Page 61 of Kane's Bounty
By morning, she was worn out both physically and mentally. She ate the plate of food that was brought to her. Since she was in protective custody, she was not brought out into the general population of the prison.
She had no idea how much time had passed when a guard came and informed her, she had a visitor.
Oscar was dressed in one of his expensive business suits. One side of his face was badly bruised and swollen. She could see the panic in his eyes. He’d come alone and Oscar Thorn always moved with an entourage.
“How did you get in here? You’re not supposed to be able to see me.” She tried to look and sound surprised, though she’d known he would bribe or blackmail whomever he needed to in order to see her.
He smiled. “You should know by now, Lena, I can do as I please. Money will always win out.”
She sat down at the table and glanced at the window in the door. She saw no sign of the guard. Her heart raced. “What do you want?”
“I heard the old woman came to see you yesterday.”
“You mean my grandmother?”
“Did she bring you the stones?”
“Why should I tell you?”
He leaned forward and his expression showed desperation, anger and pure hate. “I don’t want to kill you, Lena, but I will and then I will hunt down that old bitch and kill her too. When I’m done torturing and killing your only family, I’m going to go after the piece of shit you’ve been whoring yourself out to.”
She leaned back in the chair. “Oscar, you really know how to make a girl want to help you. Such a smooth talker.”
His hand moved so fast she didn’t have time to duck before he’d slapped her across the cheek. The crack of his palm against flesh should have brought the guard in, but when she looked at the window, he was still missing from his post. The slap had pushed her half out of the chair, so she straightened. “What do you want?”
“I have a deal with some very big investors. I’ve promised them the stock price on several companies would plummet and then soar in the next two days. I need to see what John Porter is doing right now. I need to know if he’s going to buy into Cross Lending.”
Lena had always liked John. She knew he was a crook, but he’d always been so nice to her. She didn’t know how he’d gotten on Oscar’s wrong side and she didn’t know if what she was about to do would hurt him or help him. “Cross Lending, aren’t they the three brothers who came to the house and refused to do business with you?”
His grin was made all the more sinister by the distortion the swelling caused. “That’s an added bonus. I get to destroy them and make a boatload of money. I have to have these answers. The people I’m dealing with don’t like it if you give them bad information and it costs them millions of dollars.”
“What are you going to do for me?”
His face reddened. “You little bitch. I’m going to not kill you and all the people you love.”
She smiled and shook her head. “Not good enough. You see, Oscar, I don’t think you have the balls anymore to get it done. Gran is protected by an expert and Kane can take care of himself. I don’t really care what you do to me, since you’ve ruined my life already.”
“I could kill you right now and get away with it,” he boasted.
“I doubt that very much. Even you don’t have the juice to kill someone in prison and walk. I know where all the bodies are buried, Oscar. I know everything you did for those two years. Make me a deal that doesn’t include killing me.”
She could hear his teeth grinding as he recalled all the crimes he’d committed in the years they were married. “You know nothing.”
“Back side of the tool shed, under the shrubs. On the property in upstate New York by the old hunting cabin. Two more at the Cambridge house by the rosebushes out in the west garden. Senator Brockman’s wife and the little girl he was involved with. Marianne Collins, the rich widow you blackmailed to give you information about the sale of her dead husband’s company. Shall I go on, or do you get the picture?”
His face paled, making the bruise stand out even more. “How can you know all of that?”
She smiled and shrugged. “I was your wife. I lived in the house. You just assumed I was deaf, blind and stupid.”
“What do you want?”
“Drop the charges against me. Leave me and my family alone.”
“That’s it?”
“Not much to ask for your life, is it?” Her smile felt as fake as it likely looked. She would have given almost anything to jump across the metal table and blacken the other side of his face. She resisted. It would be better to destroy him completely.
“No.” His eyes focused on the wall behind her. She could see his mind spinning.
