Darkest Sin (Las Vegas Sin Book 3), page 21
Reaching down, I draw my small gun from my boot, aiming it directly at him. “Good evening, Uncle,” I say, using my free hand to tug the wig off my head. I drop it to the floor, some of the pins going along with it. Strands of pale red fall around my face, and I hear him draw in a rush of air.
His eyes scour every inch of me, studying me, a small smile making an appearance once he reaches my eyes. “You have your mother’s eyes and hair,” he says simply, his accent coating each of his words, though his English is flawless. “Her figure too. You’re as lovely as she was.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment, though I know you didn’t care much for her in the end.”
He shifts to face me, his expression dour as if I’ve offended him. “I loved your mother very much once. Seeing you is more difficult than I would have imagined.”
I let out a loud, indignant scoff when what I really want to do is pistol-whip the asshole. Maybe break his nose or cut off his air supply the way I did his bouncer’s. I want this man to hurt the way he hurt my mother. The way he hurt Sarah. The way he hurt Jeff and Cora and me.
“Spare me your bullshit declarations of love,” I seethe, losing some of my control. “You tracked her down and killed her.”
He smirks, reading me better than I’d like him to. “Had I known you were in the house that day, I would have taken you with me. Raised you as my own. You’ve turned into quite the young woman.”
“Then I’m thrilled you decided to set fire to the house instead of searching it.”
He chuckles, running his hand through his hair, and I wonder if I’ve managed to make him nervous. I chamber a bullet, but he doesn’t alter his stance in the slightest. Maybe he doesn’t think I’m capable.
“Jeff and Cora clearly trained you well, I see,” he comments dryly, gesturing to the poor man on the floor. I narrow my eyes at the use of Jeff and Cora’s names. He did it on purpose to unnerve me, and it’s working. He eyes me up and down again before giving me an unconcerned shrug. “I have to say, I’m impressed. I didn’t expect you to be bold enough to come after me directly, niece.”
“Nice to know I’m the bravest of them all. Now, before I kill you, would you mind doing me one small favor?” I tilt my head, taking a measured step in his direction, though making sure I leave plenty of space between us.
“What’s that, dear girl?”
“Call my favorite brother. I’d love a quick word with him.”
An amused smile curls up his face. “You won’t kill me, Emeline, otherwise you already would have. Why don’t you put down the gun, and we can chat? The way a family does.”
I roll my eyes at him. Family my ass. “Pretty arrogant to think I won’t shoot you.”
He smirks, so very confident. He doesn’t say anything to that. Just waits me out and I hate that he’s right. The sound of gunfire will be really loud. Even in a club like this. Plus, I’m not done talking to him. If I shoot him now, he’ll die too quickly, and where’s the fun in that?
“Okay, fine. I’m not going to shoot you.” Yet.
That cocksure smirk turns into a grin, thinking he’s got his prey right where he wants her. Before he has a chance to gloat, I slip my free hand into my other boot and reveal Gavin’s knife. Thrusting out, I slice the hand that’s still clutching his phone. He stumbles back, aghast and bleeding. He makes no sound, but I know that has to hurt like hell.
He stares down at the blood, as if absorbing the fact that I mean business. He shakes his head as his other hand covers the wound. His gaze lifts to mine, eyes turning a murderous shade of hazel. Unfortunately, they’re the same hue as my father’s.
“Stupid girl,” he hisses. “You’ll never make it out of here alive.”
“I beg to differ, dear uncle. You’re the one bleeding. Your main man here is unconscious. And I have the key to the vault you’ve been searching for.” His eyes scan me as if I’m going to just present it to him on a shiny platter. Loser. “Call him,” I demand. “Now. I’m dying for a family reunion. Maybe I can convince him to come and join our little party here.”
“Antoine is back in France.”
“You don’t think he’ll travel all this way for me? You did.”
He steps back again, in the direction of the chair, and I bet he’s got a gun hidden over there. “Uh-uh. Closer to me.” I wiggle my fingers at him, waving the knife and the gun in his direction.
