Play to Win

by Tiffany Snow

  Ryker left first, still looking embarrassed and upset. I felt kind of bad considering he’d just been helping me out last night. But he also had retaliated against Parker rather than stopping everything. Men. The first chance they had to unleash some frustration, and they take it out on each other.

  Parker’s gaze burned a hole in me as I got off the floor, trying to ignore him. His tie was askew and a button torn off his jacket, but I didn’t think he noticed.

  “I’m not leaving you when you’re hurt,” he said.

  “You’re the reason I’m hurt,” I snapped back. “Did you think you could just come in here and pick a fight for no reason?”

  “I thought—it looked like—”

  “It’s obvious what you thought it looked like,” I said. “And it’s insulting. To me and to Ryker. You owe him an apology and you know it.”

  He said nothing.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “You can go.” I was dangerously close to tears and I didn’t want him to see me cry.

  “Sage, I’m sorry—” he began.

  I cut him off. “I don’t want to hear it right now,” I said. “I need some space.”

  Parker shoved his fingers through his hair in frustration, his lips pressed tightly together. I saw a bruise darkening his jaw and steeled myself against the urge to get some ice for him. If anyone needed ice, it was me.

  Parker gave me a curt nod, his gaze penetrating. “Fine. I’ll go.” He headed to the door but stopped halfway out and turned. “Natalie has nothing to do with you and me. I just want you to know that. She and I are over. I swear to you.”

  I studied him. “What aren’t you telling me?” There was something there, I could tell by the flicker in his eyes.

  “Trust me. Please.”

  A beat passed. I gave him a slow nod. “Okay.”

  Something like relief flashed across his face, then he was gone.

  But just because I trusted Parker, didn’t mean I trusted Natalie.

  * * *

  I called Carrie and told her I wouldn’t be in today. She wasn’t surprised, given everything I’d been going through, and I didn’t disillusion her assumption that I was going to chill at home. What I was going to do was a shot in the dark and she’d likely try to talk me out of it.

  I’d come up with a plan, something that would get Natalie to tell the truth for once. I felt as though I was in a holding pattern with Parker. We wouldn’t be able to move forward until this mess with Natalie was resolved. Since he’d elected to keep me in the dark about whatever I was supposed to “just trust” him about, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Maybe some women would have meekly sat at home, but I wasn’t that kind of girl.

  Sitting down at my kitchen table, I wrote a very carefully worded note. I folded it and stuffed it in an envelope, then sealed it. Then I wrote two more notes and did the same thing.

  Time to put things into motion.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It took me the better part of the afternoon to arrange for delivery of my missives. One to Natalie and one each to Parker and Ryker.

  Then it was time to prepare…and wait.

  The location I’d specified in my notes was a warehouse our company no longer used. That area of town had become too riddled with crime; we’d elected to pull out and put the building on the market. So far, no takers, but it stood empty and that suited my purposes. Although at ten o’clock at night, it wasn’t the most welcoming of locations.

  I could hear dogs barking a street over. Up the block I saw a small group of teens walking down the side of the street in a clump.

  “Yeah, this isn’t creepy or anything,” I muttered to myself, my breath coming out as a puff of cold air. I shivered, and it wasn’t just from the autumn chill.

  I unlocked the main door and went inside. There was an office so coated in dirt and dust from the gravel lot that I immediately began sneezing. It was dark and musty and I refrained from turning on more than just one light. A weak fluorescent lamp flickered overhead, the buzzing of it sounding overly loud in the empty room.

  The door on the other side of the office led to the interior of the warehouse. I stepped through, moving to my right, to the bank of switches. Although I threw them all, only a scattering of lights came on, high overhead, leaving much of the warehouse in shadows.

  I was armed. The small revolver fit in my back pocket. I’d had to go by my parents’ house to get it from Dad’s gun case. Luckily, my mom was still at the hospital.

  Anxiety itched underneath my skin. My dad should be coming out of the coma anytime, but so far I’d heard nothing from my mother. I couldn’t give up faith, though. He’d come out of it. My dad was a fighter. He had to wake up. He would.

