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A brow rose over Mike’s dark eyes, and then his lips quirked up in a knowing smirk. “Sure thing, boss. You only have about ten minutes before I expect Oakley will call in. You sure Taggart won’t take him out before he sends the coordinates?”
“Big Tag will want proof of life,” Chet assured him. “We send that, get the coordinates, and we’re out of here.”
And she would be dead.
Mike put his laptop aside and walked to the door, closing it behind him.
She was alone with Chet, and she had to figure out how to get away.
“I wish you weren’t so pretty,” Chet said with a shake of his head. “I know everyone talks about how hot your sisters are, but you really are a work of art.”
His hand came out, tilting her chin up.
“Yeah, well somehow you’re not as attractive as I thought you were.”
He stared at her for a moment. “I wonder what you could have been if you hadn’t been saddled with that asshole of a father.”
Her father was the best man she knew, and Chet didn’t deserve to breathe the same air.
Dare had immediately taken to her dad, like he’d known Ian Taggart could be the kind of father he’d always longed for.
“This isn’t going to work out the way you think it will. My dad won’t simply be upset about my death. He’ll want to know what happened to Zach, too. His body wasn’t left at a place Oakley owns. There will be some trace of you.”
“I was careful, baby.” He smoothed back her hair like they were lovers. “He’ll think what I want him to think. I do wish I’d had more time. I could have put another couple of bullets in that asshole. You do know I never wanted this to happen, right?”
She noticed Mike was standing at the window, his back silhouetted against the opaque glass, proof that even if she could handle Chet, she would have another problem standing in her way. “I don’t care.”
Chet sighed. “She didn’t mean anything. You are the only woman I’ve ever loved.”
“And you’re about to kill me.”
“Well, it turns out I love me more. But you should understand that I’ll think about you forever, Tash. He had you a couple of times, but you’re going to be mine forever.”
“Are you going to take my body and keep my corpse close?” She wouldn’t put anything past him.
She could headbutt him from this angle if she could get to her knees.
“Baby, I’m leaving your body here for your family to find. I’m not dumb. I do understand forensics. It’s why I’m not going to do what I want to do. I want one more time with you, but I wouldn’t put it past your dad to be thorough when it comes to investigating your murder. I just wanted to be the last man to have you.”
He’d never seen her as anything more than a possession.
She was about to tell him what she thought of him when she noticed Mike’s head jerk and then his body slide down the wall.
Like he’d taken a very quiet head shot.
Like her team hadn’t needed a locator chip to figure out where she was.
She needed to give whoever was out there as much of a chance as she could.
That meant giving Chet a little bit of what he wanted. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the door beginning to open.
She tilted her head up and gave him her biggest, widest eyes. “Do you think I wanted to leave you? I loved you, Chet. I knew my family hated you, but I still chose you.”
He was staring at her lips.
He really was a dumbass because he wasn’t paying a lick of attention to the woman sneaking up behind him.
“And then you left me,” Chet murmured. “Baby, if I thought there was any way I could keep you…”
Lou put a gun to the back of his head. “Don’t make me vomit. I’ll have to clean it up myself.”
Because she’d been playing the maid at the main house. Now Tasha knew where she was.
Chet went still. “Hello, Lou. I’m surprised they sent you.”
She could see him calculating how to move to throw Lou off. The only problem was Lou wasn’t alone.
Kala had her SIG trained on Chet. “And me. Hey, asswipe. Long time, no see. So you’re a traitor. Guess you should have stuck around longer. You would have found out my pops got Lou a job on the cleaning crew at the big house. And he didn’t have to kill someone to do it. Just paid the guy off. Unlike Oakley, who definitely had Middleton killed. We got that intel. He’s not as smart as he thinks he is. And now we have you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kala. I was about to cut Tasha loose.” Chet stood, his hands up. “I came to save her the minute I heard the rumors Oakley was going to try to take her today.”
