“Why are you telling me this?”
“Look, I could care less about you, but Mac is a good woman who doesn’t deserve to die just for sticking her nose in other people’s business.Now, hurry.”There was an audible click, and Barry’s phone flashed, proving Jalen had hung up.
Barry had so many questions, but the most important thing was Mac was in trouble.The time for questions could come later.
Barry pressed his foot all the way down on the gas and brought up his audio from Miles’s office, hoping it was still on.
Chapter 41
“Amber,” Mac sneered the word as if it were bitter on her tongue.“I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not.You do look like the money-grabbing gold digger bitch.”Mac’s eyes raked over Annabelle who stood in a grey pencil skirt and a light blue blouse with six-inch black heels.Her hair was twisted back into a bun and her makeup artfully done like a supermodel.The woman always looked put together, never a strand of hair out of place.
“It’s Annabelle, actually.”Annabelle smiled.“And you look like a drowned rat.”Burt shifted from foot to foot.“Drop your gun, or Mac here gets a bullet in the head,” she told Burt while continuing to stare at Mac.Her hand was steady as a rock, holding the gun to Mac’s head.
“Annabelle, what are you doing here?”Miles asked her, sounding shocked she was here.
“Cleaning up some lose ends,” she replied, watching Burt set the gun down.“And the other.”
Burt’s features pinched, but he removed the other gun from the back of his waistband and tossed it on the ground.
“I have everything under control; there’s no reason for you to be here.”
Annabelle scoffed as she kicked the guns away.“You have nothing under control.”
“What are you doing with the sharks?”Mac demanded to know.
Annabelle smirked at her as if she held all the cards, and she was right.She was the only one with a gun now.“They are a lucrative business.”
“Business?Sharks?”Mac wasn’t following.
“Do you know what a live shark sells for?”
“Thousands.”Mac had heard of shark selling, but it wasn’t a widespread business.Some people liked them in their fish tanks, but those were small two-foot-long sharks, not the seven-footers she had saved tonight.
“Try millions.”
“How does Carver figure into this?”He was a fisherman, not a shark seller.
“I knew he and Miles had gone into business, taking all the fish.A few sharks got caught in the process.Especially on the southeast side.There are lot of sharks there.Well, used to be.”She mock-pouted, knowing how much the thought of all those sharks’ deaths would hurt Mac.
Mac took a step forward, wanting to plant her fist into Annabelle’s face.Annabelle raised her gun, reminding Mac she held the power.
“I went to him with the proposition of selling them instead of killing them and splitting the profits.He used to pick them up in his nets and sell the fins, but after I spoke to him, he realized what he could make for them alive.Thanks to Miles, I know a lot of people who are always looking for a new trade.”
Mac saw red.“You son of a bitch.You’re gathering and selling sharks like they are cattle.These are their waters.They were here first.How dare you,” Mac snarled; she tried stepping forward again, but Burt wrapped his arms around her and held her back.
“Not for much longer.With Carver’s help, the shark population in the Caribbean will dwindle, and the fish will be nonexistent.”
“What the hell, Annabelle?I didn’t authorize this.”Miles pushed up from his desk and stepped toward her, only to stop when the gun was aimed at him.He seemed to realize that while Mac hadn’t been willing to shoot him, Annabelle was.
“People will notice you’re behind this.You can’t just get rid of sharks and fish, and think no one will notice.People will come and investigate.Other researchers will report you,” Mac threatened, though it might be empty.Some of the researchers already didn’t believe Miles was capable of this.
“But not at me.”She pointed at herself.“Miles’s name is on all of the paperwork.I’m just the secretary kept out of the loop.”She pouted.
“Annabelle, what have you done?”Miles snarled.
“Secured my future,” she replied without hesitation.“You always thought yourself better than me, smarter than me.You’d be nothing without me.A penniless man living on the street corner.I made you.You owe everything to me.It’s time I collect my comeuppance.”
“You’re a monster.”Mac shook her head at her.