  Pushing those thoughts aside—I didn’t need any distractions—I found an empty nook between stacks of moldy wooden pallets. It afforded me a good view of the space, kept me hidden, and I’d have my back to the wall. All necessary if this was to work.

  I went over my plan in my head while I waited.

  On the note to Parker and Ryker, I’d written I have proof she’s lying. Then to Natalie I’d sent I escaped. Come get me. I’d signed it: Jessie.

  On all three I’d put this address. If all went as planned, Natalie would show up, expecting to find Jessie. I’d confront her, let Parker and Ryker overhear how she’d been using them on his behalf, and hopefully that’d be the end of it.

  Natalie would arrive first. I waited, my palms sweating even though the interior of the warehouse was cold. I just hoped Parker and Ryker would forgive me for yanking the wool from their eyes about her.

  Thirty minutes later, the scrape and squeak of the door told me someone was there. Right on time.

  But it wasn’t Natalie who stepped out of the office and into the dim light of the warehouse. It was Jessie.

  Shit.

  “Jessie, what are you doing here?” I asked, hurrying toward her. I had to hide her before Natalie got there.

  She started, her head jerking toward me. “Sage?”

  “Yeah, who else?” I grabbed her arm as I glanced at my watch. “Come on. We need to hide. Natalie will be here any second.”

  “Why is Natalie coming?” she asked, keeping up with me as I nudged her inside my hiding spot and scooted in next to her.

  “I sent her a note,” I said grimly. “She’ll want to come, believe me.”

  “You’re the one who sent Ryker the note?”

  I shot her a look. “You got it? It was for Ryker.”

  “He’s been at work all day, so I opened it,” she said. “I thought it was better for me to come than Ryker. He’s been put through enough already.”

  Dammit. I cursed under my breath. The last thing I wanted was Jessie getting caught in the middle of this and possibly being hurt. The situation was dicey enough as it was.

  “Okay, well, it’s too late for you to leave, so you’ll just have to stay,” I said. “Just keep quiet, okay?” Even if Ryker didn’t show, Parker would still be there.

  “Why is Natalie coming?” she asked quietly.

  “Because I sent her a note,” I said, glancing at her. “I think she’s married to Steven Shea. I know she’s been working with him to get Parker and use him to gain control of another company and force us out of business.”

  Jessie’s eyes widened. “Married? She’s his wife?”

  I nodded. “She made up some story about him being in jail ten years ago and then getting out and that’s why she faked her death, but really they’re working together.” I glanced sideways at her. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know.” I was suspicious of everyone now.

  “She told me her husband died,” Jessie said. “He was killed.”

  “She lied to you.” It didn’t surprise me at all that Natalie would lie to her sister. “She used you in her schemes, saying you’d been kidnapped. Then she pulled in Parker and Ryker.”

  The door squeaked again and I shut up, watching to see who appeared.

  Natalie stepp
ed tentatively through the door.

  “Stay here,” I said to Jessie in a bare whisper.

  I waited until she’d taken a few more steps before emerging from my hiding place.

  “Glad you could make it,” I said.

  Natalie’s eyes narrowed. “You. I should’ve known.”

  “The game’s up, Natalie. I know the truth, and I’m through watching you lie and manipulate Parker and Ryker.”

  “What ‘truth’? What do you think you know?” she sneered. “You’re supposedly so smart. Go on and tell me.”

  “I know you were lying about your dead husband,” I shot back. “He’s not dead at all, is he, Natalie?”

  Her face paled. “What do you mean?”

  “We both know he’s alive. You’ve been doing his dirty work all this time.”

  Confusion etched her face. “You have it wrong. I don’t know what you—”

  “Stop lying!”

  My furious yell echoed and she jumped. Her eyes went to my hand. Without even realizing it, I’d pulled my gun and was pointing it at her. Natalie’s throat moved as she swallowed.

  “I’m sick of your lies,” I said, my voice normal again. I wouldn’t lose control. I was just pissed and I’d had enough. Enough of her, enough of being hurt, enough of watching the man I loved sacrifice himself time and again for me, enough of life kicking me in the teeth.

