Marked By Desire - The Complete Series, page 62
His father’s money and power had bought him everything—and it had taught him enough leverage over someone will eventually give you what it is you want from them.
Except he had learned wrong. Leverage sometimes just made others fight dirty.
Jimmy relinquished the bottle without question, finally managing to tear his eyes from her breasts to look at her face.
“And here I thought you weren’t going to come around,” he said suggestively in his nasally tone.
She smiled coyly. “I thought long and hard about our last conversation,” she told him, which was true. Jimmy had made it pretty damn clear to Sera that he wasn’t going to give her the gun, which meant that if she wanted it, she was going to have to get it herself.
She couldn’t risk not having it.
Pulling both glasses towards her, Sera began to pour. Using her free hand, she caressed herself, trailing her fingers along her skin wherever it was bare. She had stashed the powder in her cleavage for easy access, hoping she would get a moment where he wasn’t looking to go for it and pour it in his drink. Unfortunately, that plan had backfired a little since he couldn’t seem to stop looking at her breasts. So she was going to have to be sneaky and use a little sleight of hand to keep him from noticing what she was really doing. Jimmy watched her hand eagerly as she trailed her fingers along the edge of the fabric of the neckline. She found the little baggy and tucked it between her forefinger and middle finger, hoping he would be too distracted to notice her retrieving it.
It seemed to work because he was once more riveted to her chest and wasn’t paying any attention to the bourbon or the glasses or the little bag of white powder she was slipping into one of the glasses.
Grinning, she finished pouring the glasses and slid the one with the powder across the counter to him.
“Drink up, Jimmy,” she said seductively, bringing her own glass to her lips.
He took up the glass immediately and downed it.
She poured him another glass.
Within five minutes, Jimmy was laughing his ass off and trying everything he could to get closer to Sera. She was doing her best to fend him off without tipping him off, and prayed that the mix would kick in soon. Within ten minutes, she was pretty sure it was starting to.
His words were slurring, which was normal if he was drunk, but four shots for Jimmy was nothing and it shouldn’t have been affecting him this hard. Which meant her powder was working.
Finally, fifteen minutes later, his words dropped off and his head lulled. He dropped the glass in his hand and slumped over on the bar. Sera waited a full minute before she went over to check him. He was alive, that was for sure, but definitely out cold.
She lifted his hand and let it drop with a thud onto the counter. No reaction from him. “Sorry, Jimmy,” she said insincerely.
Knowing he was out, but not sure for how long—she was hoping for several hours, maybe even into the next day—Sera hurried up the stairs towards the bar there that catered to the high rollers and the mobsters.
There was no way the code for the safe had stayed the same after the night Jimmy had caught Sera breaking in, so she knew the old code she had was scrap.
So, she had gotten the new one from him the other night, watching him without his knowledge as he punched it in. As long as he hadn’t gotten paranoid, there was no reason that that code wouldn’t still work.
Sera slid over the counter and dropped down behind it, kneeling in front of the safe. “Please let the code work,” she said quietly to herself. If she put it in wrong, someone would be notified. Like the Rook, who she definitely didn’t want to see.
Ever.
Punching in the six-digit code on the keypad, Sera crossed her fingers as it tried to verify it. She held her breath for a long moment and just about gave up hope when it beeped at her. Open! It read and she let out a rush of air in relief.
She was in.
Popping open the safe door, she saw it immediately. It was sitting on top of a lock box filled with money and several papers that looked like they were titles for something. A brief thought went through her mind of taking it all—what was the harm of stealing a little money from thieves and murderers, right?—but she dismissed it almost as soon as it came.
Get the pistol, and get out. That was the plan. She wasn’t interested in getting into any more trouble than she was already in.
With shaking hands, she grabbed the gun. It felt old and heavy in her hands. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she muttered, then she shoved the pistol into the waistband of her jeans, closed the safe, and left the room.
Time to get the hell out.
Sera left the bar, pistol tucked into the waistband of her tight skirt. Jimmy was still slumped up against the counter wall, fast asleep on the floor. If the drugs worked like Alexandre said they would, he would hopefully stay that way well into the following day.
With any luck, he wouldn’t wake up until the pounding at the bar door started. Angry patrons dying for a drink and all that.
It was dark out, still too far from morning to have even the hint of sunshine. But the heat was still there, and the humidity. It made her dark hair stick to her neck and a trickle of sweat bead down between her breasts. She was sure the sweating was from the heat, but it might also have to do with gun pressing into the small of her back.
She was more than a little nervous about it and she couldn’t wait to hand it off. She wanted to get rid of the thing, to be done with all of this, really, and just go home. To New York, and to Jean.
And to Joey, a voice in her head whispered treacherously.
Did she want to go back to him? Yes, of course came the answer immediately inside her head. But she couldn’t. She would have given a lot to go home to him, tonight and every night for a lot of nights to come, but that wasn’t an option. She was doing all of this for him, it was true, but in the end, it was to keep him safe, keep him alive, and not for the chance for them to be together.
