The woman was out of her mind.
13
“No way in hell is anyone solving this. I have it under control,” I said trying to remind everyone who was in charge.
The man holding the gun waved it back and forth between each one of us as we talked.
Katy looked at him and then back at me. “Yeah, it looks like you have everything under control.”
“Katy,” I said grinding my teeth together, “take Loretta and the two of you go downstairs.”
Everyone in the room shook their head including Loretta. I was surrounded by maddening people who refused to listen. They were all crazy.
I widened my eyes in a death glare and they moved. The ladies were halfway across the table when Roxie stood up from her chair and headed in their direction after a quick head nod from me, but she didn’t make it far. The man with the gun moved his crosshairs at Loretta’s head and we froze. “No. It’s too late now. Everyone, sit,” he spoke gravely and his boss nodded in agreement.
The three women paused behind me, not yet close enough to the exit to make a run for it. No one listened to his direction of sitting, but as long as we weren’t walking toward the door no guns were being fired, which was enough for the moment.
I paced on the other side of the table, trying to come up with a plan to get us out of the room with our bodies bullet free. The women’s lives were in my hands, so I refused to fail.
“You are in so much trouble,” I whispered to Loretta, once again tucking her behind me.
I needed to get the women to safety, but my biggest concern was Loretta. She was my life, and I rejected losing her because I had to handle an arrogant asshole from the mob.
“What about me and Roxie?” asked Katy as she stood next to me, doing her best to annoy the crap out of me.
I shook my head. “You’re on your own.”
Roxie I’d help. She hadn’t purposely walked into a room she knew held hostages. Katy would charge into a bullfighting ring just to see if the bull was mad.
Tensions ratcheted high in the room, the atmosphere becoming thick with suspicion. I needed a moment to get a handle on the situation and my thought pattern. I pinched my lips together, closed my eyes, and tipped my head back to take a few quick breaths. The more air I could get into my lungs the less likely I’d freak out.
It didn’t matter how hard I tried to leave Pelican Bay in my past, somehow it pulled me back into the fold. The town just would not leave me alone.
And of course I had to fall in love with a woman from Pelican Bay. Now that I decided she was mine, there was no going back against the decision, which meant Pelican Bay was here to stay. Gah, the way I spoke about it in my head came out in a cheerleading chat. It would probably haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.
“Now that we’re agreed, let’s negotiate,” Pitero said.
I released a large breath, counting down from five, and opened my eyes to stare at him. “Fine.” I took a seat at the table leaving the three women standing behind me.
Loretta placed her hand in my shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t work with him,” she said so loud the entire room gulped in a breath of air. “He’s got a gun.”
“Yes,” I ground out. “And he has it pointed at you, so I’ll do what I have to in order to keep you safe.” Did she miss when I explained her importance? I’d deal with the ramifications later.
Loretta snorted. What was it with women from Pelican Bay? They loved to throw themselves into dangerous situations.
She scoffed behind me and her hip popped out. I lowered my hand to get her to stand up straight again and lose the attitude, but it was stuck. “Screw that, Reg, he’s an asshole.”
Pitero’s expression fell into annoyance. His eyebrows lowered and lines creased his forehead. “Your female friend is making me change my mind about you,” he said and his assistant swung the gun in my direction.
Because I’d completely lost my mind—let’s not forget I’d been born in Pelican Bay as well—I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that if a bullet was going to be flying, at least would hit me and no one else in the room.
But when we finished here, I was leaving the city. Not forever but vacation. The entire summer had been wrought with kidnappings and hostile contract negotiations. If we survived the afternoon, which I knew we would, I’d take Loretta away on a trip of a lifetime. Three months traveling the globe.
I had to come up with a plan.
The problem was I didn’t have one.
I was a lawyer in New York. I did my battles in the courtroom. It kept life simple. I left Pelican Bay so I wouldn’t be subjected to guns, bullets, and everything else that came with living in the small town.
