Page 46 of Perfect Vengeance

She scrambled off the floor and vaulted onto the counter. Her heart raced, and she sucked in deep breaths. Somehow, she had to retrieve her penlight and return the room to its original state, but how could she be sure the floor wasn’t covered in writhing, spitting, biting snakes?

“Gina!” Jack rushed into the kitchen. She could just make out his silvery gray eyes glaring at her. “What happened?”

“Stop!” She held up her hand. “Don’t come in here!”

“Why not?” A distinct note of anger laced his question.

“Rattlesnakes,” she whispered, as if saying the word in normal speaking volume mattered at this point. “There are rattlesnakes in the freezer. One of them tried to bite me, and I don’t know if it got out.”

“Are you kidding?”

Adamantly, she shook her head and pointed to the freezer. “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

A light clicked on—Jack’s flashlight.

“Stay there.” Leading with the flashlight, he edged into the room, swinging the beam back and forth across the floor and giving the open freezer door a wide berth.

“Copy that.” She prayed she didn’t sound half as panicked as she really was.

“Are you guys okay?” Margo’s voice came through Gina’s earpiece. “Did I hear you correctly? Did you say ‘rattlesnakes?’”

“Everything’s fine,” Gina whispered, rolling her eyes at the ridiculous lie she’d just told.

After clearing the floor, Jack shined his penlight into the freezer. A split second before he slammed it shut, he tensed.

When he faced her, she gulped. Every sculpted ridge and muscle in his face had gone as hard as a diamond. Except for the flames shooting from his eyes. Those were hot enough to melt a diamond. “Did you take any?”

“No!” Her voice and her body trembled. “It’s not what you think. I heard a noise in the freezer, and I was curious. I opened the door and⁠—”

“Curious, my ass. We’re getting out of here,” he bit out through his clenched jaw. “Now.” After righting and repositioning the chair that had fallen over, he strode from the kitchen, leaving a trail of pissed-off vibe in his wake so potent she could feel it on her skin and taste it on her tongue.

Her next breath left her lungs in a whoosh. When they got back to her apartment, she was in for a tongue lashing of cosmic proportions.

Still not convinced there wasn’t a pit viper patrolling the floor, she scanned the tile thoroughly before easing off the counter.

Jack waited for her by the front door. Virtual smoke shot from his ears. “Margo, I’m on my way out.” Throwing her one last venomous glare, he opened the door and closed it behind him.

She locked the deadbolt, then reached for her penlight, which wasn’t on her belt where it should have been. Crap. In all the chaos she’d left it on the kitchen floor.

At the entrance to the kitchen, she hesitated before inching her way inside. With every step, she scoured the floor for snakes. She reached under the table for her penlight, snatching it up, then spinning to sweep the light back and forth across the floor. The beam hit on something and she sucked in a breath. Wedged beneath the freezer, was a bundle of cash—the one that had slipped from her hand when the snake attacked. In her state of panic, she must have nudged the bundle partially under the unit with her foot. In the near darkness, Jack hadn’t seen it.

“Oh shit.” Double shit, actually. No, make that triple shit.

She’d made the decision to honor her agreement and not take any of the cash. Now what was she supposed to do? If she took the bundle on the floor, Jack would kill her first, then throw her body in jail for breaking their deal. Opening that freezer door again…not happening. Jail would be preferable.

Taking a deep breath, she scooped up the stack of bills and unzipped the top of her suit just enough to stuff it inside. She yanked the zipper back up, then took one final look around, verifying all was in its place before heading to the front door.

With shaking fingers, she unhooked the alligator clips from the control box, reset the alarm, and reinstalled the cover. After stowing the kit back in the pouch on her belt she went up the stairs. At the door to the master bedroom, she hunkered low to the floor so as not to activate the motion sensor.

Her belly knotted with enough anxiety to keep a psychiatrist busy for at least a year. She opened the sliding glass door, stepped out, and pulled it shut behind her. After resetting the lock, she retrieved her magnetic strip from the door sensors and shoved it into the pouch on her belt.

“On my way down.”

“Copy that.” Jack still sounded angry. “We’re in place ready to pick you up.”

She climbed over the metal railing and grasped the knotted rope, lowering herself down. When her feet hit the grass, she wanted to weep for joy. That was, without a doubt, the freakiest job she’d ever pulled.

With a strong tug on the rope, her hook release worked like a charm and the rope fell to the ground. She coiled it around her shoulder and hauled ass to the driveway, carefully avoiding the motion sensor beam.