CHAPTER 14
SHE’D FINALLY LOST her mind. Caitlyn blinked several times to clear her vision.
It didn’t work.
Glenn still stood in front of her, casually dressed in a linen button-up shirt and chinos, maybe a little pale, a slight hunch to his shoulders, but absolutely not dead.
What. The. Fuck? She’d killed him. She’d even warmed somewhat to her role as executioner.
He gaveher a greasy smile. “Rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated.” Cocking his head to one side, he said, “Fortunately, I can’t say the same for my father.”
Her body turned numb. “You finally did it.”
“Not me.” He shrugged. “Semantics. It is done. With enough money, you can fake your death and buy someone else’s.” His grin widened. “It’s good to be rich.”
Dread did a spider-crawl down herspine. Treavor Lambert had been a criminal in the service of his greed. A professional, despite his despicable business. Glenn was a different kind of evil. Volatile and cruel.
He turned his attention to Rose, who stood next to Kurt, the blood on her shirt a stark contrast against the white fabric. “It seems your sister isn’t the only one with a penchant for killing. I hope you both enjoy dyingtoo.”
Rose turned sallow, even as she thrust out her chin and pursed her lips defiantly. If Glenn’s reappearance was hard for Caitlyn, it had to be infinitely more so for Rose, who’d suffered directly at the man’s hands.
Any lingering regret Caitlyn had harbored for killing the man vanished.
She’d never wished to be dreaming more than at this moment. The slimy bastard with expensive loafersand a small army now threatened the two people she cared for most in the world, and there wasn’t a goddamned thing she could do about it.
Her stomach clamped down tight. There had to be some way out of this, something she could do to save Rose and Kurt. Something she could do to end Glenn and his awful enterprise.
Caitlyn couldn’t let him win. He couldn’t fucking win.
Her mind raced. Couldshe attack the man behind her, start a diversion? If she rammed Glenn, could she take him out before his men shot her? Maybe—Shit. Everything she came up with only got her killed without saving anyone.
Think, Cait.
A man with light brown skin and a glistening ponytail marched up to Glenn.
The Lambert heir nodded to Ponytail. “Alvaro, tie their hands. And make sure they’re checkedthoroughlyfor weapons this time.” His gaze flicked toward Caitlyn. “When you’re done, bring them to the promontory.”
Promontorywas too strong a word for the brief rise in land at the tip of the peninsula on which the resort was built. That did nothing to ease the leaden feeling in Kurt’s stomach as one of Lambert’s guards pushed him, Caitlyn, and Rose through the trees and into a clearing that ledto the edge of a sixty-foot cliff.
Glenn had left them stewing for hours—each facing a different wall and forbidden to talk—while he did God knows what, but the light was still too dim to make out the landscape. Kurt could only hear the waves hurling themselves at the rock walls below.
There had to be some way to get them out of this. He’d been a PJ, for God’s sake. He wasn’t afraid of leapinginto the abyss, and he was a top-notch swimmer, with or without his hands bound. They’d fucking practiced that in training.
But even at his peak, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat all these armed men with his hands tied behind his back.
Man of Steele, my ass.
Not only would attempting an escape be suicide—he could die with that—but he’d likely get Caitlyn and her sister killed for his efforts.
That he couldn’t abide.
Ten yards from the drop-off, Glenn ordered them to stop. He stood before Caitlyn, glowering down his imperious nose at her. “You tried to kill me.”
She met his gaze, her chin lifted, glorious in defiance as the stiff breeze stripped her hair from its ponytail and swirled the cloud of dark copper around her head. “In self-defense.”
“You took advantage of my father’s generosityto try to ruin my family.”
“I saved his life. You’re the one who murdered him.” Her hands clenched behind her back, but she gave no other outward sign of emotion. She was beautiful, incredible. As brave as her old nickname suggested.
