We clink glasses, and Derek and Emily repeat, “To new beginnings and happy endings.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
EMILY
Since Jessica has a Friday night date, we schedule dinner with her for Sunday night to talk about the fashion line, and with Friday night to ourselves, Shane and I end up eating downtown and walking the neighborhood. We wake Saturday to news that Brandon Senior is recovering from his allergic reaction and actually showing progress with his cancer treatment. Life simply feels good. But even good times require bumps, and come Sunday night, Shane is in a heavy exchange of phone calls with Adrian, working through numbers on the sports center, and he simply can’t make dinner.
At almost seven o’clock, I’ve showered and dressed in black jeans, a black silk top with boots to match, and per Shane’s insistence, I’m carrying a purse large enough to hold my gun at my hip. Heading downstairs, I find him in the kitchen, and I swear, dressed in a snug white tee and sweats, keying away on his MacBook, he looks almost sexier than he does in a suit. “Hey,” I say, joining him and leaning on the island beside him.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he says, setting aside his computer and giving me a quick, sexy inspection before snagging my hips and walking me to him. “I like you in jeans.”
“I like you at dinner with me,” I say, my hands settling on his arms. “Any chance you finished that work and can go?”
“I wish I could, but anything to do with Adrian needs to get done and be over.”
I sigh. “I know.” The doorbell rings, and knowing who to expect, I grimace. “I like Cody, but do I really still need him now that you’ve made this agreement with Adrian?”
“Yes,” he says firmly. “And you know why. Per Seth—”
“Ramon went off the grid in Mexico. Until he’s located him again, and until we’re well past this deal with Adrian, we need to be cautious.”
“Exactly.”
I cup his face and kiss him. “I love you. That’s twenty times.”
“I love you. Go make Jessica a happy stockholder. I’ll be done when you get back, and I’ll make up my missed dinner in any way you like.”
“Any way?”
“Any way,” he confirms, mischief in his eyes. “Preferably without clothes.”
“That works for me,” I say, backstepping and giving him a wave before I head for the door, but not before he gives me a smack on the backside that has me yelping and smiling.
I step into the hallway and greet Cody, my cell ringing as I do. Fishing it from my purse, I glance at the Caller ID. “Unknown caller,” I say with a smirk. “Not answering that.” I stick my phone back into my purse, but for some reason, a shiver slides down my spine.
It’s not long after that we’re at street level, the night cool and comfortable as we walk toward the restaurant, pedestrians milling about here and there, a horse carriage as well. We’re almost to our destination when my cell phone rings for a second time, and sure enough, it’s an unknown number again. And sure enough, despite the warm evening, another shiver slides down my spine, almost like a warning. It’s unsettling, as is the crazy sense of being followed I suddenly experience. Which is just odd since Cody is the one who is always following me and he’s here now. It’s a sensation that takes my mind back to Ramon. I turn to Cody. “When Seth says Ramon is off the grid, what does that mean?”
“He’s intentionally disappeared,” he says, “and going to Mexico to do that isn’t uncommon. The problem is you don’t always know when they cross back to the States.”
“So Ramon could be back here and we don’t know it,” I say.
“He most likely still in Mexico.”
“Most likely,” I say. “That isn’t comforting, and no wonder I have the creeps tonight.”
“Talking about Ramon will do that to a person. Stop talking about him and thinking about him. I’m here. You’re safe.”
“I know,” I say, but for some reason, despite trusting him, I don’t really mean the words.
Moments later, we arrive at the restaurant, and the sparks between Jessica and Cody are so intense, I insist he join us for dinner. And with them chatting up a storm, I’ll save the good fashion news for dessert. We order our drinks, and while Jessica and I choose wine, Cody sticks with coffee. “On duty, ladies. I can’t protect you if I’m falling all over the place.” He lifts his coffee. “This is as strong as it gets for me.”
And funny he says that because I take only two sips of my wine and I start feeling buzzed. No. It’s more than that. I start feeling sick to my stomach. “I need to go to the ladies’ room,” I announce, pushing to my feet, my belly burning now. This is not good. It feels wrong. And I feel dizzy, my vision a bit foggy.
Somehow though, I make it to the bathroom, a one-stall room, and I don’t even try to lock the door. I go down on my knees and start heaving. Something isn’t right.
“Emily,” Cody calls out. “Are you okay?”
“No. No something—” I throw up again.
He opens the door and I turn to face him, only to find him falling to his knees and then on top of me. “Cody,” I whisper. “Cody.”
His body is lifted off me and I am staring up at not one, but two men, their faces fading in and out. And then everything goes black.
* * *
I blink awake to a slightly spicy scent and the feel of carpet against my face, not to mention a throbbing headache. Sitting up, I try to clear my foggy vision and bring a man sitting directly across from me into focus. I blink again and then blanch. “Derek?”
