Page 73 of Embedded
“This was taken two days ago, and look who’s he’s talking to.” He squinted to see Archie Kidd, all smiles as he stood behind Jerry. He looked completely at ease in the presence of the Canos family. “You have a mole, but before you plant a bullet in his head, I think we can use this.”
He scratched his upper lip as he flipped the photo over as if it offended him. He was pissed. “How?”
“Let’s just say I’ve been watching the Canos family, and that’s how I got it. Bruno, I’m tired of all our best laid plans going sideways, and I bet you’ve had enough of stepping back until your mama says when it’s time. Let’s take control ourselves.” Whether he meant to or not, his interest showed. I could see it in the way his skin tightened around his eyes and mouth. “Let’s use Archie to lure Jerry out, then we start swinging and wipe the Canoses off the map. We’ll take back the land, you take your Uncle Martin’s spot at the top where you belong, and we go back to doing what we were meant to. Money, control, and power will be our reward.”
He couldn’t hold it back anymore. His lips stretched wide, and his teeth bared. He stood, and I did the same. “Now, that sounds like the perfect plan.” He clapped me on the back, then we made arrangements to meet the next day to work out the details. I sweated every moment, as I desperately needed to get out of there without Nicole seeing me.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I found Chili and waved him toward the truck. Neither of us said a word until we were a few miles away from the place.
“Chili, pull over!”
Before the truck had completely stopped, I jumped out and pressed my palms flat against the truck’s hood.
“Wanna fill me in?” Chili sounded worried, but I needed a minute to stop the magnetic pull that was trying to suck me back there. “Hey? You okay?”
“Give me a sec,” I gritted as I dug my cell phone out from under the seat. I tapped on John’s name and waited for him to answer.
“You’re on speaker. Where are you?” He sounded pissed.
“She’s at the farm, boys. He took her to the fucking farm.”
“Farm?” John sounded confused. “That sounds like it means something?”
I wanted to scream with frustration. “It means getting Nicole the fuck out just became ten times harder.”
EIGHTEEN
NICOLE
I felt like I was stuck in a nightmare where two different versions of evil had found their way back together. I pressed my back flat against the wall and let the fear creep in like a fog, silent and thick enough to choke any air left inside me.
He’s alive. I knew it. Eric Noah, here in the flesh. I’d seen him with my own eyes from the balcony, and I knew he and Bruno had to be planning something Godawful.
How was I going to let Blackstone know? They had no idea where I was. I had to tell them the man who’d trafficked women for a decade, who killed without a thought, was here in this house.
I had nothing. The room was stripped of anything worth turning into a weapon, and the ankle bracelet made sounds and sent off flashes of red lights when I traveled toward any part of the west wing of the house. The rational part of me said to stick it out and something would show itself, but the reporter side of me demanded action. It said I had to get creative because time might not be on my side. I had no plans of staying here more than the six planned days, with or without Blackstone’s help.
Chase’s face came into my head, and his sweet smile helped the panic subside. I could hear his little cries as he reached for me, and even though I’d never be his mama, there was something incredibly touching having a child trust you enough to be their person. A tear escaped and ran down my cheek. I would get back to him as soon as I could. I wasn’t going to let him think I’d leave him the way his mother had.
“There you are.” Bruno was suddenly in the room, and all the thoughts inside my head fled. “I was hoping you’d have dinner with me.” The way he asked rather than demanded meant the old Bruno was back. He had often fantasized that he was a gentleman asking a lady to join him. In this role, he seemed to need to know he was someone a woman would want to be with. I knew this game, but I also knew he could switch tactics like a viper and strike without warning.
I fantasized about driving my hand straight through his heart, but I knew I had to play.
“All right,” I whispered and brushed a hand down over the skirt of the white dress. I saw his eyebrows go up and his tongue as it went to his upper lip. He smiled.
I followed him downstairs to the main floor and out to the kitchen. Archie stood there, and sadly, his body was between me and the steak knives. I wanted desperately to kill him, but the maid had set him up for me, and her last idea before she died deserved to be set in motion, and I planned on using it.
Torches stood like soldiers along the edge of the patio, their flames swaying in the cool breeze. They flickered long, wavy shadows as if carefully placed to mark my confinement. They didn’t light the space around me so much as they lit the prison I was in.
“Hungry?” He pointed toward the table that was set just a few steps up from the pool. The white tablecloth glowed in the firelight. “And if I wasn’t?”
He grinned. “I can think of something else to fill our evening.”
“Dinner it is.” I slowly walked by him and up the stone steps. The long rectangular table held a spread of food that piqued my appetite. I lifted a brow and glanced at him. I waited for him to pull out the chair since he was determined to continue to play the role of a gentleman. As I sat, I placed the rose-colored napkin on my lap and waited for him to speak. I wondered when he’d drop the façade and show me what he was going to do to me.
“You will learn to love it here, Nicole.” Here it comes. He placed his own napkin on his lap and looked out at the night. But when I didn’t comment, he simply snapped his fingers like he was some kind of royalty, and a waiter placed a plate in front of me while a second waiter simultaneously served him. A lobster stared up at me next to a side of shrimp ceviche. The lime wedges were shaped like flower heads. At any other time, I’d be excited by such a beautiful meal.
“What are you thinking?”
