men took a position on either side of him. They each carried a pistol in their hand and silver swords on their hips. The blades were meant for magical creatures that could only be stopped by decapitation. The guns would have silver bullets, just in case.
Harlow's crew wasn't supernatural. Neither was I. But a bullet was a bullet.
From the doorway, three more men and one of the tallest women I'd ever seen entered the room and spread out, ensuring each of them was close to one of Harlow's people. We were outnumbered, outclassed, and I was shit out of luck.
Sorrento stopped in front of Harlow and took the duffel from him. He tossed it to the woman, who opened it and looked through the stash. After opening two of the jewelry boxes, she threw one to Sorrento. He removed the diamond and held the gem up to the light. He whistled before turning to me, one eye drawn down as if he was winking at me. "Is this all you have for me, pet?"
"If you had waited a couple more days, you'd be getting a large pile of cash instead of a rock." I crossed my arms, trying to show I wasn't scared. I was actually ready to piss my pants but still hoped to talk my way out of this pickle.
"You must know this little trinket will only pay off a portion of what you owe." He tucked the diamond in his pocket then sat on the edge of a dresser, one leg swinging in a slow arc. "The thing is, I have paper for your immediate capture."
Yeah, I was going to piss myself. Damn. How did this happen? Who else knew about this job?
"We've worked out our differences before." I could come up with something if my brain would slow down and let me think.
He smiled. The predatory grin and long perusal of my body told me exactly where his thoughts were headed.
"Do you have another job for me? Something that would take the sting out of my run of bad luck." My luck had actually been pretty good up to this point, but he didn't need to know he was messing with my record.
"Interestingly enough, I have something like that in mind." He nodded to Harlow. "Take your crew, what's left of your loot, and get out."
Harlow glanced at me, then his crew.
"Don't overthink it, Harlow. Take what success you can from this." Sorrento patted Stan on his shoulder, and I thought the hacker was going to have a heart attack. "And grab Pandora's duffel. She probably has part of your take in it, and she won't be needing it."
Harlow nodded and gave me a pathetic apologetic glance as he removed the duffel from my shoulder. "Sorry, luv."
I nodded. Any assist, and he would end up dead. I couldn't blame him. But if I found out someone from his team snitched, well, that would be a different story.
Harlow glanced at the rest of his team. "Let's go."
Jamal closed up the duffel the tall woman had picked through, swung it over his shoulder, and followed Trudy out. Gone in less than ten seconds. Harlow helped Stan, who shook like an upset chihuahua, get his monitor in his backpack. He gave me one last look before he pushed Stan through the door and was gone.
Once I was alone with Sorrento and his team, I planted hands on my hips, close to my weapons. "So, now what? A ride to your place?"
He grinned again, and that smile, along with his Cobra ink, made me squirm. "You've always been a smart girl. Except with your finances, that is."
