even a little bit. “Did you think that was your guy piloting the chopper? It wasn’t. Mine. Plan B for me. This lodge is pretty remote, so I figured anyone here who wanted to make a quick getaway would try using a chopper. That meant I reached out to every pilot service within a three-hundred-mile radius. Let it be known that I would pay triple to take control of any bird that went in the sky and was directed to fly to this location.” He still had his weapon aimed at Jonathan even though there was no shot. No shot at all because if he hit Jonathan, the bastard would drop Lacey.
Why is she so limp? Why isn’t she moving?
“I was told about this chopper on my way to the roof. One of my agents gave me his comm link so I could talk to my team. So I could get shit done…” Antony had been that agent. Sneaky Antony—he’d almost made his way to Elizabeth’s side, and she hadn’t even noticed him. She was too intent on gaping as her means of escape vanished. “Antony even managed to get my team to patch me through to the pilot, and all while I was taking care of that piece of shit bomb you left for me.”
“You think you’re so fucking smart!” Jonathan screamed. “But I outsmarted you! I found her first! Me. I was the one!”
Dex nodded. “That’s why you hired her from Wilde, wasn’t it? Because you’d tracked her down. You wanted to see if she was the real deal.”
“I knew Roman had a sister. His mother approached my father once, begging for him to help her. I was there. Watching from the shadows. She was crying and pleading. She wanted Roman to come and live with her and his sister.”
“She wanted what?” Roman’s voice choked out.
“But why the hell would my father help her? He had such a good thing going with Gideon Valentino.”
Antony attacked. He sprang forward and grabbed Elizabeth. She screamed and fired, but the bullet just shot off into the dark.
“Let her go!” Jonathan demanded.
Dex bounded forward. “No. No, you bastard, you aren’t giving any orders, you hear me? Your chopper is gone. That means your escape route is gone. Your wife is in custody. Antony, get her off the roof, now.”
Elizabeth was twisting and fighting, but Antony picked her up and carried her away.
“Elizabeth!” Jonathan almost followed her. Almost.
“You want her?” Dex taunted. “Climb your ass down. Give me Lacey. Then you can go after Elizabeth. The two of you can be together forever in a nice cell, I’ll make sure of it. Who wants to separate love birds?”
“I’m not going into a cell!”
Lacey’s head moved a little, as if she was starting to stir. He didn’t see any blood on her.
“You think I did all of this…to wind up in a cell?” Jonathan shouted.
“I have no fucking clue why you did all of this. I just know you made the worst mistake of your life when you came after her.”
Roman shuffled forward. “He did it because of me. Same reason you went after Lacey.”
First, I didn’t go after her. I damn well fell in love with her.
Lacey’s arm had hung loosely a moment before, but it sure looked as if the fingers on her left hand were flexing. She’s waking up.
“You knew I was a double agent, didn’t you, Jonathan? And you were worried that, since you’d done business with my father, I’d have intel I could use against you. You thought I’d screw up your precious world, so you grabbed Lacey. You were going to kill her as what, some warning? Some message for me to keep my mouth shut?”
“Originally, yes, but then I changed my mind. Decided to kill you both. That would send a real message to every bastard out there who thought I could be controlled.” Jonathan’s head was covered with snowflakes. “Heather was supposed to shoot Lacey, then you. But she wouldn’t kill you. I helped Heather drag your body up to the cabin. I helped her set the scene. I knew Dex would bring Lacey with him out there, it was the perfect chance to attack her. But Heather screwed things to hell!”
“You were the boss she had on the Dark Web,” Dex said. Like he hadn’t already figured that shit out.
“Yes! I was also the guy in the ski mask who helped her haul Roman’s sorry ass. She thought I was some hired muscle. Didn’t know