Page 68 of Perfect Vengeance

Hernandez, the older of the two men, pursed his lips but said nothing.

“Take my card.” Jack pulled two business cards from his cred wallet, handing one to each officer. “If there’s ever anything I can do to return the favor, don’t hesitate to ask.”

Both cops looked at his card, then at each other, and Jack knew precisely what each man was thinking. They were being handed a line of crap, and there was nothing they could do about it. The women would back up Jack’s story, and they’d have nothing to prove the shooting didn’t go down as Jack said.

“Good luck with your case.” Hernandez tipped his head to Schwartz, and the two men turned to leave.

Jack watched them until they rounded the corner in the direction of the elevator banks. He didn’t think they’d say anything. If they did, he was toast. As he’d once informed Gina, in the federal world, providing a false statement was a five-year felony. By lying to those cops, he’d strayed way outside acceptable boundaries.

He returned to the waiting area where a doctor in light blue scrubs was talking with the women. As he joined them, Gina winced, favoring her right foot. She’d been hurt and hadn’t said a word.

“The bullet nicked her large intestine,” the surgeon said. “We repaired the damage, and she’ll be okay.”

Margo put a hand to her chest. “Thank God.”

Gina covered her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. She’d get through this. Her friends would help her. I’ll help her. He didn’t know how, but he would. Despite the havoc she’d created in his life, he couldn’t just walk away. She was a loving, caring woman, and she needed his help.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, enfolding her in his arms. Her body shook with renewed sobs as she clung to him, slipping her hands beneath his winter coat and digging her nails into his back.

Margo and Annabelle wrapped their arms around Gina as well, leaving them standing in the waiting area in a football-like huddle. Despite what Gina thought, these women would never leave her. She just didn’t know it yet.

* * *

Two hours later, Gina, Margo, and Annabelle sat at Kinsey’s bedside. A nurse had thoughtfully procured an ice pack for Gina’s sprained ankle, which turned out not to be as bad as she’d originally thought.

Kinsey had been transferred to a private room and was awake but groggy. The paleness of her friend’s normally cheerful face and the discomfort contorting her beautiful features tore at Gina’s heart.

I might as well have pulled the trigger myself.

She didn’t know what to say. Somehow, I’m sorry I was so eaten up by revenge that I orchestrated this cockamamie scheme and you got shot didn’t cut it. So what would cut it?

The truth. It was time.

With her heart in her throat, she took Kinsey’s cool hand in hers. “How are you doing, Kins?”

“Well,” she said, reaching for the cup of ice Margo handed her, “considering I just got shot by a mobster and lived to tell about it, I’d say I’m doing all right.”

Anna snorted. “The term is plugged. I saw it in a movie.”

Despite the humor Anna was attempting to interject into the somber mood, Gina rolled her lips inward, desperately trying not to cry.

“Do you want us to call your parents?” Margo asked.

“God, no.” Kinsey crunched on an ice shard. “They’re floating somewhere off the French Riviera. Besides, how would I explain this?”

“Good point,” Anna said.

How would any of them explain this? And what would Jack do to them?

“Gina.” Kinsey gave her hand a light squeeze. “I’ll be okay. Really. The doctor said so.”

“I know but—” Seeing Kinsey this way was so much harder than she expected. Guilt came roaring back, souring her stomach and leaving a giant lump in her throat. “It’s my fault you were hurt. This shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Jack warned me this was too dangerous to keep doing. I disobeyed his orders, and you paid the price.” She shook her head, still not quite believing that one of them had actually been shot. “I’m so, so sorry, Kinsey. It should be me lying in that bed, not you.”

“Don’t say that.” Her mouth curved up in an impish little grin. “Look at it this way. Now I’ll have this cool scar to talk about at the beach when I wear my itty-bitty blue bikini.”

Anna snickered, and Margo made an exasperated sound.

Kinsey’s eyes widened. “Where’s the money?”