“But then who came in and made it all better with all his money and all his charm? Scott the White Knight Keys. A hero that I had summoned for a problem that I had created.”
“And let me guess. Scott thought it was his idea.”
Maria nodded, her hair not moving an inch from its hair-spray hold.
“That’s the beauty of all of this, isn’t it?” she said. “I get the power, the money and the high without the responsibility if things go south. Because who’s going to look at the charming hero and the spoiled wife of his friend and thinkI’meven involved?”
Maria looked over her shoulder at her husband’s body.
She sighed.
“Even he had no clue what he was looking at, after your girlfriend talked about those records.”
For the first time since Darius had been cuffed and Maria had entered the warehouse, the woman’s mirth seemed to ebb.
The dark red of her frown made the apparent wealth she was wrapped in seem more sinister than before.
“Eve, Eve, Eve,” she said. “Unlike Scott, I don’t need to kill her, youandMitchell all together. I can do two birds and one stone now.” Maria snapped her fingers again. Jon pushed himself off the beam to stand tall. “You said she would come for him?”
Jon nodded.
“Guaranteed.”
Maria swung her gaze back to Darius.
“Also unlike Scott, I don’t ignore new information.” Her fingernails were painted red. Darius could see them clearly as she pointed his way. “Like when Jon here reached out to our White Knight saying he could help? I didn’t discount it. No, I listened to what he had to say. And, Detective, do you know what he had to say?”
Darius kept his mouth shut.
He had already profiled the woman across from him.
She was a yapper.
And yappers didn’t really need feedback to keep yapping.
Maria proved him right.
“He told me that the fastest way to get Evelyn Myers is to get you.” A smile twisted up the corners of her lips. She continued, sounding as wicked as she looked. “And then? All I have to do is make you scream.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Everyone’s problems boiled down to one issue and one issue only.
Everyone had underestimated a woman.
Lana had realized her mistake first. So she had saved Eve from Jon’s clutches, gambling that the save would also buy Darius more time.
Eve had realized her mistake second.
Maria had been the person at Scott’s side the entire time. The spoiled rich socialite in designer clothes, always looking bored and annoyed and superior. Never in touch with anyone below her status. Always a passive-aggressive word or ten to people like Eve.
A woman to avoided for sanity’s sake.
Scott had probably never seen her coming.
Lana had, and that’s why she had jumped ship once Jon Decanter, ghost from the past, had joined Maria’s forces. Lana knew Maria would be the one to clean house for Scott, and not even she thought she could outrun her forever.
Eve knew Maria had already realized her mistake since she had gone with Jon to the warehouse. If they had wanted to lure Mitchell out, they would have used another location. But Maria wanted Eve, and Jon gave her the quickest path there.