  Natalie didn’t say a word or move an inch. We were locked in position and every muscle in my body was tense, ready to strike.

  I got the eye of the tiger…

  The sound of my cell phone’s ringtone echoed through the building. Shit. I’d forgotten to silence it. I didn’t move, didn’t take my eyes off Natalie.

  …and you’re gonna hear me roar…

  “You going to answer that or what?”

  “Fuck!” I grabbed for the phone and jabbed the button. “Yeah?”

  A pause. “Ms. Muccino?”

  “Yes. Who’s this?”

  “Senator Kirk.”

  Oh. Oh, wow. Talk about bad timing. “Um, yeah, Senator. How are you?”

  “I’m well, thank you. I apologize for taking a while to get back to you. I did some digging on the information you sent me. A Natalie Wilson?”

  Yeah, way too late. I’d already found out what I needed to know. It’d be good for confirmation, though. “Yes. What did you find out?”

  “Ms. Wilson was married—”

  Duh.

  “—and her husband, a Chad Reynolds aka Rookie, was killed nine months ago. Shot to death in what was later characterized by the local PD as a drug deal gone wrong. Currently unemployed, her whereabouts are unknown.”

  My stomach sank to my toes.

  “Her younger sister, Jessica, was reported as missing to the Chicago police approximately three weeks ago. Local law enforcement have no leads currently in her disappearance.”

  I stared at Natalie, unable to believe what I was hearing. I’d been wrong. But…how?

  “Ms. Muccino? Are you there?”

  My mouth was utterly dry. “Yes,” I managed, barely audible.

  “I did a little more digging, just to be thorough,” he continued. “And I found something else that might interest you. SLS Enterprises was run by Leo Shea, as I’m sure you know. His son, Steven Shea, is his heir and I believe has taken up the reins of the company.”

  There was a pause and the nausea in my stomach increased tenfold, as though I knew what he was going to say before he even said it.

  “Ms. Muccino, Steven Shea is married. And his wife is Jessica Wilson. Your friend Natalie’s sister.”

  “Hang up the phone.”

  I felt the hard metal of a gun barrel to my temple even as I heard Jessie’s voice. I swallowed.

  “Hang. Up.”

  I pressed the button to end the call without looking.

  “Drop it.”

  I let go and the phone clattered to the concrete floor. A second later, Jessie had smashed her foot on top of it. That was going to be expensive. I’d already had the screen replaced twice.

  “Now toss your gun over to the side. Not toward Natalie.”

  I hated doing it, but what choice did I have? I tossed the gun. Natalie’s eyes and mine met. I waited for her to join Jessie.

  “What are you doing?” Natalie hissed. “Are you out of your mind?”

  “I got sick of waiting for you,” Jessie retorted. “You always think you know what to do. Steven’s idea was better.”

  “He’s no good, Jessie. I keep telling you that. We’re going to get away from him. I almost have enough money so he won’t find us.”

  “Newsflash, big sister: I don’t want to get away from him.”

  Natalie said nothing, her mouth falling open slightly as she stared at Jessie.

  “You think you’re the only one in the family who knows how to lie. Steven and I have been together for years. You left me, too, when you ran away. Steve took care of me. When he found out his dad was dead and the business was his, he knew he could make it bigger and better. We just had to get rid of the competition first.”

  “I’m guessing I’m the competition,” I said grimly.

  Jessie laughed. “You were incredibly easy,” she said to me. “So handy, you being with both Parker and Ryker. Just like Natalie. Steven cooked up the whole kidnapping thing to control Natalie. All she had to do was infiltrate and find a weakness he could exploit.”

  “You’re my sister,” Natalie said. “I trusted you. You let me believe Steven was holding you against your will so you could just use me? What was the ten grand for, Jessie?”

  “Steven needed capital,” Jessie said. “And it helped make things look more…authentic, don’t you agree?”

  “It wasn’t my money. It was Parker’s,” Natalie said stiffly. “I can’t believe you’d do this to me, Jessie.”

