Page 78 of Parker

From what Quinn had learned—from Holly and the others, as well as reports she’d accessed during her time with the Bureau—the man was a brilliant criminal mastermind who’d gotten cocky. And cocky assholes make mistakes.

Just like the one standing in front of me now.

“Yeah, you’d have to live under a rock not to know that man’s name.”

“What does he have to do with me?” Quinn kept the jerk on track.

“Oh, right. I guess I haven’t told you that part. So funny story…” Justin smirked. “McMahon was assigned as my new cell mate when he got sent away. And with nothing to do for hours on end, my celly and I did a lot of talking. Well, I talked, mostly. But Vic…he listened.”

“Still doesn’t answer my question, Justin.” Quinn prayed he didn’t notice her trembling knees.

“I’m getting there,’ he snapped. Running a hand down over his face, he appeared to regain his composure and continued. “

“Vic and I were talking one day, just shootin’ the shit like we’d do, when we started to make a plan. It started as a joke, but the longer we talked, the more we realized we could actually do it.”

“Do what, Justin?” Her fed-up voice filled the tiny room. “Tell me why I’m here!”

Moving lightning fast, her ex was well within her personal space, his meaty hand gripping her jaw so tight she thought it might break.

“Ah!” Quinn cried out from the pain. She tried to get free, but his hold was too strong.

“You’re not in charge, this time, babe.” Hatred reflected in his cold, angry eyes. “Look around you. There’s no one watching this time. No suits waiting for your go-ahead to storm in here and save the day. You had your chance with that once, remember?” He brought the tip of his nose to hers. “Not this time.”

“You’re…h-hurting…me.”

“Yeah?” That grip grew tighter. “Well, you hurt me, too, babe. You hurt me bad. Now it’s my turn.”

Another lingering stare…

Justin released her with a rough shove before taking several steps in the opposite direction. Quinn grunted, her body nearly tumbling to the side from the force.

With a hand to her tender jaw, she looked back at him with a sneer of her own. “I didn’t hurt you, Justin. You did that all by yourself.”

“You ratted me out!” Spittle flew from his mouth as he spun back around. “I’m not stupid, Quinn, although you always treated me like I was.”

What?“I never—”

“I saw the tapes!” He cut her denial short. “I know you were the one who set me up.”

She was aware of this, of course. She’d seen those same tapes, too. But something else Quinn knew…

“The FBI was coming after you whether I helped them or not!” The pressure in her head worsened. “Agent Manning approached me a couple days before our planned hack. They had pictures, Justin. Of you. Me. Us together.” Quinn frowned at the unpleasant memory. “But most were of you and that Monty guy.”

“I’ve seen the pics, babe.” He shook his head. “And Monty was their real target. Not me.”

“I know. That’s why, when they first came to me, I refused to talk unless they agreed to a deal.”

“A deal.” He snorted.

“I’m not talking about mine, Justin. I made one for you, too.”

“For me?” This seemed to surprise him. “Well, I guess I should be thanking you then, right?”

“They had you dead to rights for your dealings with Monty. Between that and the proof they had showing the credit card hack was all your idea—all becauseyouran your mouth to a freaking FBIinformant,by the way—you were looking at like fifteen to twenty years behind bars. I got them to agree to two.”

“Yeah, well…two years came and went, babe. And I was still there.”

“Because you pulled stupid shit on the side.” She pushed herself off the wall to fully face him. “Those jobs…the Feds built that case because you were sloppy. So you can be pissed that I got your guaranteed conviction and sentence down to a fraction of what it would have been, but the rest…that’s one hundred percent on you.”

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