Page 97 of Wretched Heart
“Mace, let him know it’s all under control and to await our instruction,” Ash tells him. To me he adds, “Carry on, Maddie.”
“Thank you, Ash,” I say, practically glowing from this small acknowledgment that he might finally be accepting me. “Ray, please carry on begging for your life.”
His shoulders sink. “I did try to talk Barrett out of it. Whatever disputes we have to deal with, families should never come into it.”
“And yet here we are.”
“Was Alice involved in this?” asks Hunter. “Is that why she set up our meeting, to get us away?”
Ray shakes his head. “You know what Barrett’s like, he never lets any of us see the whole plan, or know his end game,” he says. “But he did say his mom was about to stab him in the back, if that makes any sense?”
“He knew she was opening up negotiations,” Reid deduces.
Ray nods. “And when we heard Maddie was soon to be divorced, Barrett asked me to bring you to him.”
“How did he hear?” I demand.
Ray blinks a couple of times. “That guy, Theo, mentioned it to a few people.”
“And naturally, you told Barrett.” I shake my head. “Did he think I’d be stupid enough to marry him?”
“My guess is it was just another trick to pull these guys’ attention away from what Alice was planning.”
I don’t quite follow what Alice has to do with all of this. I’ve been excluded from their wider business affairs since I moved out, but I understand enough to know I was only ever a minor character in Barrett’s games.
“You call breaking into my home and abducting me, a trick?” I ask, spitting the words out.
Ray blanches. “I know it’s no excuse, but it was a conscious decision to go in unarmed so I wouldn’t scare you.”
“Sorry? Are you trying to convince me you’re one of the good guys?” I ask. “Because I’m pretty sure you’re the same person who took advantage of a confused old man to buy his land.” I raise the gun ever so slightly. “And you were planning to block the road to bring an essential trading route to a standstill. Weren’t you?”
“He still is,” Hunter says against my ear, his warm breath sending tingles down my neck and along my spine. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he’s bringing heat into the conversation that’s just between the two of us.
“Everything at this point is negotiable,” Ray says. He dares to move, but only to wipe the blood dripping from his nose.
“I don’t need to negotiate when I’m the one holding the gun,” I point out. “I can solve a problem like you in two seconds.”
Hunter’s free hand snakes around my waist, pressing me back against him. He’s practically grinding against me. “The clean-up operation might be a problem. Blood spatters in an enclosed space can create quite a mess.”
“Are you suggesting I should let him live, Hunter?”
“I want the bastard to suffer too. This is just me brainstorming with my wife.”
Ash rolls his eyes, but he stays out of the conversation for now.
“We could take him somewhere else,” I suggest.
Would I do that? I don’t think for a second that I have the true killer-instinct, but damn, talking like this is so empowering. I squeeze my thighs together. I’m so wet right now.
“It’s certainly an option,” Hunter says, “but dead men can’t talk, and Ray here has a lot of explaining to do to law enforcement. And given that he’s just attempted to abduct his boss’s former fiancée, and was using the Emerson’s jet, it’s going to be difficult for Barrett to claim he didn’t give the order.”
“I’d tell the police everything,” Ray says, his gaze flicking to my gun.
“Good to know,” Hunter says. He pulls my hair to the side and kisses my neck. “But knowing Barrett and his connections, we’d have a tough time getting the charges to stick. He’ll make Ray the fall guy. That’s how these things go. Am I right, Ray?”
“Barrett would walk away with an apology from the police, knowing him,” says Ray. He sounds almost regretful.
“But he can’t escape the scandal,” I persist. I chew mylip. We have an advantage and we need to make the most of it. “Ray could be our bargaining tool to solve the Lancelyn Heights issue.”
