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As soon as I did, he said, “You’ll have a part, but it will have to be enough for your closure, because you aren’t getting anywhere near this.”
God, I loved him. “Okay.”
His eyes moved over my face, his voice a rough whisper, “Best fucking thing in my life.”
I touched his face, brushed his hair from his forehead. “Best fucking thing in my life.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
She’d been watchingthe house for days. Fucking Webster, no goddamn balls, running scared. He’d been spooked, which meant that fucking sheriff was onto her. She had to get the hell out of dodge, but not without her twenty million.
She didn’t like rushing things, because that caused mistakes, but she didn’t have time to think everything through. She’d been casing out the house for the last few days, but it was no good. And those damn dogs.
She had to move on to plan b. She slipped on her sunglasses, put on the sunhat and stepped from the car. She walked down the street, but no one seeing her would really see her. Reaching the house, she walked up the front path and knocked on the door.
When the older woman answered, she lifted the gun. “I need you to make a call.”
Stepping inside, she gestured to the phone. “Call Cedar.”
The call connected, and Cedar answered. Ashley didn’t let her speak. “I’ve got a gun to her head. Come alone and tell no one.”
She dropped the phone, waved the gun. “On the sofa.” Her eyes drifted to the pictures on the table then back at the woman.
“You look good for a dead woman.” She spun around to see Brock, leaning against the doorjamb. “Miss me?”
She turned back to see the older woman had a gun trained on her. The sheriff appeared, stepping from the kitchen, gun leveled. Two cops came up behind her. A movement from the dining room and Detective Donnelly appeared.
Hard eyes turned on Brock, her gun aimed at his heart. “How the hell did you know?”
“You’re not as clever as you think,” Brock taunted. “And Webster has zero threshold for pain.”
“Get back or I’ll fucking kill him,” Ashley warned, looking around like a caged animal.
“You did that already,” he said, “Fifteen years ago.” He moved from the doorway and strolled toward her.
“Stop or I’ll shoot.” She looked into his eyes and saw no fear. He really didn’t care if she shot him. She started to squeeze the trigger when she heard the gunshot seconds before an exploding pain in her hand had her gun flying out of it. Her head jerked to the sheriff, just as Donnelly yanked her arms behind her and cuffed her.
Brock got right in her face. “Why?”
“For years, I let that man touch me. Had to dope myself up just to stand his touch. But no one pays any attention to a woman, particularly one who can’t hold her liquor or drugs. He would talk in front of me like I wasn’t even there. Thought he was hurting me with the women he was fucking. I was fucking the boy he wanted as his son, right in our bed, letting that young buck do things to me I never allowed Kenneth to do. And he thought he had the power. The only thing that hurt me was learning that fucker was penniless. Borrowed to the eyeballs. His death put me in debt.”
“So, you let everyone think you were dead?” Donnelly said.
“Legally, I’d have to cover his expenses. Fuck that. He talked business in front of me, details he wouldn’t have shared if he’d known I was actually listening. Twenty million dollars, mine for the taking. I just had to get rid of Kenneth.”
Brock’s jaw clenched.
“Declan didn’t have it in him; besides, you would have figured it out, and I couldn’t have that,” she said, so callously. “So, you can imagine my surprise, when everything was going exactly as I planned, until the money I stole was stolen from me.”
She wasn’t just evil; she was batshit crazy.
“It was a blow, but troubled times inspire ingenuity, and it was ingenious. All that money filtered through the businesses, siphoning off just a little each time. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you’re laundering tens of millions of dollars, several times a month, through various corporations, it adds up. Dustin didn’t want to, but it’s amazing what you can talk a man into when you dangle sex. Declan kept me in the lifestyle I wanted, while we built up a nest egg, but the deeper we got, the more nervous Dustin grew.”
“So, you killed Dustin?” Donnelly said.
“Yes. I’m not big on sharing.” She smiled, but it wasn’t pleasant. “Money that is.”
“You’re going to rot in prison,” Brock said, and her smile died. “That’s even better than killing you. Every day for the rest of your life, no drugs, no wine, no money, no men.” Brock moved even closer. “You’ve decades of that to look forward to.”
