Page 83 of Bossy Trouble

“Don’t make me do this, Donovan,” he said.

And that was when it happened, a red dot that was moving slowly through the trees behind him until it stopped right on Don Carlo’s head.

Relief washed through me. It was Cole’s man, Dean. He hadn’t been caught. He had Don Carlo in his line of sight, but he wasn’t taking the shot.

He was waiting for my signal.

Which gave me an idea of how to get us all out of this mess.

“You might want to check yourself first, Don Carlo,” I said with a smirk. “Before you start pointing that thing at anyone else.”

Confusion entered his face, and then one of the bodyguards turned around, his eyes widening in alarm as he noted the sniper rifle dot on his boss’ forehead. He instantly began searching around.

He gestured to Don Carlo about the spot, and Don Carlo finally realized what was going on.

“You won’t find him in time,” I said. “If you do anything to her, even harm an inch of hair on her head, I’m going to give him the go signal, and he’s going to kill you. And then your men will probably kill Lupin and me, but truly, I don’t care about that.”

“I do,” Lupin said indignantly, but I ignored him.

“So let me tell you how this is going to go,” I said. “You’re going to let Georgia go, and you’re not going to come after her again. In return, I’m going to keep everything I just found out today a secret and not send the recording I just made of you to the Feds. I already uploaded it to the cloud, so don’t bother thinking you can destroy the evidence. I will also return every single dollar you ever invested in Dresden Inc., plus 50% interest. With that, you’re more than free to open up another legitimate business with some other schlub. But mostly, you’ll get to keep living another day for those children you love so much. Got it?”

Don Carlo didn’t say anything for a long while. Surprisingly, he didn’t look offended or even angry at the turn of events. Instead, he seemed almost…proud.

“Wow,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had the tables turned on me like this. If only your father had these balls.”

“So, what’s it gonna be?” I asked again, injecting as much menace as I could into my voice.

The atmosphere was silent, and even the wind ceased as we remained in the stalemate.

And then, eventually, Don Carlo lowered his gun.

“Alright,” he said with a shrug and gestured to his men as they began to walk away, ignoring the red dot that was still on his head. Then, he stopped in front of me to say, “You’ve won this round. But this isn’t the end, Donovan Dresden.”

I held his gaze, letting him know that I was just as dangerous as he was. “Yes. Yes, it is.”

I didn’t move until he continued walking. Once they were out of sight, I rushed to Georgia’s unmoving body on the floor.

“Georgia.” I could hear my voice crack as I gathered her in my arms. Her breathing was shallow but steady, and a bruise was forming on her forehead. God, they’d hit her. Those assholes had hit her.

What if they’d caused permanent damage?

Fear spiraled through me. Self-loathing too. This was my fault.

She was hurt because of me. They injured her because of me.

“Georgia, please, honey, wake up. I can’t….” My voice cracked again, and the emotion became too overwhelming to handle. “Jesus, I can’t do this without you. I can’t do anything without you. Please come back to me.”

With that declaration, her body stirred as she groaned. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, but she closed them again against the glare of the sun.

“Donovan?” she whispered.

“Yes.” My voice was hoarse. “I’m here. I’m always here.”

“Stay with me,” she said in a quiet tone.

“Forever, baby. For-fucking-ever.”

EPILOGUE

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