That ship had sailed a long time ago. No matter how much her heart still wanted it.
Alexandre’s car was parked a few blocks down, hanging out beneath a wilting weeping willow in the shadows. Sera thought that was a bit unnecessary, seeing as how it was still dark, but Alexandre seemed more nervous since the time she knew him in the past.
Can you blame him? she thought to herself. After what happened to Marcel, she’d probably be a little more nervous, too.
It was a short walk and would only take a few minutes for her to find the car. She moved quickly, feeling as though she was being followed, though she knew it was more than likely just the fact that Constantine’s pistol was shoved down her skirt.
She was so busy convincing herself that everything was fine, that there was nothing to worry about and clearly no one was following her—Jimmy was still drunk and drugged, asleep at the bar—that when a shadow actually did start following her, she was ready to dismiss it as her imagination.
Until a pair of strong hands reached out for her, grabbing her by the shoulders and swinging her around. Her first instinct was to reach for the gun—it didn’t matter that it wasn’t hers, or that using it might put her in a bad spot with everyone, especially the cops. She was freaked out and already highly paranoid. She wasn’t thinking, just reacting.
But just as her hand slid over the barrel of the gun, gripping it tightly in her hand, she realized who it was that had her.
“Joey!”
He smiled at her and leaned down for a kiss. She released her grip on the gun—only to swing her hand around and swat him in the chest. “You scared the crap out of me!”
He laughed a little, but she didn’t think it was funny. Feeling more worried than she had just being by herself with the pistol, her eyes darted around the dark road, searching for anyone who might be lurking in the shadows, watching. Because the worst thing that could happen now? Someone seeing her with Joey, when she was nearly home free.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she told him seriously, her expression grave.
Though there’d been laughter and humor in his eyes moments before, the levity of the moment dropped quickly away. Sera turned away, trying to walk towards the car and Alexandre, but her footsteps slowed. She wanted to make it clear to Joey that he had to leave, but she didn’t want to lead him straight to Alexandre, either.
But Joey wasn’t going to let her go that easily. He did a brief jog to catch up with her. “Hey, don’t I even get a hello kiss?” he asked. It was meant to be a light, funny question, but there was too much hurt and worry lying beneath it for that. He was upset that she’d left him the night before. “You left without saying anything.”
Sera didn’t say anything.
“Not even a note,” he pressed, clearly upset by the fact.
Still, Sera refused to answer.
“I was worried. Freaked out, even,” he continued, still following her. “I almost went to the Decourdreau mansion—”
His words made her stop in her tracks and swivel around to face him. She felt pale, dizzy. Like she’d just taken a blow to the stomach. “You can’t do that. No matter what happens, never do that.”
Joey frowned, stepping closer to her. “Damn it, Sera,” he said in a quiet, soft voice that still managed to belie his intensity. “Why won’t you just let me help you with this?”
Biting her lip, she shook her head. “Because you can’t.” Letting out a sigh, she shook her head. “This is just something I need to take care of myself. When it’s all done…” She hesitated. What was she supposed to tell him? That they could be together after everything was over? She didn’t believe that. Though she would be in the clear this time and Jean would be safe, she realized now that there would always be another time with Constantine. He’d find her again and make her another offer than she couldn’t refuse. Something she couldn’t say no to, lest she lose the few people in her life she loved so much.
And Sera couldn’t let Joey get himself onto Constantine’s radar. Because he was already one of those people that she loved too much to lose.
“We can talk about this when it’s all done,” she finally said, tasting the bitter lie on her tongue. He was a federal agent. They wouldn’t be talking about any of this later, even if they tried a platonic relationship. “But please just let me do this.”
Joey frowned, his eyebrows pulling together. All of his instincts seemed to be warring within him. The instinct to protect those he cared for she knew he had because that was the kind of man he was. The instinct to right wrongs and make sure justice prevailed, she knew because he was a federal agent and he believed in what he was doing.
All the more reason to keep him uninvolved in all of this.
Sera was about to tell him to go again, that she had to go. That they both just needed to go and that they could figure this out later, but before she could, he pulled her to him tightly, locking her into a warm embrace. His mouth found hers easily and she didn’t even pretend to protest.
This wasn’t the time, it wasn’t the place, and she couldn’t say no to him. She needed him. She always needed him. She just couldn’t have him.
His right hand found her upper back while his left tangled in her hair. His body felt hard against hers, warm and willing, yet unyielding. He was strong, comforting. He was the kind of man that made her think that everything was going to be alright…
Until his right hand started moving down her back, sliding lower and lower until—
She realized he was going to find the pistol and that couldn’t happen. Reality came crashing back to her and she found enough sense to push away from him. Her hands laid palm flat on his chest and shoved at him as hard as she could, telling him that they had to stop.
He was surprised and confused, but he responded immediately, letting her go. “Sera?”
She shook her head. This time she had to be firm—and fight dirty. “If you won’t go to save yourself, then go to save me,” she told him, knowing she was throwing a wild card at him. It wasn’t fair, but she needed him to go. “If anyone sees me with you, they’ll kill me. They know who you are.”
