Dangerous Proposition

by Jessica Lauryn

  “Want to make a bet on that?” Colin glared at him. “I beat you once. I have a funny feeling I could do it again without a lot of trouble.”

  “I wouldn’t test the limits of my patience if I were you. I could just as well make this little massacre age before beauty. In fact”—he looked Julia’s way—“you’re very attractive, aren’t you, my dear? Not as pretty as Lena, perhaps, but certainly something to speak of. Rizzo!”

  “Yeah?”

  “Change of plans. Take Alec Westwood upstairs to the kitchen. I have a feeling he won’t mind undoing whatever it is he did. At least not with a gun to his head.”

  “Let’s go, Westwood!” With his gun pointed at Alec’s head, Rizzo led him from the room.

  With Julia’s arm in his grasp, Lucas stepped in front of Colin’s chair and said, “So it’s come to this. Our very own star-crossed lovers. And myself.”

  “What makes you think Julia and I are lovers?” Colin said. “She’s Dyson’s daughter. A commodity. I only wanted to keep the little bitch safe so that her father would remain in my employ. Knowing me as well as you say you do, you must know that that’s the truth.”

  Tears stung in Julia’s eyes. Though she was sure it was only a diversion tactic, she could hardly believe Colin would say something so cruel. It was as though their time together had meant nothing to him, and this was about his own survival, just as she’d surmised from the start.

  Lucas grunted. “You won’t mind if I have a taste of the girl myself, then? I’d hate to think my men went to so much trouble, kidnapping such an exquisite creature for nothing.” He leaned in, licking Julia’s neck as though it were a popsicle.

  Colin’s face turned beet-red. He fought, banging the chair he was bound to against the ground. A shot rang out in the room above them. It sounded like an explosion.

  Lucas dragged Julia across the room and shoved her onto the couch. He got on top of her, pinning her with his arms. She fought to move, and he placed a hand over mouth. The other hand pressed against the uppermost part of her thigh.

  “Get off of her!” Colin shouted at the top of his lungs. “You goddamn son of a bitch. Stay away from Julia, Lucas, or I swear to God I’ll kill you myself!”

  Lucas looked at him. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone soft like your brother?”

  “Let Julia go, or I swear to God I’ll finish the job Alec didn’t.”

  “Lucas!” Rizzo charged down the stairs. “We have a serious problem.”

  “Take care of it!” Lucas forced Julia still. Glancing toward his lackey, he said, “Where the hell is Alec Westwood?”

  “Took my gun, busted the pipe and escaped through the window. There’s water everywhere—”

  “Goddammit!” Snatching Julia by the wrist, Lucas got to his feet. He stormed toward Rizzo with a look that threatened death. “I give you one simple task, and this is how you handle it?” He took several short breaths, looking around the room.

  He turned to Rizzo. “Here’s how this is going to play itself out. You’re going to get your ass out to that car, and you’d just better pray to God Lena’s still in it. But first you’re going to do me a favor.” Thrusting Julia in his direction, he said, “You take my pretty captive and lock her in one of the rooms.” Looking Colin’s way, he added, “I do believe your ass of a brother just did me a favor. Remind me to thank him, before I put a bullet in his head.”

  “Why not lock me in there, too?” Colin said. “I should think drowning me would be an excellent way of killing me, as bad as the fall you took and then some.”

  “Not a chance. I’ve waited too long for this!” Lucas shouted. “The pleasure of killing you is going to be all mine.”

  Julia’s heart pounded as John Rizzo, who was every bit as strong as his counterpart, shoved her forward. With his gun against her back, he forced her to walk ahead of him.

  Colin’s eyes locked with hers. Julia looked at him for as long as she could, praying it wouldn’t be the last time she saw him.

  Rizzo forced her to turn the corner and, in an instant, Colin was gone.

  Chapter 27

  Water from the pipe spread across the ground. Rizzo had shut the door, and the water was gushing beneath the crack, forming a puddle that was becoming larger by the second. Soon, it covered the bulk of the floor, trailing beneath the chair Colin was bound to.