“Emily,” he says, and breaths out, his voice raspy. “You’re okay. We’re going to be okay.”
“My arms hurt.” I try to move them, and suddenly I realize my wrists are bound in front of me. And his are too. My heart starts to thunder in my chest. “What is this? What’s happening?” I twist around to inspect my surroundings, finding us in an office with a big oak desk at my back. “Where are we?” I ask, turning back to Derek.
“Adrian’s office inside his restaurant.”
“Why? How? Oh God.” A memory assails me. “Cody. They hurt him. Where is he?”
“I don’t know. I was drugged just like you. I woke up here.”
“Why would Adrian do this? Shane has such a good deal set up for him.”
“I have literally no answers. I’ve seen no one since I woke up.”
The door opens, and the rough-looking, muscular, hard-eyed man I know as Ramon walks in. “You’re awake. Good. I’ve been looking forward to this.”
“Why are you doing this?” I ask.
“Why? Because your fucking boyfriend ruined my empire. I told Adrian to put this brother in charge.” He points at Derek. “I can control this brother. But no. He chose Shane and this ridiculous idea of going legitimate with my drug. Sub-Zero was my creation. Mine. Not his to sell in a pill bottle.” He grinds his teeth and growls low before abruptly shouting, “Mine! It was mine.” He kneels by Derek. “You will replace Shane again when he’s dead. You will do as I say and I will pay you well.”
“Adrian will kill you for this,” Derek says.
“He has a Sunday fuck date. He doesn’t come here on Sundays. He will never know what happened if you don’t tell him, and you won’t. Because you like power and money and I will give them to you.”
“I’ll tell Adrian,” Derek promises, spitting in Ramon’s face. “I will not work for you.”
Ramon curses and stands up, kicking Derek in the face so hard, he tumbles over.
I cover my mouth, fighting a scream I somehow know will infuriate Ramon, and then suddenly Ramon is kneeling in front of me, cupping my face, his breath thick with onion. “Shane will watch you die before he dies. He will watch me fuck you many times. You are too delicious to not fuck.” He licks my face, and my stomach rolls all over again, but somehow I remain calm. I don’t cry or scream. I just try to think of how to free myself and Derek.
Ramon stands up and shouts, “Pedro!” A burly older man, his nose flat, his
eyes hard, enters the room, and Ramon commands him, “Call Shane Brandon and get him here now.”
SHANE
I have just finished crunching the numbers that I promised Adrian by morning when my phone rings where it sits on the island next to me. I frown when the caller ID says it’s Adrian’s restaurant, finding it odd that he would call from it, not his private line.
“Adrian,” I say, answering.
“This is Pedro from the coffee shop meeting with Adrian.”
Unease rolls through me. “Right, Pedro. What’s up?”
“Adrian is managing a problem with an investor. He wants you to meet him here at the restaurant as soon as possible and explain the details to him in person.”
“Which investor?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t say, and I don’t deal in such things.”
“All right then. I’ll be there soon.” I end the call and something just feels off to me. I dial Adrian, and like the three times before this tonight, I get his voice mail. That doesn’t feel right either. I dial Seth and explain the situation.
“I don’t like it,” he says.
“I have to go to this meeting. I need to make sure this deal happens.”
“I know,” he says. “I’ll meet you in the parking garage.”
I hurry upstairs and change into jeans and a thin black leather jacket that allow me to pack not one, but two guns. I’m in the garage in ten minutes, inside my Bentley, Seth riding shotgun. “What is your gut telling you about this?” I ask him, pulling us onto the highway.
“That this is trouble. A deal gone bad.” He pulls his phone out. “I’m going to tell Cody to get Emily home safe.”
“Yes. Do it. That’s a good idea.”
I turn left onto a new street, placing us only a few blocks from Martina’s restaurant when Seth ends the call and announces. “Cody’s not answering.”
“Why the hell wouldn’t he answer?” I demand, a bad feeling clawing at me, my hand on my phone. I punch in Emily’s number and it goes to voice mail. “She’s not answering either.”
“It could be the building they’re in,” Seth says, dialing his phone again, “but I’m having Nick go check on them.”
“Jessica was with her.” I halt us at a light and dial her number.
“Shane,” she says, panting, her breathing so raspy that my heart skips a beat. “Where’s Emily?” she asks. “Cody and I are sick … oh … God … so severe … food poisoning. And we can’t find her. Or I can’t. Cody’s on a stretcher.”
“I’ll send someone to the hospital to help you,” I say, ending the call and glancing at Seth. “Emily’s missing. Cody and Jessica were poisoned. Cody’s condition doesn’t sound good.”
“Fuck,” Seth says. “I’m calling for help.”
