Page 85 of Unexpected Complication

I knew she would remember who Rex was. She would never have gone anywhere with him—unless he wasn’t a threat to her.

Unless she knew he wasn’t a threat to me. Somehow, in the scheme of everything, I had overlooked something. I knew it now—Rex was the other mole.

I drew in a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm. As much as I wanted to rush forward and get her away from him, I knew I had to be smarter—remain cool and figure out how to beat him. “This is one trophy you can’t have, Orson. When I’m done with her, it’s my decision what happens to her, not yours.”

“I don’t think so.” His voice became ominous.

“I do.”

His hand gripped my knife, his fingers stroking the handle fast. “I would hate to add your knife to my collection, Anthony.”

“Carlo will kill you where you stand.”

“Carlo has already been eliminated. Larry never liked him, so as his reward for his good work last night, I let him put a bullet between Sean’s eyes after you left the room.”

My stomach rolled and my chest tightened, but I hid my fear. If it was true, I had to see this through for Sean. I would avenge his death as well as my father’s.

“You’ll regret that, Orson,” I spat.

“Not as much as you’ll regret trying to double-cross me, Anthony. You think I haven’t figured it out?” he snarled.

“Figured what out?”

“Figured out you’re trying to take over my business? Buy off my distributors and take control? You think I’m really going to stand by and watch you? You think I don’t know what the fuck is going on?”

I almost started to laugh. That’s what he thought was happening?

I shook my head. “You are so stupid, Orson. Your incredible lack of vision is beyond belief.”

I flinched as he pressed the knife to Skylar’s throat, a thin red line appearing. “You think I’m stupid, Anthony? I’m not the one with a gun pointed at me and my whore about to die in front of me.” His voice lowered. “Except, she isn’t your whore, is she?”

It was time. This was going to end in the next few minutes, one way or another.

“No, she isn’t.”

“Who is she?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t telling him who she was or how important she was to me. Fuck him.

“The more important question right now is who am I, Orson. That’s what you should be asking yourself.”

“What?”

I stepped forward, not surprised when Rex moved with me, but I noticed his gun didn’t press as hard.

“My name is Cian Cooper. Does that ring a bell?”

He frowned. “Should it?”

“You killed my father years ago. He was a cop, going to testify and put you away. You hired Anthony Malone to kill him.” I grinned, letting all my hate soak into the twisted smile. “And he hired me to make sure you suffered the same fate he did.”

“Which was?”

“You took away the one thing in his life that mattered. The only thing he cared about.”

Orson’s expression was one of disbelief. “Which was?”

“His sister.”