He shifted his gaze from the gun barrel to Jayce.“Twenty-five million dollars should do.”
The twenty-five million dollars the town refused to return for Malika’s adventure.
How convenient.
“I don’t have twenty-five million dollars,” Jayce said.
And as much as he loved her, he didn’t believe anyone else had offered that much.He was being robbed.
Adeel fired another shot.Another can leaped to its death.“I’m sure you’ll think of some way to come up with it.”
Blackmail should work.Because suddenly, Jayce had suspicions.
“You hired Eli Chamas to come here,” he said, because it had been several hours since he was last shot and he was feeling lucky.“He was never Malika’s fiancé.He’s an actor.You set us up.”When he stopped to consider a few things, it made the most sense.
Adeel missed the next can.
He frowned at the can, then at Jayce.“Where did you come up with such a ridiculous idea?”
“Eli overplayed his role.He had no reason to kidnap Malika after the bank robbery.If he’d truly wanted her, all he had to do was wait for you to arrive and let you sort it out.”Jayce continued thinking it through.“I have yet to see the client that Tilly couldn’t find online, and yet she couldn’t find anything on Eli Chamas until Malika gave her the name.That was very convenient.Malika’s sister refusing to send her money was another clue.This is the same sister who gave her two hundred thousand dollars to start a peepshow online.”
“Aisha didwhat?”
Maybe Adeel hadn’t known what the money was for.
Jayce hastened on to the next bit of proof.“My mother objected to my relationship with Malika.That’s unlike her.She wouldn’t care who I married if I was happy and she was going to get grandchildren out of the deal.”
His dad had tipped his hand on that one.His parents had no secrets when it came to their son.When Jayce said he was going to marry Malika, his dad said how happy Jayce’s mother would be, meaning a much different conversation had taken place between them than the one she’d had with Jayce about shotguns and weddings.And all his dad’s talk about her being forbidden…
Yeah, okay.That did add extra spice.
The way Mavis had thrust Malika on him from the beginning should have been another red flag.And only Benny had shown genuine surprise when Jayce made the announcement.
That didn’t mean Benny hadn’t known about it—only that he didn’t remember.
“You are not to discuss your unfounded theory with Malika,” Adeel said.
He slid the locking bolt on the Peacemaker aside, pulled back the hammer, and dropped another bullet into the chamber.
Jayce would never tell her.Not for any amount of money or because of an implicit threat to his life.She was pleased with herself because she believed she’d defeated Adeel, and he wasn’t about to spoil it for her.
“For twenty-five million dollars, it will be our little secret,” he said boldly, because he hadn’t forgotten that his dad and the town needed the money, which was why he was blackmailing Adeel even though the threat had no teeth.
Adeel spun the gun’s chamber.He frowned, then lifted his thumb from the hammer.Jayce sweated a little.He’d been shot plenty of times.The anticipation was always the worst.Even the songbirds held their breaths.
Adeel thrust the gun in its holster.“Very well,” he said.“I will grant my permission.”
*
Malika
Adeel had agreed?
Just like that?
Malika didn’t believe it.
She was not going to leave such an important matter to Jayce.There had to be no confusion on Adeel’s part.