  Colin fought to loosen the bindings. They were tight—it was going to take some time to get them off. That was, if he could manage to do it at all.

  He froze as Lucas stepped behind him. Lucas reached down, shoving something around Colin’s index finger. “My men looked everywhere for that. I should have known that the only person you’d ever trust with it would be yourself.”

  It was his cougar ring, which must have been what Lucas’s men were looking for when they raided Tucker’s office. Realizing that Lucas intended to kill him while wearing the ring, Colin said, “You’re going to kill me with a gun? Come on, Lucas. Where’s the fun in that?”

  “Your ass of a brother didn’t leave me much of a choice if I want to make it out of here alive,” Lucas replied sharply.

  “Now, that isn’t true. Why not leave me here to drown, die a slow, drawn-out death, just like you’ve always wanted? Lock me in a room, like you did Dyson’s daughter. Since it’s clear you think I care about the girl, I should think that watching her die would be the ultimate punishment.”

  Lucas licked his lips. “Much as I’d enjoy that, I have no idea what sort of stunt you might pull if I let you out of my sight. I’ve waited too long for this to allow you to screw it up for me now.”

  “I must be awfully resourceful if I can escape from a locked basement.”

  “I wouldn’t flatter myself if I were you, considering you’re about thirty seconds away from death’s door. Unlike you, I plan on sleeping soundly at night, having watched my enemy take his last breath with my own eyes. A wise thing to do, when you actually care to ensure that the job’s been done.”

  “Do what you want with me, but let everyone else go!” Lowering his eyes, Colin said, “You murdered my security guard, you twisted son of a bitch.”

  “Lanore’s death didn’t occur on my watch. I have little control over what my men do in their free time.”

  “And how is it that you managed to cheat death?” Colin said as he slipped one of his fingers beneath the rope. “The fall to the ground from the top of Cathedral Ledge is over four hundred feet. As resourceful a man as you are, even you don’t have the ability to bring yourself back from the dead.”

  “Well, your convincing the world I died in a boating accident didn’t hurt.” Pride showed in Lucas’s smirk. “As your moronic brother might have noticed if he’d bothered to check, I landed on the ledge about ten feet down from where we were struggling. I waited until he and Lena were gone. Then I climbed to the top and made my way back into town through the woods. And then I got to thinking.” Eyes fixed on the wall behind him, he said, “With death as the perfect cover, it wouldn’t be too difficult to secure everything I wanted. Lena. Revenge. And you, cold in the ground in hell where you belong.”

  Colin worked to free his right hand. Lucas’s words sounded disturbingly like something he might’ve thought himself at one point. When he left his father’s company, he’d been bitter, and there’d been a great deal of resentment in him. Though he’d told himself that he was fighting for the greater good, a large part of him had done what he had for selfish reasons. That was something he hadn’t admitted to himself until very recently. And he knew it wasn’t a coincidence that it had happened after Julia had entered his life.

  In three months’ time his entire world—his values, his beliefs—had changed. Or rather, they’d been redefined. He’d hurt a lot of people. And he was done letting those people pay for his mistakes.

  Tossing the bindings to the ground, Colin sprang from his seat. He grabbed Lucas by the shoulders, taking him down and into a splash of water. A shot was fired as he pulled at the gun in his hands.


  Colin struck a blow to his former partner’s face. Lucas’s grip loosened, and Colin hit him again, prying the gun from his fingers. Lucas lunged at him, but Colin dodged his hit, rolling through ice-cold water. He wrapped his hand around the trigger of the gun, springing to his feet.

  Lunging forward, Lucas grabbed Colin’s ankle. The pull caused Colin to jolt then stumble. He landed in the cold, smelly water, and the gun slipped from his fingers. Lucas lunged for it, but Colin punched his face, causing his opponent to fall backward. Lucas dove for the gun and snatched it, smacking the pistol against Colin’s face.

