Page 73 of Wicked Intentions (Wicked Games 3)
Wavering one final time, I bite my lip so hard, I almost draw bloo
d. Then I jump off the cliff that’s in front of me, hoping against hope that somehow I’ll fly instead of smashing face-first into the ground.
“Because I think we can trust him. And I think we’re going to need his help.”
I’ve stunned two men, thousands of miles apart, into shocked silence. After a while, Reynard makes a sound like he’s choking on his tongue.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I exhale in a gust. “I don’t like it, either, believe me! But it is what it is. We’re going to trust the American. This is the new normal. I just decided right now.”
If Ryan can do it, then I can, too. Gut, you better be on track with this, or I’ll cut you out of my body myself.
“Are you mad? Reynard hollers. “You only have one job left! One! After all these years, freedom is within reach, and you—”
“The diamond is a fake, Reynard. What do you think Capo would do to me—to us—if I gave him a fake? Do you think he’d believe me when I said I had no idea? Do you think he’d be forgiving?”
Reynard’s voice drops an octave. “Who told you it was fake?”
My gaze flashes up to Ryan’s back. He hasn’t moved an inch. From the pan of bacon, smoke rises in billowing gray plumes. It’s started to burn.
For a moment, I fall through a bottomless chasm of pure panic, but I wrestle it into submission long enough to answer. “That’s not the point.”
“Au contraire, my darling, it’s exactly the point. Take a moment and consider who you’re dealing with. This stranger you’ve decided to trust.” He says trust sarcastically, like he’s putting air quotes around it because the concept is so ridiculous. “Take a moment to consider what his motives might be. What his endgame is.” Reynard’s voice turns hard. “Wipe the stardust and rainbows from your eyes and think.”
Anger crawls up my neck in a hot, prickling rush.
I really detest being patronized, and that’s twice in ten minutes.
“My eyes are wide open, Reynard. Sometimes I wish they weren’t, because life would be easier, but they are. Now here’s something for you to think about: what if Capo knew the diamond was fake? What if he set me up to fail? You want to talk about motives and endgames? Let’s talk about Capo’s. Let’s talk about what he really wants, because we both know it isn’t more jewels!”
A buzzer sounds. It’s a smoke alarm. Ryan finally breaks his statue impersonation and jabs his index finger into a button on the hood above the stove. A fan starts to suck the smoke from the burning bacon into a vent, lifting it in eerie, ghostly whorls.
It reminds me of the way the smoke rose over the avocado fields the night my parents were murdered.
I can’t sit any longer. I jolt from the chair and start to pace around the table, chewing my thumbnail as I go.
“You have forty-eight hours to get that diamond and get back to London,” Reynard says flatly. “Capo’s expecting you. If you don’t arrive, he’ll kill me. That’s not so alarming, I’ve been expecting it for years, but what should alarm you is that he will hunt you down, using all his considerable reach and power to find you. And when he finds you, my darling…” His voice darkens. “He’ll take his time with you. He’ll make you beg for death long before it arrives.”
My hand lifts to my throat. I think of the girls with collars, the red stains on Enzo’s handkerchief, and all the blood drains from my face.
“You’re suddenly so interested in trust?” asks Reynard, chillingly soft. “Trust that. Trust in the dependability of evil, because unlike lust and infatuation, it will never fade. It will never let you down. Unlike handsome American Marines, evil always keeps its promises.”
I inhale a soft, shuddering breath, my entire body going icy cold.
Ryan finally turns from the stove. He takes one look at my face, and thunderclouds gather over his head. He strides over to me, holding out his hand, his eyes burning.
“Gimme the phone.”
“What?” I say, startled.
“Woman. Give. Me. The. Phone.”
I decide now isn’t the time to be my usual sassy self. I silently place the phone in his hand.
He lifts it to his ear and growls into it. “Listen up, you snobby motherfucker! I don’t care how much Mariana loves you. If you ever say anything to her again that makes her look like she does right now, I’ll break both your legs!”
My lips part, but the man has rendered me incapable of speech.
On the other end of the phone, Reynard says something unintelligible. All I hear is a bark.
