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“Andrew Cutter was only supposed to be a distraction from her pursuit of the truth about the crash. I didn’t know at the time he was The Italian. I only knew his reputation to fuck D.C. socialites and blackmail them with photos. I didn’t even care if Rebecca focused on cold fusion; I could deal with that later. The Collective didn’t want Rebecca to die. We just needed her to stop looking into the crash.”
The Collective? What was he saying?
“We’d saved Rebecca’s father’s seat at the table for her ever since he died. In fact, we’d been on the verge of asking Rebecca to join, and explain how she could help make the world better. And, of course, get richer.”
Chills rolled over my skin, and my tension had my arms stretching out the rope at my back to the point my hands were now free.
“Someone from The Collective, not my head of security, didn’t want that happening and leaked the photos to Rebecca, knowing what would happen if they did,” he went on, closing the space between us. “I found out a little too late, which is unfortunate, I liked Ivan.”
I kept my hands hidden, waiting for the truth before I attacked. “This other person dead, too, then?”
He shook his head, smiling. “Sometimes I wish I could kill my wife, but sadly, no, she’s very much still alive.” Believing he’d delivered a final crushing blow, he leaned in and brought his eyes level with mine. “How does it make you feel to know Diana’s best friend is why your wife is dead?”
69
CARTER
The moment Novak aimed his Glock at me, prepared to take me out after the bomb he’d dropped, I freed my wrists and lunged for him. Knocking the pistol from his hand, it went flying across the concrete as I wrapped both of my hands around his throat, throwing my weight against him.
With my ankles still attached to the chair, we both went down. I landed on top of him in an awkward position, but I used the element of surprise to my advantage.
Pulling my hands free of his neck, I fisted his tie, clutched his hair, then jerked his head up, looping the tail of the tie around his throat, tugging like it was a collar.
Novak latched on to my arm, his hold slipping in my blood as he tried to save himself.
Without losing my hold of the tie, I kept my weight on top of him to prevent him from getting free, then bent my knees, taking the chair up into the air to free my ankles.
The chair fell onto both of us as Novak continued to squirm under me. Now that I wasn’t tethered to a piece of furniture, I freed the tie around his throat and socked him across the jaw, hearing a distinct crack of bone.
I struck him harder the next time, my rage feeding off the memory of everything he’d done to turn so many lives upside down.
I reeled my fist back, preparing to send a hammer strike to his skull, but hesitated at the sight of his head falling limp to the side. Most of the blood he was wearing was probably my own, dropping down on him like rain.
Realizing hitting an unarmed, beaten man made me no better than him, I refrained from striking him again.
Shoving him to the ground, I slowly made my way back to my feet while he rolled to his side, holding his jaw and groaning.
The comforting sound of gunfire outside the room confirmed my team was on-site, but that also meant his people would be coming in to alert him to the breach.
Grabbing his Glock from the floor while clutching my side, I returned to where he was trying to sit up. I knelt behind him, dragged him upright, drew my forearm across his throat and positioned the weapon at his temple, waiting for the door to open.
Novak grabbed my forearm, his last pathetic attempt to fight me.
“I guess now you know who’d win in a fight when your opponent isn’t tied up and unarmed,” I hissed in his ear as the door opened.
I looked up to see Sierra and another man standing there. No sight of the three who’d taken turns torturing me for hours.
Sierra’s eyes flashed to her husband, then back to me, and she quickly shut the door behind her and the man armed with an M4.
“I told you this was a trap,” she bit out, pointing toward the man at my mercy, at my human shield. “You didn’t listen. You never listen. Just like I told you not to bring Rebecca into the fold. But, no, you were going to do it anyway.” Her hands balled at her sides as war echoed all around us. “I never thought you’d become this man, Dominick. I thought you were weak to put up with Rebecca for so long.” She gestured to the armed guy at her side to come closer, and I applied more pressure to Novak’s throat, signaling for him to stop. “We should have killed you at her funeral when we had the chance.”
I kept quiet. Let her talk. Answering questions I’d yet to ask but needed to know.
“You couldn’t just leave well enough alone.” Was she talking to me or her husband that time? Hell if I knew.
She glared at Novak. “You listened to Craig over me, your own wife.”
“Just like you always listen to Jake instead of me. He is our daughter’s real father, is he not?” Novak shot out, eyes on the other guy in there, identifying him by name.
