* * *
The thirty minutes it had taken to get things in place had felt like hours. By the time Nate started down the hallway to Jerry’s office, the adrenaline was pumping so furiously through his veins he was tempted to break down the door instead of using his master key.
But he was determined to stick to his plan. He shifted the duffel bag in his hands, checked on the gun in his suit coat pocket then slipped the key into the lock. The door swung open wide, his gaze sweeping the room until it locked in on his target. His hand slipped into his pocket, his fingers tightening around the grip of the gun.
Jerry was sitting at his desk, alone. As always, he was surrounded by paperwork, the space reminding Nate so much of how it looked when he was a kid visiting his grandfather. The betrayal of a family friend was still a bitter pill for him to swallow.
His target barely moved; his gaze focused intently on Nate without a hint of surprise. Jerry stood slowly, his hands held up to show Nate he was unarmed. “I’m glad you finally made it, Nate. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Where is she?”
Jerry gave a condescending smile and came out from behind his desk. “Close by and feisty as ever, I assure you.”
Nate swallowed hard. He hoped it was true, but he wouldn’t take Jerry’s word for it. “I want to see her.”
“Or what? Are you going to use that gun in your pocket to shoot your grandfather’s oldest and dearest friend? The man who’s worked with you and helped you make this hotel a success? Come now, we both know that isn’t going to happen, so why don’t you just relax and have a seat.” Jerry took a step toward Nate, his hand held out to gesture toward the seating area.
Nate didn’t move from his spot. “What is this all about, Jerry? Money?”
“What’s wrong with it being about money? It makes the world go round. You of all people should know that.”
“Are you in some kind of trouble? Do you owe someone money?” Nate struggled to find a reason why Jerry would do something like this.
“That’s how it started, yes. I do have a fondness for the ponies but not much of an eye for picking a winner. I ran through all my retirement savings pretty quickly, which is why I came back to work. I got in with an interesting crowd when I couldn’t pay the bookies what I owed. Fixing poker tournaments started as a way to get them off my back, but I soon realized there were bigger payoffs and bigger thrills in this game.”
“Of all the people you could’ve chosen, why Tessa? Why my Annie? Were you trying to get back at me for something I did?”
“Not really. We chose Tessa because she was young, stupid and could lead us to Annie. She was our real target in the end. If she met with great success, no one would ever suspect. It was a perfect plan. I didn’t realize at the time that she was your wife. It was quite the pleasant surprise when I found out the two of you were coming together to catch the cheaters. I knew every move you made because you told Gabe and me everything.”
“Did you really think Annie would be so pliable?”
Jerry laughed. “No, but everyone has a button you can push. Apply the right kind of pressure and you can make a woman madly in love betray her husband and sabotage her own career.”
She did love him. It made Nate sick to think of how Annie had come to him at Jerry’s demand. “How’d that work out for you?”
Jerry shrugged. “It worked great until Annie started crumbling under the pressure. She couldn’t have won a game of Go Fish with the way she was mooning at you over her cards. She completely lost her focus. There wasn’t a damn thing we could do to salvage her game. The two of you ruined all my plans. The polite thing to do—” he gestured toward the duffel bag with a smile “—is to make it up to me.”
“Well, here it is,” Nate said through angrily gritted teeth. He wanted to drop the bag and pistol-whip the old man, but he couldn’t until he knew Annie was safe. “Where’s Annie? I want to see her first.”
Jerry sighed and shook his head. “You seem to be working under the impression that you’re calling the shots. You’re just like your grandfather, thinking you’re in control of everything when it’s people like me that make you successful. Give me the damn bag. And the gun.”
“Not until I see her.”
Before Jerry could answer, the bedroom door flew open and Eddie came in, dragging Annie with him. He held a gun to her head and had his arm wrapped around her neck in a chokehold. Seeing her like that made something primitive rise up inside Nate. It took everything he had not to pull out his gun and shoot Eddie on the spot. Unfortunately, he was not a marksman, and with Annie furiously struggling in Eddie’s arms, Nate couldn’t be certain not to hit her instead.