Settling an Old Score - Delores Fossen Page 0,63
kick himself for not seeing what was about to happen. Kick himself, too, for not putting a stop to it. But that led Eli to a couple of questions. Had Dominick ever actually been a hostage, or had this been some kind of sick setup with Remy? Of course, the biggest question on Eli’s mind was why Dominick was now holding a gun on Ashlyn.
“Throw down your weapons,” Dominick told Eli and Kellan. “Then, listen carefully to what you need to do to keep Ashlyn alive.”
Eli forced the muscles in his jaw to ease up so he could speak. “Trust me, I’m listening. Now, what the hell do you want?”
Dominick shook his head and made a sound of frustration. “I wanted things to go a heck of a lot better than this. Since that didn’t happen, I’m now on to plan C.”
Which meant two other plans had failed. Eli didn’t have any trouble filling in the blanks on what Dominick had tried to do.
“You had your own granddaughter kidnapped,” Eli started, “and you set me up for that by trying to make Ashlyn believe I was responsible for it. You wanted her to murder me, and once she’d been convicted and was in jail, then you would have had a clear path to get permanent custody of Cora.”
Dominick didn’t deny anything Eli said, not with words, nor with his expression. This was all about getting his hands on Cora.
Ashlyn’s eyes narrowed, and Eli could see her fear and shock replaced for another emotion. Fury. He totally got that. This idiot had put Cora in danger not just by having those thugs kidnap her but also with the attacks.
Of course, Dominick likely thought the baby had never been in danger, but she easily could have been. The hired guns could have turned on Dominick and tried to hold the child for ransom. Cora could have been hurt or worse. And all because Dominick hadn’t wanted to “share” her with Ashlyn.
“When Ashlyn didn’t take the bait and kill me,” Eli went on, “you set your goons on us. Goons who shot us when Cora could have been in the car.”
“She wasn’t.” Dominick’s voice took on even a harder edge. “They had orders to make sure she wasn’t part of that.”
“Orders that you trusted with hired killers,” Eli pointed out. “I don’t know if that makes you stupid or just plain careless with a child’s life.”
That sure didn’t cool down the fire in Dominick’s eyes, and he gave Eli a look that could have frozen hell. “Cora’s my granddaughter. My blood kin,” he emphasized through clenched teeth. “I will be the one to raise her.”
Which meant Dominick was going to have to get Ashlyn out of the way. Along with Kellan and him, too, and any other witnesses.
From the corner of Eli’s eye, he saw Kellan move. His brother was shifting his position, trying to get into a better angle to put a stop to this. But Dominick saw it, too, because he immediately turned, keeping Ashlyn in a chokehold in front of him.
“Did you not hear that part about keeping Ashlyn alive?” Dominick snapped. “Trying to shoot me is a surefire way of getting her killed.”
Kellan froze. But Eli knew they couldn’t just stand there and let Dominick do whatever he was planning on doing.
Eli listened for any sign that Gunnar was still nearby. He didn’t glance outside because he didn’t want Dominick to be reminded that the deputy had gone out there. Not that Dominick had forgotten that, but Dominick wasn’t a hired killer, and he might not be thinking straight right now. All they needed was some break, a distraction, just enough for Ashlyn to bolt out of Dominick’s grip so that Eli could shoot him.
Eli very much wanted to shoot him. And that was a reminder for him to tamp down his anger. That wasn’t going to help Ashlyn right now. He needed to keep a clear head.
“Here’s how this is going to work,” Dominick said. “Ashlyn and I are going to get Cora, and we’ll walk out of here. I don’t want to use the cruiser that Remy wanted because I suspect there’s a tracker on it. Idiot,” he grumbled when he glanced at Remy’s body.
So that meant Dominick likely hadn’t been working with Remy after all. Not that it mattered now, but when they got out of this—and they would—then Eli would want to build a solid case against Dominick. He wanted him in a cage for