Page 191 of Her Defiant Warrior

“Wait.” Kostya had his phone to his ear. “Get to her condo, now! They’re going to kill her.”

Kostya paused as he listened.

“Yes, we’re going in.”

Kostya let go of Mateo’s arm and pulled out his pistol. Mateo pulled out his.

“Kostya, we’ve got Lainey and Janice in there. They might kill Lainey if they think Janice can do what they need, but my bet is that Lainey will convince them that only she can do what needs to be done.”

“That’s a hell of a bet.” Kostya looked at Mateo.

“You gotta listen to my gut, boss.”

Kostya nodded.

“What is going on?” Janice screeched.

“Shut up, bitch,” Amanda said as she pulled out her gun and put it to Janice’s temple.

“I won’t shut up,” she yelled back at Amanda. “I demand to know what is going on.”

“Let me have her,” Ivan said.

“My pleasure,” Amanda said.

Lainey watched in horror as Ivan grabbed Janice’s arm and cut her from her sternum down to her stomach. It was a very shallow cut, but it started to bleed, and Janice started to cry.

“Why did you do that? Why did you do that?”

Amanda changed places with Ivan. “He did that to get your attention. Do we have your attention now?”

“It hurts.” Janice was now sobbing.

Her cut was bleeding, but very little. She needed to pull herself together before they got that bag of oranges. Lainey still couldn’t stand upright.

“God, is she always this whiny?” she asked Lainey.

“Yes. Stupid too. If you’re planning on her calling the bank at the Cayman Islands, it won’t work. She won’t even know which deposit you’re talking about. You’re stuck with me.”

“Bitch, she was smart enough to get you fired,” Ivan said.

Lainey flinched. That was true.

“You’re right, but she still won’t know which file it was, or who it was I talked to down at the Cayman Bank. So, you’re going to need me alive.”

Ivan and Amanda looked at one another.

She had them.

“She’s lying,” Janice said. “I got her fired. I can do anything she can do, only better. You need me. Kill her.”

God, Janice had the self-preservation instincts of a cat. Scratch that, she had the self-preservation instincts of a rat and a cockroach put together.

Lainey turned to Amanda. “I’m telling you; she won’t know my contact down at the Cayman Bank.”

“Sure, I do. It’s Bertrum.”

“That’s a lie.” Lainey sighed.