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Although he’s vibrating with rage, I brave a touch anyway. Reaching out to cradle his hard jaw in my hand, I hold his simmering gaze. “I’m more afraid of losing you than anything Rodney thinks he can do to me.”
“Nothing you’ve told me changes how I feel about you.” Even still, he gently takes my hand away from his face and brings it down to my side. “Where is your stepbrother now?”
“I’m not sure. The last time I saw him was yesterday morning, across the street from this building. You remember that wr
ong number call that came in on your cell when we were in the limo? I’m certain it was him sending me a message that he’s serious about this.” At Nick’s virulent curse, I add, “Rodney told me I have to be in touch with him by today to pay him ten thousand dollars for his silence.”
“That won’t be enough.” Nick gives me a hard look. “Scum like that smell blood in the water and they’ll keep coming back for more. I won’t have it. Your stepbrother needs to go away permanently.”
I’m not sure I want to know what he means. Without offering me an explanation, he presses a kiss to my forehead then walks into his home office and closes the door.
Chapter 21
Central Park is unusually quiet, thanks most likely to a recent drizzle that’s kept all but the most determined visitors indoors this afternoon. Only a handful of joggers and a few straggling tourists have passed me in the fifteen minutes I’ve been waiting. Not far from the bench I am sitting on, cheerful calliope music drifts out of the beige and red brick octagon that houses the park’s carousel, which is apparently closed for maintenance today.
It is here that Rodney instructed me to meet him when I called to tell him I had the money.
I try not to look anxious as I check the time on my phone and see that he is nearly ten minutes late. I just want this done. I want him gone from my life.
I feel that wish intensify when I spot him sauntering up the sidewalk, heading my way. As he approaches the bench, he flicks his spent cigarette butt into the wet grass, exhaled smoke streaming out of his mouth and nostrils like dragon’s breath.
I stand up, my skin crawling at the smug, satisfied look he gives me as he nears me. He’s wearing baggy jeans with a denim jacket over an “I Love New York” T-shirt today. He smooths his palms over the big red heart as he glances at me. “Never thought I’d be the city type, but I gotta say, baby girl, New York is growin’ on me. How do you like my souvenir?”
“She doesn’t.” Nick’s deep voice sounds from behind Rodney.
My stepbrother swivels his head, watching Nick stroll up to where we stand. To keep Rodney from panicking or canceling the meeting, I didn’t tell him that I wouldn’t be alone today. As far as Nick was concerned, my coming here without him wasn’t even an option.
He’d been adamant about that, even though he had said little else to me about his feelings in the time since my secrets all came spilling out today and this unwanted, unwelcome rendezvous with Martin Coyle’s son.
Rodney is unable to hide his surprised expression, even if his gravelly voice is low with disrespect. “Well, well. The famous Dominic Baine in the flesh. Avery didn’t mention I’d have the honor of meetin’ you today.”
“She didn’t mention you either until very recently.” Nick’s reply is low, level. More lethal than Rodney realizes. “From what I understand, she’s not happy to see you. Neither am I, for that matter.”
“Now, ain’t that an unfriendly way to greet me,” he replies, his lips thinning in a sneer. “Didn’t my sister tell you that you oughta be real nice to me?”
“Don’t call me that,” I snap, unable to stomach anything about him. “You and your father are nothing to me.”
Rodney chuckles now, but his predator’s gaze stays rooted on Nick. “Sharp tongue on this bitch, eh? ‘Course, maybe that’s how you like ‘em. Maybe you rich fucks like your pussy with teeth and claws, that it?”
Nick’s big body vibrates with menace beside me, but he stands utterly still. “Did you come here to get your ass kicked, or do you want to tell me what it’s going to take to make you go away?”
“Get my ass kicked?” Rodney scoffs. “You’re not gonna touch me, Baine. If you do, it’s only gonna cost you more. See, I’m a businessman like you.”
Nick doesn’t even blink. “Is that what you call this? Stalking Avery. Threatening her. Putting her mother in the prison hospital.”
Rodney gives him a thin smile. “I’ll never admit to any of that.”
“Then why am I standing here with ten grand in my pocket?”
Rodney pauses. He glances at me only briefly, then his tongue snakes out to lick his lips. “Let me see it.”
“Not until we get some things straight,” Nick says. “This stops right here. The second I put the cash in your hands, you stop, Rodney. You go away, and you don’t come back.”
His chin lifts. His eyes narrow on Nick as a sneer twists his mouth. “You think I’m stupid? You think I’m some dumb jackass who don’t know my worth?”
I swallow anxiously as Rodney’s voice rises. This is exactly what Nick predicted would happen—my stepbrother’s arrogance and greed being fed by the promise of easy money.
“I don’t know your worth,” Nick says, his tone clipped but calm. “You say you’re a businessman. All right. Convince me. What do you think you’re worth?”
