My pulse steadied the instant I met those familiar mocha-brown eyes and that Mona Lisa smile. Relief washed through me as I smiled at my woman.
Vera
I rushed to Alistair and wiped the smear of Holly’s lipstick from his cheek. “Are you okay, darlin’?” My palm found his, his hand warm and steady against mine.
“Never better.” His grin cut wide as he clutched me hard to him.
“You scare the hell out of me sometimes.”
“Ditto.”
I turned my glare on Holly, then at the syringe gleaming on the coffee table. “What do we have here?”
Alistair tugged me back. “Don’t touch it. Poison. Lieutenant Berry can bag it when he gets here.” He snatched a towel from the bed’s edge and hurled it at her. “You make me sick.”
“Feeling humiliated?” I asked, eyes locked on the traitor. “Betrayed? Stripped bare of your dignity? That’s what you left me with when you broke my body.”
Holly’s mouth twisted. “Your boyfriend enjoyed the show.”
“You’re nothing but lies and cheap tricks,” I shot back. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Alistair’s voice hardened. “Tell me, Holly. Why poison me? What story did my ex-wife feed you?”
I sat beside my traitorous ex-lover and tilted my head, studying her like a cornered animal. She shot daggers at me, then at Alistair. The burn in my blood pushed me over. I slapped her, the sound cracking through the room.
“Answer the fucking question.”
“Libby is dead because of you.” Holly’s finger shook as she pointed at Alistair. “She was beaten to death in jail. Saira saidyou were ruthless, that you wanted revenge for what I did to Vera. She said you sent people to kill my sister.”
Alistair’s stare hardened. “Your sister is dead because Saira willed it.”
“What?”
“Who did Libby smuggle drugs for?” His voice was ice.
“The Vittorio brothers.”
“They work for Saira Quinn.”
“Hell, no.” Holly’s jaw dropped.
“Hell, yes.” Alistair slid his hands into his pockets. “Saira paid prison officers to end your sister. I’m sorry you had to find her like that.”
“B-b-but Saira said?—”
“That I ordered men to track Libby down and kill her?”
Holly gave a stiff nod.
“You see,” Alistair said, his voice cold as stone, “that’s where you’re wrong. This blood is on Saira.”
“You’re lying.”
“He’s telling the truth,” I said. “Saira is vengeful. She used you the way she used everyone else. She needed you to be desperate. You never told me you were an escort in college.”
Holly’s chin lifted, defiant. “I did some work for Saira. I needed money to put my sister in rehab. She was an addict. She needed help.”
“And after you butchered me on that operating table? When did you crawl back to Lester Harbor?” I asked.