“Call him yourself,” he laughs, tossing the phone in my direction. I watch as it clatters to the floor, and he takes another step toward the chair. I launch forward, just as he reaches it and produces a gun. I kick it out of his hand before he can even aim it, and slam the knife deeply into his flank, yanking it back out immediately after.
He bellows in pain, collapsing into the chair.
Blood spills from his wound, saturating his white shirt in red and dripping down onto his pants. “Still think I won’t kill you?” I hiss. He’s panting heavily, a sheen of cold sweat forming across his forehead. Good. Let it hurt. “How do I unlock your phone?”
“I should have killed you that day in Provence. I should have killed you the way I killed your mother. Painfully. Slowly.”
Stupid bastard. I plunge the knife back into his wound, and he cries out. “You mean painful like that? How do I unlock the phone?!”
“Password is 2-3-6-7. He’s listed under A.”
“My, my, Francois. Who knew you could be so accommodating?”
“You don’t really think you’ll make it out of here alive, do you?”
“Again, I’m not the one bleeding,” I remind him, pressing the knife in just a little harder. He grunts, his face pinching up into a sharp grimace. “You’re growing pale. All that olive skin, turning white.” I grin wickedly. “Sorry I can’t help with that. I don’t exactly want you to live.” I yank the knife out, and he crumples over, his hand covering the wound, but it’s deep, and I likely hit something important judging by the amount of blood and the bright red color of it. “Oops. Looks like I might have nicked an artery. Possibly your kidney. My bad.”
“Fucking bitch,” he growls, trying to laugh and failing. Spitting blood on the ground, he attempts to stand, bracing himself on the side of the chair. Bet he’s wishing he hadn’t chucked his phone at me. Calling for help is going to be tough now. “Antoine is going to kill you. He’s going to take his time with it too. For me, I was just after the key. For all the things your father stole from me and hid in there. For taking your mother when we all knew she was supposed to be mine. But now I will make sure Antoine hurts you. Tortures you.” He grins through a mouthful of blood. “You will die, and we will get it all. No matter what, we win, and you lose.”
I take a step back, crouching down and picking up his phone. I stare at Gavin’s blood-soaked knife and then at my uncle. His man on the ground is starting to stir, and I’m clearly on borrowed time. I’ve already been here way longer than I should have.
“You can’t win if you’re dead,” I smile. Without a second’s hesitation, I thrust forward, stabbing him straight in the chest. Directly into his cold, black heart. He grunts, his eyes wide in shock as they hold on to mine. “That’s for my mother, you son of a bitch.” I push him off and he collapses back onto the chair, sliding unnaturally to the floor.
I stare at him a second longer than I should, absorbing the enormity of not only his words but of my actions. I just stabbed a man in cold blood. Killed him. It was surprisingly easy, and I feel no remorse for it. In my estimation, the man had a lot worse coming to him.
Still, what did Gavin say? Once you cross that line there is no going back?
Gavin. Shit.
The man on the floor groans, and that’s my cue to get the hell out of here.
I sheath Gavin’s knife up, slip it and the gun back into my boot, snatch my wig off the floor, tuck it under my arm, and run for the back door beside the bar. It opens directly into what I think is a back hall, but it’s impossible to tell because it’s pitch black. I blink rapidly, trying to adjust, trying to find something in the blackness. It’s useless.
I take a tentative step forward, my hands outstretched. I should pull out the gun again, but I don’t think I have the time. I locate the wall, cold and rough like cement.
Jesus. Where the hell am I, and why is it so dark?
The door slams shut behind me, and I know I’ve only got seconds to get out of here.
I shift against the wall, clinging to it as I briskly move forward. My boots scrape against the floor, echoing loudly. A new burst of adrenaline surges through me, and I take off into a run only to slam into something. Into someone. I fall back from the momentum of the impact just as a hand grasps me, jerking me back upright. A scream passes my lips only to be smothered by his other large hand.
“Shhh,” the man whispers sharply. “You’re going to get us killed screaming like that.” Gavin. I sag with so much relief I nearly pass out.
“You saw me?”
