Mine to Crave (Mine 4)

He almost texted back…I don’t want to know. Because he just wanted to stay in that bed with her, and act as if the rest of the world didn’t matter. He wanted Jasmine to simply be the woman that she appeared to be in his arms.

No secrets. No lies.

That wasn’t the way his reality worked.

Carefully, he rose from the bed. Jasmine had said that she’d called Maxwell from the phone at his home in the Quarter, so getting that number hadn’t exactly been hard.

Instead of responding to Trace’s text, Drake called Maxwell Case. The call was already overdue.

The phone rang once. Twice. Then…

“Who the hell is this?”

Drake smiled. “I’m the man planning to destroy you.”

Jasmine stirred a bit on the bed, moving restlessly.

“Archer.”

“You shouldn’t have started a war with me.” Because if there was one thing that Drake knew how to do, it was fight a war.

“You’re the one who started this. You think I don’t know what you did? To her?”

Drake’s gaze narrowed on Jasmine. She was still sleeping.

“If she didn’t come back, she told me to look for you. She thought she could count on you.”

A cold fist squeezed his guts. “This is personal,” he said. Not about business. Not about casinos.

“She trusted you, and you killed her.”

A chill encased Drake’s skin as those words sank in. Drake realized that his past was coming back to bite him in the ass.

And Drake couldn’t take his eyes off Jasmine. Did she know? Did she realize what this nightmare was truly all about?

“What did she matter to you?” Drake asked. He didn’t make any confession.

“She was mine, far longer than she was yours. My Anna Jean…”

Dammit. The man had just confirmed Drake’s suspicion.

You killed her…Anna Jean…

This wasn’t about casinos. Money. Power.

It was about a woman. Betrayal. Vengeance.

His past—and a reckoning.

Jasmine had mentioned that Maxwell had been in the military. He should have paid more attention to those words.

Maxwell had been enlisted and so had Anna Jean. Beautiful, lying Anna Jean.

Beautiful, dead Anna Jean.

“We were going to take down your friends,” Maxwell said. “Anna Jean and I had a plan, but then you killed her.”

Jasmine’s hand fluttered against the covers, as if she were seeking him in her sleep.

“Now I will take everything away from you,” Maxwell promised him. “And in the end, you’ll beg to die.”

“I don’t beg for anything.” Never had. Never would. “And you’ve made a mistake. The same mistake she made. I won’t be played. And anyone who comes after me…well, you’re going to be finding a swift trip to hell waiting on you.”

Laughter was Maxwell’s answer.

But then the laughter stilled. “What will you do…” Maxwell asked him. “When another woman dies in your arms?”

That cold fist squeezed him tighter.

“Jasmine shouldn’t have turned to you—”

She didn’t just turn to me. She gave herself to me. Came in my arms. Screamed for me.

“I’ll punish her, but, don’t worry, you’ll be there. You’ll watch it all.”

Jasmine’s lashes fluttered open.

“You’re a dead man,” Drake said flatly.

Jasmine gasped as she heard his words. She shot upright in bed, clutching the covers to her.

That mocking laughter came again.

The call ended with a fast click.

With wide, unreadable eyes, Jasmine stared up at him. “M-Maxwell? That was him on the line, wasn’t it?”

He nodded.

“He’s on his way to New Orleans. He may already be here.” She scrambled from the bed. Dragged the covers with her. “What are you planning?”

“To kill him.”

Jasmine flinched. “No, go to the cops. Talk to them.”

What? That was the last thing he’d expected her to say. “That’s not an option.” Not with Anna Jean’s death being tangled in this mess.

“You don’t know what he’s capable of doing—”

His hand sank into her hair and he tipped her head back. “But you do, and you’re going to tell me everything you know about him.”

“Drake…”

“You want to be free of him, don’t you? I’ll make sure you’re free.”

But Jasmine’s body trembled. “I don’t want you to kill him! That isn’t who you are! That isn’t—”

Now it was his turn to laugh. “Ah, princess, and here I thought you’d done your ‘research’ on me.” With a mocking smile on his lips, he said, “I’m very good at killing. You should have discovered that by now.”

She pulled away from him.

“Maxwell won’t hurt you again because we are going to take him down. You’re going to tell me his weaknesses. Every single thing that you know about him. And I will use that information to break him.”

“He hates you,” Jasmine whispered. “So much…why? I could never figure out why.”

Why not tell her? Drake shrugged. The move was careless, his past wasn’t. “Because it seems we were both dumb enough to fall for the same woman.”

Her eyes doubled in size. “What?”

“We fell for her, and then I killed her.”

***

“Has the situation with the bounty hunter been handled as I asked?”

Maxwell Case stared out at the glittering New Orleans skyline.

“Yeah, boss, he’s been left just as you ordered.”

He’d been enraged when he found out just what Wayne had done to Jasmine. Good thing that doctor in Vegas had been so chatty…

With the right leverage, anyone would talk.

Anyone would break.

“Pressure has to be applied,” Maxwell said. “Archer has such a perfect cover now. The legitimate businessman. We’re blowing that cover to hell. The world will see him for who he is, and he’ll pay for his crimes.”

“What about…what about Jasmine?”

He turned at the question. His guard, Saxon, had been with him for a while. Saxon could always be counted on to get the job done—no matter what that job might be. The man was a loyal employee.

And he had wonderful, deadly skills that Maxwell so enjoyed using on his enemies.

“You’re not…you’re not really going to kill Jazz are you?” Hesitation slowed Saxon’s words. It was the only time Maxwell had ever heard hesitation in the man’s voice.

Saxon had been the one to first bring the lovely Jasmine to Maxwell’s attention. Saxon and Jasmine had worked together before. Smaller jobs. Little heists.