Page 110 of Bad Situation

Eli

Fuck, there are three cars parked out front—Jen’s, her sister’s, and a Jag I don’t recognize.

There was no way I could sit there any longer. Waiting and wondering. My woman practically has her phone attached to her hand because of work. She doesn’t always answer right away, but she does answer soon enough that I know radio silence from her is not normal.

When I pass Jen’s Rover, I see both cells sitting in the console with her bag and purse in the passenger seat. No way would she leave that shit out in plain view. I go to the door and the moment I open it, a gunshot rings through the building, followed with blood-curdling screams.

I stoop to pull my weapon out of my ankle holster and head down the dark hall.

*****

Jen

“That was not the way it was supposed to go down.” Robert shrugs and I don’t take my eyes off his, not even to glance at my former assistant who obviously hid the fact she was bat-shit crazy and did it well. But not anymore. Now, she’s lying on the floor with her brain splattered all over the wall. Robert looks to his wife. “I swear, Ellie, I was only using her to plant the files to frame your sister.”

Ellie plasters herself to my side, her face in my neck as she whimpers, “He’s going to kill us.”

I don’t answer and I don’t take my eyes off Robert. He’s holding his gun at his side where it’s dangling from his hand. I wrap Ellie in my arms and she does the same to me. “You can have what you want, I swear. You want my job? Take it. You want money? It’s yours. Just let Ellie go back to Griffin. Please don’t be so cold-hearted as to take his mother away from him. Whatever you do, don’t do that.”

He sighs and shakes his head. “We’re a little past that, don’t you think? Hell, I wasn’t planning on any of this. I just know you don’t deserve the job you were given because of your fucking last name. I had my sights set on this company the day I met Ellie and she told me she was one of the three beneficiaries of MI. You spend so much money on the EPA shit, you’ll run it into the ground eventually. Now you’ve got your old man buying into it just because the Montgomerys have more money than sense.”

“It was you?” I always knew Robert was an ass, but never in my wildest dreams would I imagine he was capable of this. “You thought if I was rotting away in federal prison for insider trading and SEC violations, our father would just let you take over? You’re insane.”

“He would eventually. It was easy. Callie planted the documents in your files, opened the shell corps, and even installed a camera in your office so I could keep an eye on you and that federal agent you sweet-talked into your bed. She even sent a tip to the SEC. The crooked FBI agent was pure luck—her playing into my hand like that was a gift. That couldn’t have worked out better had I orchestrated it myself. Callie did all the dirty work and all I had to do was bed her and make some empty promises.” He throws a glance at the dead woman lying on the cold, hard floor and sighs. “She was even more enthusiastic about the project than I was.”

“This doesn’t have to end this way. Please,” I beg and my voice hitches. “Let Ellie go and you and I can work this out.”

“You just saw me kill a woman.” He huffs a sarcastic laugh. “You think we can all walk away from this and live happily ever after?” He shakes his head. “There’s no other way.”

I blink.

Oh, thank God. He’s not a hallucination—it’s him. My eyes well in an instant and I pull Ellie’s face into me so she doesn’t give him away and put my lips to the side of her head as she shakes and I whisper, “It’s going to be okay.”

Robert hitches a brow. “Whatever makes you feel better, Jen.”

Robert is standing between Eli and us and, through my tears, I see my love put a finger up to his lips and then point to the ground.

Okay.

Fuck.

I think I can do this.

“Not the way I wanted this to go,” Robert almost apologizes for what he’s about to do.

There have been many times of my life where I’ve held my baby sister. So many memories where we’ve laughed and others where she has hurt so badly, I could feel it in my bones.

But none of those instants has anything on this one.

I nod and grab hold of my sister tighter than I ever have, because all those moments up until now don’t matter.

Robert minutely lifts his arm.

I fall—taking Ellie with me.

When we hit the already blood-splattered floor, I hear a gunshot.

*****

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