  Disoriented, Colin forced his eyes open just in time to see Lucas standing over him. The pistol was aimed at his head. A loud groan sounded, and the door at the top of the stairs swung open, sending an enormous gush of water their way. Lucas turned, falling off his feet as a splash of water came his way.

  Colin watched as the gun fell from Lucas’s hand, plunging beneath the water. He dove for it, catching it just before it hit the ground.

  As he got to his feet, he saw fear in his Lucas’s eyes for the very first time. Thinking of Julia trapped in that room, not knowing whether she would live or die, he found that gave him a great deal of satisfaction.

  “Where’s Julia?” he demanded.

  Lucas held up a hand. “Just calm down—”

  “Where is she, you low-life son of a bitch? Tell me where that room is, or I swear to God I’ll end this right here!”

  “Rizzo locked her up, somewhere down that hallway,” Lucas insisted, pointing. “I don’t know which room. I told him to go to the car. He probably went after your brother.”

  “I’m not buying it, Lucas. You never do anything halfway.” Standing over him, Colin aimed the gun at his chalky-white forehead. “What’s more important to you? Seeing the look on my face when Julia dies? Or your own worthless life!”

  “I don’t know where Julia is! Do you honestly think I would lie to you with a gun pointed at my head?”

  “I’m losing my patience, Lucas,” Colin said, closing in on him.

  “All right!” Lucas said, tossing his hands over his head. “You can have whatever you want. My assets, control of Project Gemstone. The whole thing is yours, all of it.”

  “I have no use for your criminal operation anymore. Which really is the only thing you consider as important as your own life. Isn’t it!”

  The water was almost a foot high. If there was any hope of saving Julia, he needed to do it now.

  Keeping his gun pointed at Lucas, Colin backed into the doorway. Casting him a final glare, he turned and raced down the hall.

  * * * *

  “Dammit! Oh, come on!” Pressing her bound wrists against the corner of the table beneath her, Julia struggled to free her hands. Though John Rizzo had only used duct tape, they’d been secured very tightly. The bastard had bound her ankles together, too, making it difficult to do much besides hop around the room and pray.

  She scanned the area around her, hoping to find something that she could use to cut the tape. But the table and chair were the only objects in the room.

  Hearing something, she sprang from where she was seated and strained her ears to hear what it was. It wasn’t voices, and it wasn’t gunshots either. Not even footsteps—she would have recognized the sound. As she looked at the door, her heart thudded with terror. Water was seeping underneath it, and it was spreading quickly across the ground.

  Julia hopped to the door. Reaching it, she angled her body sideways and rammed herself as hard as she could against the metal. It didn’t budge. She did it again, throwing the weight of her body against the barrier. Shoulder throbbing, she inched back. She’d done no more damage than she had the first time.

  Tears stung in her eyes. Had this been her fate all along? To die with her father, the one person who’d stood by her side no matter what? To fall in love with a man, the only man she had ever really cared about, only to have that same man break her heart?

  “Julia!” a familiar voice shouted.

  Colin? She perked up her ears. “Colin! Oh, Colin, I’m in here!”

  “Julia!” he shouted, his voice becoming louder, indicating that he was now on the other side of the door. Knocking twice, he shouted, “Are you all right?”

  “Just peaches and cream,” she replied with a note of unmistakable sarcasm. “But I could do without the whole lakeside view.”

  “The basement is completely flooded. We’re going to have to work quickly if we want to make it out of here alive.”

  Julia nodded frantically. “My thoughts exactly, slick.”

  “Listen to me, Julia. Don’t panic, all right? Everything’s going to be fine. I’m going to get you out of here, and I’m going to get your dad out of here, too. Just hang tight a few minutes longer, honey. Everything’s going to be all right.”

  “I’ll believe that when I see it,” Julia muttered, wondering how Colin thought he could possibly pull off an escape or a rescue. The water was pooling around her ankles. And she had no idea where they were keeping her dad.

  “Get back,” Colin said. “I’m going to shoot the lock open.”

