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“Rubinstein was the choice before him,” Noemi added.
I shook my head. “Not really. It looks that way from the way it was revealed to the press, but there were three men who were top runners for that position. General Bailey, Daniel Rubinstein and me.”
Noemi blinked. I watched Dante turn on his heels, walk through the dining room to the bar and help himself to a shot of whiskey. He downed one shot, refilled it and another glass, and brought them over to me.
I tossed back the shot he handed me and forged ahead. “Rubinstein died conveniently, but a week before he died, Bailey approached me with this story about Dad. I didn’t believe him at first, but then he convinced me. I’m not telling you how.” I didn’t know what specifics Dante had shared or even why the hell he knew so much to begin with, but Noemi didn’t need the disgusting details. Dad may not have been involved in anything more explicit than his affair with Lydia, but he’d be guilty by association and our family name would be stained forever. My career sure as hell would be over. And Bailey knew that. He wanted to control me, at any cost.
“Why did he tell you?” Noemi asked. “That doesn’t make sense. He’d be the one in trouble if the truth ever came out.”
“To get Willis to drop out of consideration for the position. He wanted it all for himself,” Dante explained.
“Exactly. Basically, he blackmailed me. He’d reveal Dad’s past if I didn’t turn down the position.”
“Turn it down? You mean it was going to be offered to you?”
“That’s what he thought, at least. No one ever specifically told me that, but Bailey was scared. Even if he got the job legitimately, he would still have his involvement with McKenzie hanging over his head.”
Noemi kept shaking her head. “So, he told you the truth then threatened to use it against you, but he didn’t have any leverage.”
“But he did. He does,” Dante answered for me. “He has you.”
“Bailey made some unsavory insinuations about what would happen to you if any of this information ever became public.”
“So, then he’s the one who hired those hitmen?” Noemi asked.
“No. I chose them.”
Noemi palmed her face. “Whoareyou?”
I had been asking myself the same question for weeks. I made some poor decisions, out of desperation and fear. What I’d made was a tangled mess that I couldn’t unravel.
“Let me explain, Noe. I know it doesn’t make sense. Bailey told me he’d kill you. He knew you were going to Barbados with Dante.”
I had no idea if she knew who Dante really was, but while I hated the idea of the two of them together, she was safer with him than anyone.
“How could he have known that?Ididn’t even know where we were until we were leaving.”
That didn’t make any sense either, but I wasn’t surprised by Dante’s mysterious behavior. I hired him to do jobs and he did them. I never asked for details.
“Delacroix,” Dante told her. “Christian Delacroix knew that someone was interested in my whereabouts because he saw the contract that had been taken out on me. He’s the one who told Bailey where to find us and he must have told him early because those men showed up within the first twenty-four hours of our arrival.”
Noemi turned from me to Dante. “So, then it was Delacroix who took out the contract on you?”
Noemi didn’t even blink while listening to Dante talk about contracts, hitmen, and killings. It appeared I didn’t have to worry about Dante’s secrets any longer.
“No, it wasn’t, baby girl. But Delacroix knew who did.”
“Then who was it?” Noemi asked, her eyes going back and forth between me and Dante.
“It was me. I drew up the contract for Dante’s murder.”
