No, his main concern was what Gene planned to do with him and how the fuck he was going to escape before Gene could go forward with his plan.
“But here we are. You couldn’t leave this to the cops to bumble around and foul up.” Gene sighed, frowning at Snow.
He pushed to his feet with a little grunt. The belly that protruded over his belt spoke of a man not used to regular exercise. No, Snow was sure he was happy to just sit back with his poker and his porn, raking in his illegal gains, while the rest of the world thought he was just some middle-class schmuck.
“What am I going to do with you and your boyfriend? Killing Jordan and Anthony. That’s easy. Punk-ass kids die all the time. The world almost expects it. Jordan’s brother? Well, we can argue that grief drove him to do stupid things. But you?” Gene made a tsking noise. “Respected surgeon. Friends with that billionaire and that hoity-toity chef. Too many people will start asking questions if you just turn up dead.”
Some of the fear tightly gripping Snow’s chest eased a bit, and he made the mistake of finally taking a deep breath.
“Of course, Donald mentioned knowing of you,” Gene added slyly. “Seems you liked darker things in your past. Does your boyfriend know about the bad things you used to do?”
“Jude knows everything about my past. I’ve got nothing to hide from him!” Snow snapped. He jerked his arms, rattling the chains above his head. His arms and shoulders ached from being held at an unnatural angle above his head. Gene would not be able to blackmail Snow over his past. He wasn’t proud of it, but the people who knew him, loved him, were well aware of the dark places he traveled before meeting Jude.
Gene just snickered. “True, but how many of those people would be surprised if your body was one day found in one of those places from your past? Fallen back on old habits. The police might not dig too deep when looking into your death.”
“Fuck you! Jude would know. Jude would never stop. Neither would Lucas and the rest of my family.”
The expression hardened on Gene’s face. “Exactly. But I’m sure with the right leverage, you could convince them all to stop and walk the fuck away.” As he stepped closer, the bodyguard made sure to have his gun ready and in Snow’s face so he wouldn’t contemplate attempting to attack Gene. “My little enterprise might not earn me Lucas Vallois money, but it’s enough to allow me to hire some ruthless people. We got to you on your drive home from work and we got to you in your home. How hard do you think it would be for us to get to that chef friend of yours? Or Jordan’s momma? Or how about Lucas Vallois’s new little baby? Rumor has it she’s a sweet little thing.”
“Fuck you!” Snow roared as rage consumed him. He tried to lunge at Gene, but the hulking mass of muscle was right there to slam him back against the wall. The butt of the gun came down on his temple, creating a bright white flash before his eyes. Snow blinked and found himself on his knees, his arms stretched uncomfortably above his head.
Gene had stepped away and was smiling smugly down at him. “Just some food for thought while I work out the right button to push to get you and your family to back the fuck off.”
Gene left the room with his bodyguard following on his heels. The door slammed shut behind them, and then the lock clicked into place.
Snow remained on the floor, his body aching and his head throbbing in pain. But they were nothing compared to the knot of fear and anger growing in his chest. They were not going back to a life of looking over their shoulders in fear, waiting for someone to rip their happiness away. They’d lived that for too many years when Boris Jagger had been a shadow over everything they’d built. He and Jude didn’t want that life. Little Daci didn’t deserve to grow up like that. Nor did any of the kids that Ian and Hollis inevitably had.
The only bright spot was that in all Gene’s ranting and taunting, he never mentioned Rowe. If he knew about Lucas and Ian, how could he have possibly missed Rowe freaking Ward? He was a devious SOB and just as dangerous as Lucas. Well, probably more so since Rowe worried a whole lot less about doing things legally.
Snow allowed himself a small chuckle in the silent room. It didn’t sound like Gene had his hands on Jude, which was good. That meant Jude and Rowe were already working on an evil plan to free him and unleash hell on Gene’s head. He was just sorry he was going to miss out on a round of new code names.