Page 15 of Her Keeper
Not as rich as I’d thought, then. People who had money lived on the top floor.
I entered the elevator still smirking at the thought, and by the time I got to the fourth floor I had a plan. I was going to knock on her door like I was there for some sort of friendly visit, but I’d have to step to the side so she couldn’t see me when she looked through the peep hole. She would have been the first person Penny called when things went wrong, and she’d know the moment she saw me that I was there to make trouble. When she opened the door, I’d bust into her apartment.
And then I’d do whatever I had to in order to get the information I needed. I wanted to know where Penny was and what she’d given the reporter. I wanted to know who Monica might be working with and what she was doing with the information Penny gave her.
I wanted to make sure she stopped doing whatever she was doing, and never started again.
When I got to the fourth floor, though, my plans changed.
I’d just stepped out of the elevator lobby when I saw Monica Hart herself rushing toward me, several bags in her hands and a panicked look on her face. She glanced over her shoulder, back the way she’d come, and then turned forward again, and her gaze met mine.
She drew to a sharp stop and stared at me, and I knew in that moment that Penny had most definitely told her what had happened.
“Monica,” I said, striding forward. “Evidently we need to talk.”
I watched as a mask slid over her face, her expression becoming scornful and deriding. “Michael Rossi. I should have known you’d be coming around here. But I don’t have anything to say to you.”
I reached her and slammed her back against the wall, my hands on the front of her shirt and my face close enough for her to feel my breath when I spoke. “I think you’ve got plenty to say to me. And there are things I need to know. First of all, I need you to kill the story you’re writing. I know all about it, and you and I both know it’ll never get anywhere.”
She laughed. “I’m not pulling it, Michael Rossi, and you and I both know you can’t fucking make me.”
I paused for a split second, because she had no reason to doubt my ability to make her do anything. Unless she thought she had protection from someone.
I pulled her toward me and slammed her back against the wall. “And who the fuck do you think’s going to protect you? Who are you working for?”
The flash in her eyes told me that I was right on both fronts. She was definitely working for someone, and she definitely thought they’d protect her from anything I might try.
But they weren’t here right now.
And this woman, this bitch, had pulled Penny into her little scheme and put Penny in danger.
I yanked her toward me and then slammed her back again, thrilling at the sound of her head hitting the wall. God, I hoped that hurt.
If it didn’t, I could think of some other things that would. This woman had put Penny in danger, turned Penny and me against each other, and put the entire Rossi clan at risk, and that didn’t even touch the question of who she was working for—and selling information to.
She deserved every scream she had coming.
Before I could say anything else, though, I saw her eyes flick to someone behind me and widen in relief. I turned my head in time to see the bat coming my way and ducked, then dropped Monica and backed off, my gun already in my hands and pointed at the men in front of me. There were two of them, both large enough that I’d have to look up at them. And they were both armed.
“Monica,” one of them said, sounding stupid and slow. “We were sent to collect you.”
“Perfect,” she answered. She straightened her shirt and sent me a scathing look. “Michael Rossi, you’re done for. And the world will be a better place without you.”
She turned and walked down the hall without saying anything else, the two thugs walking behind her, and I watched them go. Sure, I could have shot at least one of them, but the chances of me shooting them both without getting hurt myself were minimal, and I couldn’t take the chance of a bullet going astray and hitting Monica herself.
She might be escaping right now, but I wasn’t going to let this go. I wanted to know what she knew, and for me to get that chance, I needed her alive.
And that was a puzzle for later—along with trying to figure out who the hell those guys were. They weren’t Carusos, but they were definitely mafia.
They belonged to another family. And I didn’t recognize them.
But I’d already taken more time here than I had. Right now, I needed to get out of the building and get back to finding Penny so I could protect her.
After that, I’d worry about finding Monica again and figuring out what the hell she’d been up to.
7
PENNY