  “Don’t play the victim card,” I ground out. “You killed my security guard when you broke in to our offices. You mutilated my neighbor’s cat. And don’t forget Rafael, falling to his death. You pushed him out that window.”

  “Please,” Jessie snorted in disdain. “Natalie doesn’t have the guts to do that. I did. Rafael had to die before he talked, and he would’ve talked.”

  “You knocked me out in that building?” Natalie asked. “You could’ve killed me.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jessie shrug. “But I didn’t, did I?”

  “Jessica, please tell me you’re not telling them the details of our evil plan, like the villain in some Bond film.”

  All of us turned to see Steven Shea striding toward us.

  I lunged, knocking Jessie’s hand away from my head. My hand fastened around her wrist and I hammered a vicious blow to her solar plexus.

  She doubled over, the gun falling from her grip to the ground. I grabbed for it—

  A gunshot sounded, then another, as pain exploded in my leg. I fell, my leg refusing to hold my weight, just as Steven’s foot kicked Jessie’s gun well beyond my reach.

  “Gotta watch this one,” he said to a coughing and gasping Jessie. “She’s scrappy.” He grinned at me.

  I grimaced, clutching my calf as blood seeped through my jeans and onto my hands. “So glad you could make it,” I ground out.

  “Can we just get this over with and get out of here already?” Jessie asked. She’d recovered, but still clutched her gut where I’d hit her. Hope I left a mark, bitch.

  “Get what over with?” Natalie asked. “You shot her. You think she’s just going to forget that? Or what you’ve said?”

  “Of course not,” Steven replied. “And I have to say, I’m kind of glad Jessie opened her big mouth. It makes this so much easier.”

  Before I could process what he’d said, he’d turned the gun on Jessie and shot her point blank in the chest. She was dead before her body hit the ground. Natalie screamed and ran forward.

  “Ah ah ah…” Steven warned, turning the gun on Natalie, who skidded to a halt. Tears were streaming down
her face, which was contorted with rage.

  “You killed my sister, you sonofabitch!” Her yell echoed around us.

  “Jessica was a loose end,” Steven said. “And I don’t like leaving loose ends. Besides, I didn’t kill her. You did. You killed Sage, and your sister, then in a fit of despair, turned the gun on yourself. It’s tragic, really.”

  A cold shiver of dread crept down my spine. Steven was a psyho, and a smart one at that. He was going to kill us all and walk away.

  “And what will that get you?” I asked, desperately trying to think of a way to outsmart him. “You still won’t have a monopoly in this town. Even if I die, my dad is still alive and we own a controlling share in Sikes now. You can’t come against us.”

  “I’m so glad you mentioned that.” Reaching inside his jacket, he pulled out a sheaf of folded papers. “I just need you to sign these papers, releasing those shares to SLS Enterprises.”

  “You can rot in hell before I do that.”

  “I thought you might say that.” He tossed the papers at me and reached for his cell phone. I watched, but his gun hand remained steady, pointing at me. “So I have a backup plan.” He turned the screen of his phone so I could see it.

  It was my mom. She wasn’t looking at the camera, but focused on my dad, still unconscious in his hospital bed. I thought it was a photo, but then she moved, and I realized I was watching live video. Someone was right there in the room with my mom and dad. They were both in danger and didn’t even know it.

  Panic and rage shot through me. “No! Don’t you dare do anything to them! I will kill you!”

  “There is really nothing like the love between a child and her parents, is there,” Steven said, ignoring my threat. “All you have to do is sign, and your parents will remain alive. Refuse and…well, do I really need to say any more?”

  “You won’t get away with this,” I said, desperate to buy some time. I winced at how movie-cliché that sounded.

  He pocketed the phone, then tossed a pen at me. “Of course I will. Now sign.”

  “Parker will find a way to stop you,” I said. “You won’t get my company, no matter what these papers say.”

  “I’m not worried about Parker. I imagine he’s next in line to show up here? Too bad for him. He’ll be walking into an ambush.”