He punches in a number and I dial Adrian. He doesn’t answer. I curse and start to call him again when my phone rings with his number. “What the fuck are you doing to Emily?” I demand, answering the call. “I will kill you if you hurt her.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You called me to the restaurant. She’s gone. I’m not stupid.”
“Shane,” he says, “I did not call you to the restaurant. Fuck. Ramon is back in town. Not by my choice. I’ll meet you there.” He ends the call and I pound the steering wheel.
“Damn it, Seth. Ramon has her. Why the fuck is he still alive?”
“You know why. You know he couldn’t die when he could be connected to us.”
“Well, he’s connected now. And he will end this night with a bullet in his head.” I turn a corner and pull to the curb in front of Adrian’s restaurant, barely killing the engine before I reach for my door.
Seth grabs my arm. “You need to wait on backup.”
“Not a chance in hell.” I exit the car and stalk toward the restaurant entrance, and Seth is by my side in an instant.
“You are never rash,” he says. “Don’t start now.”
The restaurant door opens, and Pedro greets me, eyeing Seth. “Just you,” Pedro says to me.
“To fuck with that,” Seth says, to which Pedro replies by pulling a gun on him.
“To fuck with you,” Pedro says, motioning me forward.
I don’t hesitate. I hurry into the restaurant, and suddenly Emily is screaming. “No! No! Get back! No!”
And then another voice, a familiar male voice. “Stop it! Let her go!”
Derek.
My heart lurches at the sound of my brother’s voice, and I start running toward his and Emily’s voices, cutting around a bar to a hallway.
“No!” Emily screams. “No!”
I run toward the doorway I now know leads me to her and Derek, and when I enter the room, Emily is in the center of the office, fighting one of the four men in the room, who rips her shirt open. Two others are beating Derek to a pulp while Ramon stands in front of it all, smiling. I pull my gun. “Stop. Stop!”
Ramon gives a deep laugh. “We aren’t going to stop,” he says. “Not until she’s fucked upside and down while you watch.”
Suddenly, Adrian’s voice bellows out in Spanish. Angry. Forceful. Everyone goes still. The men beating Derek release him, and Emily is flung to the ground, her eyes meeting mine, fear I never wanted her to feel burning in her eyes. Ramon looks at me. “She will die for your sins and then you will die.”
Everything seems to go into slow motion then. He points the gun at Emily, and I know he is really going to shoot her. “No!” I shout, firing my weapon at him, but in that blink of time, Derek has thrown himself in between Emily and Ramon. Ramon falls to the ground, but so do Derek and Emily, Derek on top of her. I rush for them and go to my knees. And there is blood. So much blood. Derek. Emily. Derek. Emily. I don’t know who is bleeding. I don’t know who is alive. I grab Derek, and I move him but he is limp. I roll him over, and there is Emily. Her eyes shut. Blood all over her. I maneuver in between them, blood all over me now that I will never wash away, and I lift my face to the ceiling, a scream ripping from the very depths of my soul, pain I can barely endure gutting me. And when Adrian Martina steps in front of me, I look up at him and I make a promise. “I will live to hurt you. I will live to torture you. You will die a slow, painful death for this.”
Dear Readers,
I know this is a rough cliffhanger, but in my defense, I’ve known this would be the ending to Bad Deeds from the beginning. I also thought I knew the outcome of this scene. But as I type the end tonight, I don’t know anymore. So this is now a cliffhanger for me as well. I know only this. Life isn’t all roses, but through my characters, I try to deliver one message: we can, we must, always survive.
Lisa
Also by Lisa Renee Jones
Hard Rules
Damage Control
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is the author of the highly acclaimed Inside Out series. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland) says, on the Inside Out series: “Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense. Sara’s character is strong, flawed, complex, and sexy—a modern girl we all can identify with.”
In addition to the success of Lisa’s Inside Out series, she has published many successful titles. The Tall, Dark, and Deadly series and The Secret Life of Amy Bensen series both spent several months on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Lisa is presently working on the dark, edgy Dirty Money series for St. Martin’s Press.
Prior to publishing books, Lisa owned a multistate staffing agency that was recognized many times by Austin Business Journal and also praised by Dallas Woman magazine. In 1998, Lisa’s agency was listed as the #7 growing women-owned business in Entrepreneur magazine.
Lisa loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her at www.lisareneejones.com and she is active on Twitter and Facebook daily. Or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Author’s Note
Cast of Characters
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Also by Lisa Renee Jones
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
BAD DEEDS. Copyright © 2017 by Lisa Renee Jones. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover photographs: man © Viorel Sima/Shutterstock.com; chess pieces © Michael H/Getty Images
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-08384-5 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-250-08388-3 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250083883
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at
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