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Hating herself for reacting, she couldn’t stop her hand from jerking upward to her chest. Her heart pounded, its frantic beats those of a wild bird trapped inside a cage.
“Tony,” she said, fighting to keep her fear contained. “What are you doing here? How did you get past my alarm system?”
But even as she said it, she realized the alarm had been off when she’d entered the house. How stupid of her not to notice. Mrs. Adams would never have left the house unprotected.
“Alarms are overrated, my dear. Cut a wire here, cut it there, make a call, and the problem disappears.” Tony walked toward her, his hand steady, his eyes deadly. “Let’s not waste time, Linda. I heard you talking to Giovanni. I hadn’t suspected he was the hacker, but that makes sense. He is the best. So you know what this is about.”
“I don’t.” She forced her hands to her side and straightened her back. “I don’t know anything about any hacking either,” she lied. “I simply asked Giovanni to look into the clinic’s funding. He does have a lot of business contacts you know. He discovered you’re the majority shareholder in the HOPE clinic. I had no idea. You never mentioned it to me. Why would you want to stop Gerard from getting his serum approved? It can save lives.”
“Ah, Gerard…” Tony’s lips twitched in disgust, his empty hand going up to gently probe his injured nose. “Who knew that geek who started out as a slight thorn in my side would become such a pain in the ass? Not to mention he’s fucking my wife.”
“Ex-wife,” she corrected, fury giving her words strength.
“Oh, yes. Ex-wife. Tell me, does he even have a dick under that lab coat? Not that you’d know a good one even if you had one—which you did.”
Linda clenched her teeth. She’d never truly hated Tony, but right now if she could strangle him with her bare hands, she would.
Reading the animosity in her eyes, Tony laughed.
“Don’t tell me I touched a sore spot? What’s the matter,cara? Isn’t he as good in bed as he is in the lab?”
“You haven’t answered my question,” she spat the words, her jaw clenched, ignoring his insinuation. “Why should I answer yours?”
“Well, for one thing, I have a gun,” he said, as if that explained it all. “But I’ve always been a fair man. What was your question again?”
“What’s your role in this whole affair? Why have you done everything possible to block the approval of Gerard’s formula and then try to steal it? Itwasyou, wasn’t it?” Linda lifted her chin, indignation fueling her temper. “You broke into Gerard’s place, and you stole his backpack in Romania.”
Tony chuckled. “Seriously, my dear? Do you really think I do my own dirty work?—although I am handling this on my own. I don’t want it fucked up this time. Where was I? Oh yes. My associates and I have people for those tasteless tasks. It was one of my… shall we say, employees who searched Gerard’s home. Ricardo is usually a reliable fellow who does what he’s told and never asks questions. Once we checked Gerard’s tablet and realized you were going to Romania to get another possible cure, it became imperative that I get my hands on both.”
As he spoke, Linda scanned the room searching for a weapon and cursing her minimalist décor. She didn’t have so much as a damn paper weight or candlestick to use to bash him over the head with if she got the opportunity.
The old gypsy’s words flashed through her mind, the words as clear as if she were speaking them now.You will have one chance. Do not hesitate.It looked as if the woman had foretold Linda’s fate, but where the hell was that one chance to save herself? Sadly, the gypsy hadn’t been clear as to whether or not she would succeed. Her only chance now was to stall.
“Why didn’t you ask Jane Orwell to just give you the serum’s formula?” she asked, wanting to see the big picture. “She had access to the clinic’s servers.”
Tony frowned. “I did. That bitch was more than ready to bend over backwards to please me. No one’s going to miss the ice queen. It’ll almost be a shame to waste the bullet.” He chuckled dryly. “The thing is, baby, your fucking geek was cunning enough to encrypt his files. What my experts thought was the formula turned out to be bullshit, written in some kind of code only he can decipher. There are bits and pieces of it they can work out, some vague notes they may be able to translate, but not the exact quantities and ratios. We hacked the laptop earlier and there’s nothing on the fucking thing. It’s as if he keeps everything—even the second serum from hellebore—in his God damn head.” He stared at the gun in his hand. “Only one way to get it out.”
Fear blocked Linda’s throat. Tony was dead serious. Never had she been more scared, not for her own life, but for her lover’s. If she could, she would die to save Gerard.
“But if you kill him, both formulae will be lost to you forever,” she argued. “Why do you want that formula so badly?”
Tony rolled his eyes, as though she were too dim-witted for words.
“Money, why else? I own a pharmaceutical company, Linda. I have, shall we call them… investors, who enjoy the profits they make.” He spoke down to her as though he were addressing a child. “If I were to manufacture this cure for cancer, we would all make a lot of money.”
“You already make a lot of money,” she pointed out, her voice dripping sarcasm.
He laughed, the sound grating on her ears. “There’s never enough money. And here’s the problem. I have to make sure the money keeps coming in. It’s all about having a steady flow. What do you think would happen to me if suddenly all the people currently needing the drugs I manufacture became healthy? Those drugs are my lifeline. I have to make sure people need them to stay in business. My current pharmaceuticals do cure some people, help others feel better for a while, but eventually the effect wears off, and they have to come back for more. I have no intention of manufacturing either of the treatments Gerard proposes. I intend to bury them and make sure no one ever knows they exist.”
It took a few moments for all of his words to sink in. Once they did, Linda’s knees turned to rubber. She gripped the coffee table and sat on it, staring up at the monster’s face. How had she ever thought she’d loved this abomination?
“Do you mean… Are you saying you do something deliberately to make people sick?”
“Don’t look so shocked,” he sneered. “It’s how the industry works, baby. Counterfeit drugs sell just as easily and as quickly as the real deal, and no one bats an eye.”
Linda covered her face with her hands, disgust filling her. How had she ever let this man’s filthy, bloodstained hands touch her, share her bed, her dreams? Thank God she’d never gotten pregnant. Glancing up at him, she couldn’t hide her loathing. It was in her eyes and in her voice.
“That’s why you changed your mind about HOPE, isn’t it? When we were married you thought it was a waste of my money and time. What did you do? Send someone to spy on Gerard? You must have. That’s when you realized his serum had potential. When you realized it could save lives.” Her stomach tightened. “Tony… Did you ever give your counterfeit drugs to the children at HOPE, to make their conditions worsen instead of improve?”
