debating that word. O’Shaughnessy clearly knew of the relationship before sending her the ransom note. Nor would it help to admit that they were no longer lovers. That she’d walked away and Jack had let her. “I do not have ten thousand dollars. Not on such short notice.”
“Pity. But then, I’d never really expected you to pay up.”
“Then why send the ransom note at all?”
“Because killing him quickly would have been too easy. And you wouldn’t have been here to witness it.”
Oh, Lord. He’d wanted her here the whole time? Perhaps Cooper had been right. Perhaps she should have gone home instead.
“He won’t kill me, Justine. He won’t risk it, not with all those men outside.”
O’Shaughnessy’s smile turned cold. “You’re not the only one with secret tunnels. I’ll be long gone before your men make it inside the front door.”
“Then what do you possibly want?” Jack asked.
“Maybe I want her,” O’Shaughnessy said.
“Over my dead body.”
“That’s exactly what I’m plannin’, Mulligan. Too bad you won’t still be around to see it.”
Justine’s heart pounded in her chest as she slipped her hand into her pocket. O’Shaughnessy was planning on raping her? With an army at her back? “You won’t get away with it. Not with all of Mulligan’s men outside.”
“My men will hold them off just long enough until I get you into one of the tunnels.”
Lifting her arm, she aimed a loaded pistol at O’Shaughnessy. “Let him go.”
The weapon didn’t appear to faze O’Shaughnessy at all. “Have you ever fired a pistol? I’m betting you haven’t and that your aim is shit.”
“Are you willing to risk it?”
“I’m fairly certain I can slit his throat, dodge your bullet and get to you before you can fire again.”
“Fairly certain is not certain.”
His lips twisted. “I didn’t get to where I am today by not taking risks, Miss Greene.”
“Living in Jack Mulligan’s shadow, you mean?”
Jack’s eyes closed briefly, his expression pained, and she wondered if O’Shaughnessy had hurt him again. “Justine,” he growled.
She soon understood why. The taunt seemed to enrage O’Shaughnessy, his eyes bulging and his skin turning red. “Let’s see if your aim is any good.” He moved his hand as if to slice Jack’s throat—
“Wait,” Jack blurted. “I’ll give you everything.”
Jack expected the words to hurt or perhaps cause the building to collapse. They were monumental, something he’d sworn never to bargain with: his empire. The one he’d built with his own two hands through sweat and blood and cunning. But, he’d offered it up willingly. Gladly.
If it would save her, he’d give up ten empires.
She’d arrived here like an avenging angel with an army behind her to free him from his enemy. Somehow, she’d organized that mob outside, one he could see through the saloon’s front window. Then she’d come inside to barter and trade insults with a thug like O’Shaughnessy. Brandished a pistol like Annie Oakley, for fuck’s sake.
Look at what you’ve turned her into. Look at what you’ve made her do.
This woman who hated violence, who tried to stay on the right side of good, and he’d caused her to become a hooligan, just like him. Christ, he hated himself in that moment. Hated everything he’d ever done in the name of building that empire. Because it had somehow rubbed off on her, tainted her pristine soul.
She did not deserve this. To watch Jack’s blood spill at her feet before shooting a bullet at another human being, even if O’Shaughnessy deserved it. Jack couldn’t bear the thought of it. And what happened if the bullet missed? It turned his blood to ice.
So, he’d bargain with whatever he had left, pride be damned.
“No, Jack,” she started. “Do not—”
“All of it,” he told O’Shaughnessy. “You can have it all.”
“Now, this I did not expect,” O’Shaughnessy said. “I thought you’d go down stoically, not bargaining for your life.”
He was bargaining for Justine’s life, actually. “Let Miss Greene, Rye and I leave here tonight and I’ll give you everything.”
“Jack, you cannot do that,” Justine said, her pistol still trained on O’Shaughnessy. “I’ll shoot him.”
And earn a stain on her soul? He couldn’t allow that. “Trevor, I swear it.”
“How can I believe you?”
“Bring Rye out here.”
“Why?”
“Because my word is law. And he won’t believe it unless he hears it directly from me.”
O’Shaughnessy must have motioned to his men because a few of them disappeared at a side door. Jack tried to even out his breathing, remain calm. The knife remained at his neck, the point digging into the skin at his jugular. He