“Of course, I saw you. I have tracking devices planted all over you. Now move,” he barks, gripping my arm tighter.
He yanks me, dragging me along after him at a quick pace as if he knows exactly where he’s going, and the darkness is no object for him. Tracking devices? I hadn’t even considered that, but it all makes sense now. How he found me all those times so easily.
“I’ve got her. Outside in twenty seconds.”
“Who are you talking to?”
“No questions. I’m assuming the fact that you’re here means you killed him?”
“Someone had to,” I snap impatiently. “You and your buddy assassin were just sitting there watching the show and drinking your beers. Fun boys’ night out, huh?” He tugs harder, twisting my body and spanking my ass. My eyes widen. “Did you just spank me?”
“Oh, butterfly, you have no idea what I’m capable of when pushed. Or what’s coming to you later.” His voice drops, turning colder than ice and sharper than a blade. It sends a chill up my spine. The voice of a killer.
“I had to do something.”
I fall silent after that, and he doesn’t comment further. It’s a relief. The adrenaline in my veins is starting to ebb. Suddenly I’m bone-tired. Emotionally wrecked.
We thrust through a heavy metal door, out into an alleyway. A car is waiting, and Gavin opens the back door without hesitation and tosses me inside. I jolt, landing awkwardly on the seat, my ass no doubt on full display in my short dress. I right my body, scooting closer to the opposite door on the driver’s side.
“Well, well,” Kellin drawls, amusement in his tone. At least someone isn’t angry with me.
“Well, well, yourself. Miss me, Kellin?”
“Like a hole in the head, darlin’. Really did a job tonight, didn’t you? Got your man all twisted up.”
Did Gavin tell him about us?
Gavin slides in beside me, and the second the door is shut, we speed off. “All cameras are cleared, and the two guards we took out should be coming off the drugs in about ten minutes. We shouldn’t have any problems. Other than a murdered VIP guest,” he clips, staring me down.
I’m thinking now would be a bad time to give him back his bloody knife.
“That was fucking close,” Kellin hisses, taking a sharp right and leading us away from the Strip, mixing into the traffic that lines the street.
Gavin twists beside me, taking in each one of my features, patting my arms, my stomach, my legs, cupping my face and shifting it this way and that as he examines me. “I’m fine,” I growl, swatting his hand away.
“Don’t get shitty with me. You have no idea how fucking stupid what you just did was.”
“Oh really?” I yell, shoving him further away. “I worked my way inside. I got into his private room. I took down his bodyguard. I killed my uncle after I got his cell phone and the code to unlock it.” Kellin whistles between his teeth, but Gavin’s unimpressed, his expression furious.
“And what would you have done if Kellin and I hadn’t been there tonight? Knew what you were up to?”
I blink at him, a little taken aback by just how glacial he’s being. “I would have gotten myself out.”
“From a major casino that’s loaded with cameras?! That has facial recognition?!” His voice rises with each question, his tone harsher, more cutting. “That back door was only clear because Kellin and I made it so. There were two armed guards back there, Emma. Two. They were a half-second from entering that room when we got to them.”
“He was mine to kill,” I grit out through clenched teeth, hating how much like an errant child he’s making me feel.
“Which is why I let you.” His eyes narrow dangerously as he examines my shocked expression. “That’s right, butterfly. I let you kill him. Because you’re right. He was yours to take down. But next time, you need to think. You need to fucking talk to me before you go out and do something stupid like that on your own. You had no idea what you were walking into.”
Looking into his eyes, I realize he’s not angry–well, I mean he is–but that’s not what this is really about. No. He’s afraid for me. Afraid I was going to get hurt or worse. Afraid that I was lucky this time, but maybe next time, I won’t be. He could have so easily jumped in tonight. Stormed into that room and taken control. Killed in the name of me and his job.
He didn’t.
He let me have my moment. He let me cross the line from angel to devil like I told him I wanted to.
And he’s here with me on the other side.
Fighting with me in the darkness because even though he let me have that moment, it scares the shit out of him.
