Keeping Gemma (Holiday Cove 2)

Giovanni remained seated, but his eyes rolled to O’Keefe, again, reminding me of a dog, waiting at his master’s feet, waiting for the command.

O’Keefe didn’t even flinch at my hard words. “What about your little nurse? You wouldn’t want her to end up like Talia…poor, innocent Talia. Trust me, Rosen, you don’t want another person to pay for your bad decisions.”

“You know, that’s the part I still haven’t figured out.…” I tapped my index finger on my lips. “Did you plan for her to be there that night? I mean, how could you? When you sent your goons in to fuck with the fuel lines, how did you know that I’d be taking her up and that she’d suffer the consequences?”

Without a break in my mock puzzlement, my gut clenched. I’d baited the hook, now it was time to see if he’d bite…

O’Keefe grinned and released a low, rumbling chuckle. “You flatter me, Rosen.” He turned to Giovanni and they shared a ghoulish smile. “No, I didn’t know that my dear little sparrow would get caught up in the plot. That’s what we call a happy accident. Saved me the trouble of putting her down myself.”

“So, she was right? You were going to have her killed?”

O’Keefe shrugged. “She was a loose end, Rosen. But…she also gave incredible head…” he chuckled. “Not that I need to tell you that. You had the pleasure of experiencing it first hand, I’m sure.”

My stomach turned at his cruel smile and the way he so flippantly talked about killing another human being—especially someone who had once been his lover. Had he ever had feelings for her? Or had she been nothing but a pawn in his game since the day she had the misfortune of meeting him.

I tossed the questions aside, channeling my focus into finishing the mission.

“It doesn’t really matter now, Rosen. The plane was supposed to go down, you were in it, and while you’re not dead—your business is now in shambles, and your only solution is to sell it to me. Which, all things considered, means that my plan worked.”

“You’re not getting my business, O’Keefe,” I snarled.

He flicked his wrist at Giovanni and he heaved up out of the chair. He reached behind him and pulled a hunting knife from some holder on his belt. “It sounds like we need to do a little…convincing.” O’Keefe said.

“Luckily, this shit hole is abandoned. Set to be condemned. Guess who holds the deed, my dear Aaron?” He flashed what he probably thought was a sinister grin. In reality, all he was doing was pissing me off more.

“Hank.” I stepped a foot toward him but stopped when I saw his thug step toward me, I had to keep my cool. “Can I call you that? I don’t give a flying fuck who owns the deed to this shithole. Haven’t you learned you don’t scare me?”

He nodded to Giovanni who took a step forward, “There’ll be no one around to hear you scream. Giovanni do try to keep blood from getting everywhere. I didn’t think to bring a second copy…I made the mistake of thinking Mr. Rosen would be…reasonable.”

He made a tut-tut sound under his breath and Giovanni nodded his consent before taking a step toward me.

Montgomery’s code phrase was ringing in my head, each echo louder and louder as I stared, transfixed on the gleam of the soft light off the tip of the knife in Giovanni’s hand.

I threw the code phrase—and my promise to Gemma that I wouldn’t do anything stupid—right out the fucking window.

“Before we get started, Hank, there’s one other thing I should probably tell you,” I taunted. My good hand reached for the hem of my shirt. Alarm bells rang inside my head, screaming at me to back down, abort the mission I’d become set on, but my rage and fury spurred me on. The faces of Talia and Gemma flooded my mind’s eye and overrode any logic I may have had.

O’Keefe’s lips peeled back from his teeth in a wolf-life grin. “Oh really? What’s that, Rosen?”

I jerked up my shirt and revealed the black wires running up the ridged planes of my stomach that wound together into a small black box that was recording everything we’d said since I walked into the dingy hotel room.

36

“Fuck,” Giovanni cursed under his breath and hung mid step, looking back at O’Keefe. “I told you we should have searched him.”

O’Keefe flung a hand up to silence his goon. “Do you really think that concerns me Rosen? I’m going to kill you,” O’Keefe growled, his eyes flashing with danger once he connected the dots and came to the sickening conclusion that he’d just been played.

“You’re not very fucking smart, are you, Hank? You’re just racking up charges, talking out of your ass. Now you’re threatening me on the record? You are a stupid fuck.” I grinned at him, but it didn’t reach my eyes. They were locked on his, shooting fire at him from five paces across the room.