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Gina jumped at the harsh exclamation, then whipped around as Liz stepped into the room. What the hell?
The redhead frowned at Jackson until her disapproving blue gaze flicked down and she came to an abrupt halt, her eyes wide.
I’m not the only one who didn’t know about the gun.
“I told you to stay out of sight,” Jackson snarled. “You just can’t help but fuck this up in every way possible, can you?”
Gina glanced back to see his expression darkened into a mask of fury.
“I already said I was sorry,” Liz snapped.
“Sorry doesn’t do shit for us right now.”
“Neither does threats. I didn’t sign up for this.”
“But betraying a friend is just fine?” Gina asked Dean’s betrayer.
“Shut up and sit down,” Jackson thundered.
The woman flicked her a dismissive glance as she lowered herself down to the edge of the couch. “Jack, I honestly thought it would help if the leak could be traced back to her since they were already suspicious of her.”
“My God, you are a stupid bitch. Nothing should be able to be traced,” he roared. “Not when it’s coming to me!” He slammed his fist into the wall and Gina flinched right along with Liz.
But as he paced away from the crumbling dent in the drywall, the redhead surprised her by moving closer to intercept him. She watched in silence, still stunned by the fact Mike’s sister was the one working with Jackson.
The thought of Dean’s vice president arrested her thoughts. Was he in on it, too? God, she sure hoped not. The two were as close as brothers. Liz was bad enough, it would kill him to be betrayed by Mike, too.
“All we have to do is get her laptop,” Liz reasoned. “I can erase everything before anyone sees it.”
That’s how he’d gotten the program—the aptly labeled bitch had used her computer to send it to him. Probably yesterday while she was upstairs with the delivery men.
In the next moment, full comprehension of Dean’s absence this morning swept through her. Crushing pain flowed in its wake, making her chest hurt with every breath she took. That cold, curt note suddenly made perfect sense. Somehow he’d seen the evidence Liz planted, but instead of giving her a chance to defend herself, he’d taken her computer and left. Probably to go to the police so they could arrest her.
After what they’d shared last night, his lack of trust stabbed into her heart like a jagged knife.
“Okay, great,” Jackson said to Liz, his voice laced with sarcasm. “Erase it all. And then what do you propose we do about her?”
Liz didn’t answer.
With the gun in his hand, and him talking as if she wasn’t even there, Gina feared he’d deduced there was only one sure way to guarantee her silence. Liz looked uncomfortable enough to have reached the same conclusion.
Her mind rebelled in disbelief. He wouldn’t be willing to go that far…would he?
Jackson gestured toward the redhead with the weapon. “This is on you. If you’d have stuck to my plan we’d be fine. This is exactly why I was so careful to set things up with Ty. Putting suspicion on him kept them from ever looking at you, and we never had to worry about a traceable link.”
“We can still figure something out,” she argued. “Something that doesn’t involve…that.”
She’d flicked Gina a sideways glance with the last lowered word, and Jackson laughed with derision. “You’re fooling yourself with that one, sweetheart. Especially now that she knows about you.”
The flash of dismay on Liz’s face shook her hope that she could appeal to the woman’s sympathies. Jackson turned toward Gina, and the calculating gleam in his eyes said he’d do whatever he felt needed to be done. The man before her wasn’t even close to the person she thought she knew. This man looked to be fully capable of murder.
God, please, let Dean have gotten my mess—
The memory of him asking to use her phone because he’d lost his in the accident replayed in her brain. Panic rose again with the realization that he had no way of getting her message. No one knew where she was right now. They could kill her and no one would know!
Her breath came in short gasps and her heart pounded so hard she worried she’d pass out. Digging her fingernails into her arms, she concentrated on the physical pain and forced herself to breathe a
s she watched Liz sidle up to Jackson.