And with that, she turned away. She thought he might try to stop her again, but she was wrong. She didn’t hear any footsteps, there were no shouts calling her back. Nothing. He just stood there watching her go and she knew that she’d given him the one reason he couldn’t argue against. Keeping her safe. Even if that was a lie. She’d never see him again after this, but she’d know he was safe, even if she would never be.
18
Sera was presented in front of Constantine once again, feeling a lot like she was a prisoner being shown to the king for sentencing that was probably going to end with her death. The lump of metal sat tucked in her waistband, pressing against the skin of her lower back. It was her leverage, her only opportunity to square things away with Constantine—and by doing so, hopefully get Joey to finally leave and go home. She’d either be free or dead—one way or another, it would be over for him.
Constantine was standing in his office this time when they walked in. He seemed thoughtful and almost tired, standing with his hands held behind his back and gazing out the window, his focus lost somewhere off in the distance.
For a moment, Sera thought he looked like a man inside of the evil, manipulative crime lord he was. She wondered if this wasn’t how he was back when his wife Darlene had been alive. From what little she knew about her, she seemed like a saint. It might have been an exaggeration, the kind of thing people said about those they loved who were gone now, because they were gone, but she knew that her death was a tragedy. The kind that pushed Constantine over the edge. She couldn’t imagine one person making that big of a difference, yet she couldn’t help but wonder if her being here now could have changed all of their lives.
When Constantine continued to stare out the window into the night instead of acknowledging them, she thought that maybe she had misjudged his pensive stare and he was actually doing this deliberately to throw her off.
Sera cleared her throat in an effort to get his attention.
Sighing as though exasperated with a child who was tugging insistently and obnoxiously on his coattails, Constantine finally turned away from the window to face Sera.
“How was work tonight, ma cherie?” he asked, his tone light and a little condescending, which wasn’t unusual for him, especially when he talked to her.
Not interested in being patronized or playing games, Sera cut right to the chase. “I did what you asked,” she said tensely. When Jimmy woke up, she wondered if he would realize what she had done… and that the pistol was missing.
“You have my pistol?” he inquired mildly, though he sounded at least a little pleased with her, and his eyes shone with interest at the mention of the gun.
Sera only nodded.
Constantine’s eager eyes sharpened. “Where is it?”
She hesitated a fraction of a second before she reached back to pull it free from her waistband. As soon as she had it displayed in her hand for him to see, he was grinning. It was twistedly gleeful and gave Sera the creeps.
She didn’t like the idea that someone as dangerous as Constantine was so happy about receiving a weapon. He looked like a little kid opening presents on Christmas morning.
“Let me see,” he demanded, holding out his hands in front of him to accept the gun.
Again, Sera found herself hesitating. Did she really want to give away her only means of bargaining with Constantine? No, not really, she decided. In fact, not even a little bit. Unfortunately, with both Alexandre behind her and Allister off to the side, the brothers both standing in the room with them, she knew that denying their father was a bad idea.
So she handed over the gun, even though her instincts told her it was beyond stupid.
“It’s a family heirloom, did you know that?” The older man’s grin widened almost comically as he caressed his gun.
Sera shook her head. She didn’t know, and she didn’t care.
“It’s been in my family since the Civil War.” He moved to sit in the large chair behind his desk. He continued to stare at his retrieved pistol, smoothing his hand over the intricately laid silver of the hilt. As far as guns went, it was beautiful. “It also happens to be the gun that killed Louis Anders.”
Shock rippled through Sera, her eyes going wide. This was the gun used for that murder? But that was impossible. Her brother Jean, out of fierce love and the need to protect his only sister, had shot Louis the night they left Louisiana. That couldn’t be the murder weapon!
How would Jean have gotten—?
Sera froze.
“Why are you telling me this?” she all but whispered.
Louis had been one of Gallaud’s men. Not family by blood, but in all other ways, he was a surrogate son for the Rook. He’d also been an asshole and attempted rapist. There was no question in her mind that the world was a better place for him being gone and Jean had done the world a favor, but the police were unlikely to see it the same way.
And if that gun could in any way be traced back to Jean… It would be the evidence they needed to extradite him. It would be proof enough for conviction.
“I am telling you this, my dear Seraphine,” he said calmly, setting the pistol down carefully on the desk in front of him. “Because I have one last thing that I need you to do for me before I let you return to your new home.”
She braced herself for the worst. If he’d waited until this moment and had to stoop this low, then it had to be bad.
“I need you to take care of that little friend of yours,” he said mildly, waving his hand dismissively as though this was no big deal. “The handsome one with the interesting job.”
Sera felt her whole body go cold. Joey. He was talking about Joey. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. Like all of the air had been sucked out of the room so swiftly that it might as well have not existed anywhere at all in the first place.
“Of course, I won’t ask you to kill him,” he continued, unconcerned with her emotions or reaction. “I just need you to bring him to me so I can...handle the situation.”
