Page 48 of King of Temptation

“Home. Hopefully sound asleep in their beds.” On the surface, Killian’s tone was indifferent, downright bored. As if he couldn’t think of anything he’d want to be doing less than standing in this empty warehouse, coming to the rescue of his cousin’s stalker.

“Ah, yes. I’m sure spending the evening in the company of Charleston’s finest wore them out.” Still grinning, Richard tilted his head, his voice taking on a fake, syrupy sweetness that made Goldie’s skin crawl. “Especially that pretty little wife of yours. How is Aria? How’s the baby? Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl yet?”

He was poking. Trying to get a reaction out of Killian.

For what? If Richard’s aim had just been to get them here to kill them, why not just… take them out? She knew for a fact there were men in the shadows, waiting. Why not spring the trap they’d so clearly laid?

Something wasn’t adding up, but for the life of her she couldn’t make it make any fucking sense.

To Killian’s credit, he didn’t even flinch when Richard brought up Aria, which Goldie considered a Herculean feat considering how protective he was of his wife. “Enough small talk. Why did you drag us out here at this ungodly hour? What do you want?”

Pressing a hand to his chest, Richard gave the pair a wounded look. “Can’t a man simply want to spend time with his friends?”

“We aren’t friends, Richard.” Brody now, his voice rippling with violence. Unlike Killian, he wasn’t doing a very good job at hiding his fury. “So just tell us what the fuck you hoped to accomplish here so we can all go home to our nice warm beds.”

Everything about Richard changed. He dropped the sarcastic supervillain act, transforming in front of Goldie’s eyes into something colder. Meaner.

Infinitely more terrifying.

“I want what was promised to me. We had a deal, Killian, and you will honor it.”

Killian snorted. “You forfeited that deal when you got into bed with the Russians. There is no fucking way I’m giving you or them control of my docks.”

“I could take them,” Richard mused, as if he were discussing what to have for breakfast rather than a bloody all-out war. “Kill you both where you stand, hunt down the rest of your clan. Cut the babe from your wife’s belly, end the O’Rourke bloodline here and now. For good.”

Killian’s hand formed a fist at his side, his white knuckles the only outward show of emotion from either him or Brody. “So, why don’t you?”

For a long, terrifying moment, she thought he just might. Richard’s features twisted into a mask of such rage that Goldie thought for sure they were all about to die.

But then his face smoothed out again, his movie-star good looks returning as he smiled again, wide and beatific.

And that chilled her right down to her fucking bones.

“Despite what my Russian comrades think, killing you doesn’t really solve our problems. The O’Rourke name means something in this city. It means something to the men and women who use your docks for their businesses, regardless of which side of the law those businesses fall on. I kill you and try to take over those contracts, well, things are bound to get… messy.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Brody asked, sounding more annoyed than violently furious now. Like Richard was some minor inconvenience he couldn’t wait to be rid of. “Why drag us all the way out here if you weren’t going to kill us?”

“To make you an offer. One that you really can’t refuse, if you’ll pardon the cliché.”

Killian glanced over, his gaze connecting with Brody’s and they seemed to have a silent conversation before Killian nodded ever so slightly and returned his attention to Richard. “I’m listening.”

“Good. Now, as I said, I want you to uphold our original agreement, sans your marriage to my daughter, obviously. I’ll settle for your second in command taking her off my hands, the situation being what it is.”

Jealousy twisted Goldie’s insides, even as she recognized how ridiculous it was. Here she was, face to face with a man who likely had every intention of killing her before the night was through, and she was pissed off because he wanted Brody to marry his daughter.

Get your priorities straight, girl.

“Say we agree to your terms,” Killian said slowly, as if he was actually considering it. “What do we get?”

“Freedom. For anyone bearing the O’Rourke name.” Looking over their shoulders, Richard locked gazes with Goldie for the first time since the O’Rourkes had entered the building. And in his eyes, she saw her own death.

“Sign on the dotted line, give me what you promised me, and I won’t frame you for the murder of a decorated police officer’s only daughter. Refuse, and I’ll ensure this entire city, the entire country turns on you before lunchtime.”

Richard nodded toward someone behind her, and pain lanced through Goldie’s skull as her head was jerked backward. Something cold pressed against her neck, biting into the sensitive flesh there, and her heart stopped as a wet warmth trickled down her skin.

Spinning around, Brody pulled a gun out of somewhere, aiming it just above Goldie’s head. Tears blurred her vision, but she blinked them back, determined she wouldn’t give Richard the benefit of seeing her cry. Of seeing the utter terror coursing through her frozen veins.

“All right, Richard.” In painful contrast to the fury pumping off Brody in waves, Killian still managed to sound calm. Collected. Almost eerily so. “You’ve made your point. Let the girl go and we’ll talk. The last thing I need is a dead cop’s kid on my doorstep.”