Counting On Cole (Wilde Ways #8) - Cynthia Eden Page 0,89

at her.

“Yes, we were dating.” Gia’s chin notched up.

“My dad didn’t like her,” Harrison suddenly said. He caught himself. Shook his head. “Fuck, Evie, am I as much of a controlling dick as he was?”

She didn’t answer.

Harrison’s gaze turned distant as he added, “Quint…he told me I shouldn’t settle down. Told me that I had to earn my own way. Prove myself in this world before I got married.”

Gia glanced away. Her hand shoved into her purse.

“Then he died,” Harrison said. “And I didn’t have to earn anything anymore.”

“Because it was handed to you on a silver platter,” Gia snapped. “My platter.”

Harrison stumbled away from her. “Gia?”

She yanked a gun out of her bag.

Holy hell, Gia Eastman had just yanked a gun from her designer bag.

“Shit,” Cole muttered. “I knew this case wasn’t done.” He slid his body in front of Evie.

What in the hell?

He’d moved his body in front of hers. No. She shoved against him.

He didn’t budge. Not an inch.

“Cole, don’t do this,” Evie hissed.

And she realized that he had a gun tucked into the back waistband of his jeans. She could just see the edge of it. And she remembered the way he’d taken the gun from Stephen. Such a fast, quick move.

Her breath eased out.

“It won’t fucking end!” Gia yelled. “I thought that I was finally going to get what I had coming to me—but it just won’t end! You people are screwing everything up!”

“Gia,” Harrison began.

“He tried to buy me off! Did you know that shit? Your dad offered me ten grand to stop seeing you. So I took that money, and you know what I did with it?”

“Oh, God.” Harrison’s voice. Shocked. Broken.

“My mother’s family was from France. I had connections there. I used them. And then your asshole of a father was gone.”

His father. Evie’s mother.

Evie reached for Cole’s gun. Her hand was rock steady.

“You got all the money, and you turned away from me!” Gia’s voice rose even more. “Told me you had to help that freaking sixteen-year-old brat! So I was like—what the hell ever. He’ll come back to me. You always came back to me.”

Evie peeked over Cole’s shoulder. She saw Harrison edging away from Gia as he gaped at her in shock and horror.

“You kidnapped Evie,” Cole accused. “Back in LA, you were the one behind it. You knew she’d be at that hotel. You arranged everything.”

Gia’s head snapped toward him. “I didn’t just want to kidnap her. I wanted to kill her! But those idiots I hired thought they could get more money from Harrison than from me.” A roll of her shoulders. “But when the kidnapping went wrong and you showed up, they realized they should have freaking listened to me and stuck with the original plan. Everything would have been perfect then. Am I right?”

No, nothing about her was right.

“It was you that night, in the ladies’ bathroom,” Evie realized. “You…you had some goon waiting in there for me.”

“Same guy I used before. Didn’t even recognize him, did you?” Gia smirked. “I made sure no one else was in there and that your boyfriend was distracted so my man could make the grab. Then wham, you were out of the picture, again.”

“Gia, put down the gun,” Cole ordered.

Evie was on her toes. She could see over Cole’s shoulder. She also had his gun in her hand.

Gia looked at her weapon and shook her head. “If I drop it, you’ll do something stupid and heroic like charge at me. That can’t happen.” She bit her lip. “There are bodyguards outside. How am I going to get past them?”

“You’re not,” Cole told her. “You’re not getting out of this room.”

She swallowed. Her hand moved as she aimed the gun right at him. “I have to shoot you first. I’m sorry, but you’re the threat. I’ll shoot you and—”

“And the bodyguards outside will hear the sound,” Evie cut in desperately. You will not shoot, Cole. Oh, hell, no. “They’ll run inside and that will be the end. You’ll go to jail, and you will never get out.”

Gia wilted. “I don’t want to go to jail.” Her gaze flickered to Harrison. “You won’t let me go to jail?”

He stared at her in horror…and disgust.

“But I love you. I did all of this for you. I got you money you needed, no strings. I was going to get your sister out of the way. I was going to make you free so that we could be together again!” Her breath heaved.