  “Now you’re talking.” Julia hopped backward, slipping on the heel of her shoe. Water splashed in the air as she landed in the middle of the gigantic puddle. “Oh!”

  “What happened? Are you all right?”

  “I slipped,” she said, glad he couldn’t see how red her face was. “They tied my legs together. The water is freezing!”

  “Just hang on.” With a swift pop of the gun, Colin had the door open. A gush of water entered with him, filling the small space.

  As his eyes drifted to where Julia was sitting, the fury in his expression faded into concern. He lifted her up, holding her against his chest. He carried her to the chair.

  Julia smiled to herself. In spite of the danger, it felt good to be in Colin’s arms. Real good. He unwrapped her wrists and ankles then massaged her tender skin.

  His hands could truly do amazing things. But though she wanted nothing more than to let him keep going, time was of the essence. Pushing him gently back, she said, “We need to find my dad. Water’s coming in fast, remember?”

  “Right.” He helped her to her feet. His hand remained around hers as the two of them walked from the room, trudging through the water-filled basement.

  “Dad!” Julia shouted.

  “Tucker? Tucker, are you down here?”

  Julia banged on the surrounding rooms. She tried each door, shouting as she stepped past them. But they were locked, and there was no answer from behind any of them.

  It was more than likely that her dad was upstairs. But the room he was trapped in might be full of water—maybe they were too late.

  “Goddammit,” Colin muttered.

  Turning sharply, Julia spotted the door they’d come through upon entering the basement. Water was gushing through it, and the retractable stairwell, which had been used to enter, was gone.

  Fear swept through her. The stairs were the only way up to the door. And water was coming through the opening at incredible speed. Even if she were a decent swimmer, she doubted she could make it through a current so strong.

  Colin got beside her. His eyes drifted toward the ceiling, where a drainpipe ran from where they were standing, to under the doorway. Looking toward her, he raised his thick, black brows.

  “No way,” Julia said, crossing her arms. Taking a gigantic step back, she said, “That’s not happening.”

  “You climbed down the column at the hotel,” he insisted.

  Which was true enough, only, he obviously had no perception of how high up that pipe was. Perhaps the chemicals from whatever hair-volumizing product he used had finally fried his brain.

  Looking at what could qualify as a small dam, she said, “In case you haven’t noticed, that water has a life of its own.”

  “Julia, this entire place is flooding. I know this is scary, but there’s no way I can get you out of here other than through th
at doorway.”

  “I can’t,” she said, her vision becoming blurry.

  “Yes, you can.” Colin clasped her by the shoulders. Looking into her eyes, he said, “An ordinary woman could never have done things you did during the last three months. Sneaking into parties, risking your life to get information about your father’s disappearance, even becoming involved with the man you believed was responsible.”

  She stared at him, at a loss for words.

  “Your dad is alive, Julia. I know it in my gut, and he’s alive right now because of you. He needs you to be the brave woman you are and climb across that pipe.”

  “What if I fall?” she said, trembling something fierce.

  He smiled reassuringly. “Then I’m going right down with you.”

  Offering a crack of a smile, Julia stepped forward. Water splashed against her belly. She took a deep breath, then held it in as Colin lifted her by the waist.

  Her hands were close to the pipe. Reaching up as high as she could, she grasped it with one hand and then the other. Lifting her legs, she wrapped her feet around it. She caught sight of the water below. Her head spun. She was going to be sick.

  “Don’t look down,” Colin said, urging her to move forward. He stood beneath her, watching as she shimmied along the pipe toward the doorway.

  Stepping away, Colin walked to the couch. He forced the object through the water, positioning it beneath the pipe. Standing on it, he took one gigantic leap and caught the pipe with his hands.

  When it appeared he had a good grip, he pulled himself up. He swung his arm forward, to where the water was gushing from the upstairs. He reached his hand through and grasped the bottom of the doorframe.

  Julia watched with bated breath as Colin released his grip on the pipe. He shouted as his grip on the doorframe loosened.