I reach out into that darkness and take his hand in mine, knotting our fingers together. He clutches mine back, and I inwardly smile. I angle myself to look into his eyes, forcing him to see me. I gravitate closer. Hoping he’ll recognize that I’m right here in front of him. That I’m so much stronger than he thinks I am.
I cup his rough, stubbled jaw in my other hand. “I’m fine, Gavin. I got him. And if you hadn’t been there, I would have gotten myself out of that too.” My tone softens as I inch closer to him, making sure my thigh touches his.
My heart is so full with this man.
He shakes his head, causing my hand to fall. “It wasn’t worth the risks you took tonight. The things that could have happened to you if it went wrong.”
I squeeze his hand, shifting in a bit closer when what I really want to do is crawl into his lap and wrap my arms around his neck, kiss his lips, and bury my soul in his. He cares so much. Gavin Moore. The mind of a killer and the heart of a knight. My knight.
I wonder if he even sees it.
“I have a way to contact Antoine. I have his number in Francois’ phone.”
Kellin laughs loud and almost gleeful, and I nearly forgot he was here, our driver and silent partner. “Can I talk you into a career change when this is over? I bet you were a great nurse and all, but I think you’d be better at what I do. Could use a girl like you in the CIA.”
“We prefer to be called women, Kellin.”
He bobs his head. “Right. Doesn’t change the fact that I’m right about you. We could use a woman like you in the CIA. How’s that?”
I snort out a laugh, sinking my teeth into my lip to try and stop it when I catch Gavin’s expression. He looks like he’s ready to kill Kellin. “Knock it off.”
“What?” Kellin replies, catching my eye in the rearview mirror, smirking devilishly, his ice-blue eyes glowing with mischief. “I’m completely serious. They’d never see you coming, darlin’. You’re all petite and pretty. Those innocent eyes. Totally unassuming. Not to mention that you’re trained by the best. You kicked that man’s ass tonight, didn’t you? Been on the run, evading both those French dicks all this time?”
“She had help with that last one.”
“Nah. Your girl is talented, and you know it. She got herself all dressed up. Found the club, then got up into Badeaux’s room. She took out his man, got his phone, obviously killed him–”
“I stabbed him with Gavin’s knife,” I interject, and Gavin’s head whips in my direction. I shrug, still stupidly smiling. I can’t even tell if it’s because of Gavin’s reaction to all this or the after high of killing a man who killed my family. He glares furiously at me with those dark green eyes of his.
Yeah, he’s really not happy with me right now. I shouldn’t find that as hot as I do, but there you have it.
Kellin nods his head like I’ve just proved his point. “Right. All in all, what you did tonight wasn’t just anger or revenge. It was fucking genius. Seriously, I’m in awe. I know agents who would not have been able to do what you just did.”
“And it could have gotten her killed. She’s too fucking reckless.”
I roll my eyes. So does Kellin. “Dude, you sound like her dad. Back off. What are you so busted up about? She’s sitting safe and sound, tucked in beside you. She did us both a favor. The CIA will be all too happy when they hear what I did. What I got from Badeaux with him as the only casualty. No harm. No foul.”
“The CIA, eh?” I question, raising a brow in his direction.
“Come now, woman. Don’t be daft. I report what you did to my superiors and the world gets a touch more complicated for you, now doesn’t it? I say it was me, and everyone wins.”
Can’t exactly argue with that logic.
I have no interest in joining the CIA. The thought almost makes me want to laugh. I have no idea what I’ll do with my life when this is over, but since I met Gavin, I can’t stop imagining that one day, I might actually have one again.
“I think I like you better now than I did the first time I met you Kellin.”
He nods his head. “That’s because I’m insanely likable. Women love the hell out of me. Easier disposition than Gavin back there. Certainly better looking than him too, if you’re interested in getting with me instead of him.”
Gavin reaches forward and smacks the back of Kellin’s head. Hard.
“Oi. Don’t get violent with me because you got a conflict of interest between with charge and your employer. You’re the one who is going to have to explain to Sam that you’re messing around with his girl. Can’t imagine that’ll go over well.”
