Page 120 of Wicked Duty
Plan. Stick to the plan.
“I want to make a deal with you.”
I direct the question at Benetti. If I witness Roguilin do any other messed up shit to Lucy, I might lose control and go postal.
I stalk closer, only stopping when Benetti cocks his weapon.
“This isn’t a negotiation.” His finger curls around the trigger. “Drop the gun.”
Lucy gasps, and I can’t help but look. Fear for my safety grips her features, and a solitary tear tracks down her cheek.
Despite these terrible circumstances, no other woman compares to her beauty. Both her outer beauty and the inner glow that refuses to die.
I split my attention between Benetti and Roguilin. “So you don’t want the crypto wallet, then?” I tap my front pocket.
Benetti practically starts salivating. He licks his lips and nods at my pants. “Show me. Easy, or we’ll see how pretty she is with a bullet in her skull.”
Slowly, I extract the drive from my pocket. “Release them, and you get the money. We’ll trade.” I ease forward. “The women for the wallet.”
Roguilin propels Lucy closer so he can examine the device. “Looks the same, but how do we know it’s not a decoy?”
I can almost see the thoughts running through his head. Shoot me, and he keeps both the drive and Lucy.
As if to prove my point, his gun hand twitches. I raise my shirt and press a button.
The red light on the bomb vest strapped to my torso blinks on.
Benetti recoils. “The fuck is that? Are you nuts?”
When Darren swiftly rigged a phony switch on the vest, we hoped for exactly this reaction. Thanks to my friend’s in-depth knowledge on the topic, no one can tell that the button isn’t actually hooked up to the explosives.
Darren said if I got shot, they probably wouldn’t detonate.
Not especially reassuring, but here we are. I needed a way to reduce my risk of getting gunned down during negotiations for Lucy’s life, and this was the only plan we could come up with on such short notice.
“How about we don’t find out how nuts I am? This can all end with everyone remaining in one piece. Just hand the two of them over and take the wallet. That way, we all get what we want and leave happy.”
The male supermodel jerks his chin up and down. “Yes, okay. Let’s?—”
“Unacceptable.” Roguilin cuts Benetti off and tightens his grip on Lucy. “We’ll trade Marco’s model for the wallet, but Lucy is mine.”
I growl, resisting the urge to stomp the fucking drive into oblivion with my boot. I would in a heartbeat if that action wouldn’t also destroy my lone bargaining chip.
The Italian’s olive skin pales. “You’re bluffing.”
I allow myself a steely grin. “Am I? I only care about one thing, and she’s standing right there. If I can’t have her, then no one will.”
I’m forced to go a little off script thanks to Roguilin’s surprise guest appearance. His tight jaw suggests he buys my willingness to kill us all to prevent him from claiming Lucy.
Just proves what an idiot he is. While I’d happily sacrifice my own life to save Lucy’s, I would never intentionally risk hers. “Do you really want to take that chance?” I glance around, searching for something to back up my threat. Anything?—
“We appear to be at an impasse, then.”
At Roguilin’s calm statement, red blotches overtake Benetti’s pallor. “Are you out of your mind? No woman is worth that much money. I, for one, would like to keep my guts inside my body.”
“Are you questioning me?”
The silken threat underlying Roguilin’s query isn’t lost on me, but Benetti either misses or ignores it. “If you’re willing to get blown up over a useless woman, then yes. I can introduce you to any other model you’d like.”
