There it was. Proof.
Love made you stupid.
And in Gill’s case, dead.
The shot only gave a sharp buzz. She felt the spatter hit her face but all she allowed herself was a flinch as he fell to the floor at her side.
Gone, now.
Everything.
Gone.
Her heart shriveled inside her.
Fucking shit, maybe in all her bitching, Liv had been right.
“You were simply affecting profit margins,” Valenzuela noted like a member of his crew had not just shot the man she loved in the face. “Which was annoying and needed to be dealt with.” He shook his head. “This business after what happened with your sister. Quite the nuisance.”
He said no more, just continued to shake his head.
“You burned her in her bed,” Georgia hissed.
“For many years, you haven’t been stupid. What’s turned you stupid now, Georgia?” Valenzuela asked.
“We have one enemy,” she returned. “You.”
“And as that enemy, you know me. You know it’s bad business to eliminate something that’s not a threat.” He tipped his head sharply to the side. “Worse business if eliminating that non-threat suddenly makes me the enemy of someone who gives not one shit about me and,” he leaned slightly forward, “I don’t want them to.”
“You don’t know your enemy either, obviously, since I gave a shit about you,” she snapped. “We could have made a deal.”
His eyes turned shrewd. “I was talking about Sebring.”
“Knight has dick to do with this,” she retorted.
“That’s not the Sebring I mean.”
All over her body, her skin got tight.
“Nick’s unhappy,” Valenzuela said softly.
“I don’t give a fuck about Nick,” she shot back.
But it was a lie and they both knew it.
“That’s your mistake,” he whispered, standing. “Pretending that’s true, that’s been your mistake for years.”
She felt her lip curl. “He’ll be taken care of.”
“Such bravado,” Valenzuela muttered.
That was when every inch of her skin got cold.
“You’ve blown up all my labs, taken out or turned all our boys, Leary’s running one of your fucking crews.” Saliva filling her mouth, she swung an arm down to the body prone on the floor at her side, indicating a termination of her resources, the finality of which Valenzuela was sure not to have missed. “You don’t eliminate something that’s not a threat,” she reminded him.
Valenzuela settled in like he was about to tell a tale and spoke again.
“You see, Georgia, I have a rather tenacious adversary. I’ll need patience in dealing with them, and in the meantime, I need nothing further to take my attention. I also need not to damage relations with those who keep out of my way. I’m afraid, for you, it’s important for me to keep the Sebring brothers happy.”