Rain tapped against the stained-glass windows, the sound a low tattoo throughout the marble chambers of St. Katherine’s cathedral. Max leaned against a column at the far end of the nave, looking deceptively casual, but every muscle in his body was coiled tight.
Zed was late. Max popped open his watch. Two minutes and forty seconds late to be precise. Tucking the timepiece away, he looked at the crucifix hanging behind the altar. Jesus looked as impatient as Max felt. Catching Zed had fallen in his list of priorities. Right now, Colleen was laying her head down on her pillow, thinking he didn’t care. That problem seemed more important to rectify.
That’s what his heart said. His mind knew better.
He checked the doors and hallways that led into the nave, wondering where the trap would be laid. Just like Max, Zed would not be arriving alone.
A door squeaked open by the front entrance. Max’s body hummed, his restlessness spiking when he saw the slight, cloaked figure walk down the side aisle. A woman would prove a good distraction.
Her slippers made no sound on the stone floor. She stopped by the first pew and dropped to one knee before sliding onto the bench. She stared at the altar, the hood of her cloak covering half her face.
Easing around his column, Max searched the rest of the church. All remained still. He cocked a shoulder against the column and crossed his arms over his chest. He slid a hand into an inside pocket and gripped the butt of the pistol hidden within.
He was tired of waiting. “Are you here for me?” he called, his voice startling loud in the church.
The figure didn’t flinch. “Of course.” The voice was low, melodic, as soothing as a fire on a cold winter’s night.
It sent a shiver of dread straight down Max’s spine.
He took a step closer. “Do I know you?”
She laughed. “I would like to say intimately so, but, sadly, I’ve never had the pleasure.”
“Show yourself.”
“As you wish.” Gracefully, she lifted the hood, pushing it off her head, exposing a twist of glossy brown hair. Molly winked at him. “I’m not usually the one taking orders, but I’m open to new experiences.”
It couldn’t be. Max searched the corners of the church again, expecting Zed to appear at any moment.
He and Molly were alone.
“You are Zed?”
She inclined her head.
“How?”
Draping an arm along the back of the pew, Molly raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you really mean ‘why’?”
“I know why.” Making a quarter-turn, Max pinned his gaze on the shadows dancing beneath the lip of the front doors. His men or Zed’s—Molly’s—he didn’t know. “Greed, of course. The motive was always obvious. People are such grasping, common little creatures. It’s not surprising you’d be the same.”
“Hah! I’ve been leading you and your friends around by your noses for the past year. I’m hardly common.”
Max gripped the end of the pew. “You’re smarter than most, I’ll grant you that. But someone of true intelligence would understand that honor is worth more than money.”
“Now you’re just speaking nonsense.” She traced a pattern in the grain of the wood. “You don’t truly think your friends outside are going to help you, do you? My men have already identified each and every one of them and are disabling your force as we speak.”
They would try, Max had no doubt. But he trusted in the abilities of his friends. “How do you get men to kill, and die, so easily for you? Money and threats only go so far. Some of your followers, it’s as though they are in a trance.”
She shrugged, her cloak slipping off to expose a pale shoulder covered by a slender red strap. “If that’s what you want to talk about, all right. I discovered early on in life how easily men could be swayed. At first, just by spreading my thighs.” She wagged a finger at Max. “Your sex truly has no self-control when it comes to the snake between your legs. The secrets I learned were delicious.”
Max didn’t doubt it. Many a campaign had been defeated by a seductress. “Men can speak too freely, especially if prevailed upon by some pretty young chit. But I saw someone cut his own throat rather than betray you.” He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t care how sweet in bed you are, no doxy is worth that.”
She laughed, a light, tinkling sound. “Do you think that’s all I am to my men?” Leaning forwards, her eyes caught the flickering lights of the candles on the altar. “I am the alpha and the omega. The reason my men get out of bed in the morning. Earning my approval is their sole purpose in life.”
“You used your skills from the club, your authority as a dominating woman, to affect these men’s minds.” Max could see it. When a person submitted him- or herself, they made themselves vulnerable, physically and mentally. A mad-woman, talented in her craft, could use that susceptibility, bend it, until the people she dominated depended upon her for the very air they breathed. “Is that why you stayed on at The Black Rose? Lord knows you didn’t need the money. Why keep working there?”
“It isn’t work when you enjoy it. Besides,” she said, adjusting the strap of her gown, “one can never have enough money. The secrets I learned at the club, the men I brought into line under me, definitely made it worth my while.”
