Jessica knew better.
There wasn’t enough money in the world to sway King from his goal, and his goal was to exterminate anyone who could hurt him.
That included the Romanovskys.
A modern orchestra played quietly in the background as dinner was served, and Jessica found her eyes dancing from one table to the other. A majority of the tables were alight with discussion, conversation and laughter floating from all angles, swirling into a joyous jumble in the air.
The Romanovsky table, however, swam in silence.
Zoey and Val had been so quiet all night, Jessica had to wonder if the courthouse wedding, which was just two days away, was still on.
Roman and Angie, once again, weren’t present, which Jessica was thankful for. She hoped they were still holed up in Roman’s apartment. They were safer that way, and it would make it easier for her to do her job knowing Angie was out of harm’s way.
Leo’s arm was slung across the chair next to her. Every once in a while, she could feel his eyes on her, but she couldn’t look back.
She couldn’t see the happiness she knew would be there, knowing that soon she would be the reason it was washed away.
So she sat through the Governor’s speech, avoiding Leo’s eyes, his soft touches, and even the tender kisses he occasionally pressed to her cheek.
She couldn’t look at him, afraid her love for him would tear her limb from limb. Afraid it already had.
Her eyes remained riveted to the table at the front of the room where Victor and Reggie now sat, surrounded by important people. She watched a burly man approach Victor and whisper something in his ear. Victor stood, following the man out of the room. Reggie watched them go, and Jessica jolted when he looked up and locked eyes with her.
Her own eyes went wide, and she forced them away, staring down at her plate.
She didn’t look up again until Reggie was at the table, clapping a hand on Val’s shoulder.
Val shrugged it off none too gracefully.
“Good evening Romanovsky family,” Reggie sang, as if oblivious to the hatred being shot at him from every eye at the table.
Gary actually threw down his napkin and pushed his chair out from under him with disgust, leaving the table completely.
Jessica turned in her chair to watch him go. This time, she did dare a look at Leo, and when she saw hot rage clouding his eyes as well, she cupped a hand on his shoulder, raising her eyes to Reggie.
“Something I said?” Reggie laughed, watching Gary go. His eyes came back to the table, and the chair next to Val. “Good evening Zoey.”
Val’s jaw clenched.
Zoey smiled. “Hello Reggie.”
“You look just as lovely as always.”
“Thank you.” Zoey placed a hand on Val’s shoulder, and she was smart to do it. One more word exchanged between her and Reggie, and Val was going to take a few teeth with him after sending a fist straight to Reggie’s mouth. That fact seemed crystal clear to Zoey, and everyone else at the table. That hand on Val’s shoulder was saving Reggie’s life.
“I heard you guys got engaged,” Reggie said.
“We did.” Zoey nodded.
“Congratulations,” Reggie said. “Life is… funny… isn’t it?”
At that point, even Jessica was shifting in her seat.
“I guess so,” Zoey tightened her hand on Val’s shoulder.
“Would you mind terribly if I borrowed him from you?” Reggie asked her.
Zoey and Val’s eyes met, and she shrugged without answering.
Reggie moved away from the table, still smiling—Jessica wondered if he ever stopped. Or was he one of those astonishingly annoying people who made it a point to keep a smile on their face even as the world caved in around them? Smiling for fear of showing any true emotion.
Val threw his napkin down in much the same way Gary had.
“You don’t have to, baby,” Zoey said, holding his arm as he stood. “You’re just going to get upset.”
Val leaned down and pressed a small kiss to Zoey’s lips, waiting until the line that had come to fruition between her eyebrows eased.
“Come back fast,” she said. “I’m not having fun.”
“Neither am I,” Leo said. “They got our money—though I have no clue why we’re still writing these ingrates a check—and the music blows. Let’s get the hell out of here already.”
“Five minutes,” Val grumbled, unbuttoning his jacket and following the path Reggie had made out the front doors.
Jessica waited until he was out of sight before her gaze went back to the corner Governor King had disappeared behind moments earlier.
Leo’s eyes followed her as she leapt to her feet.
“Bathroom,” she explained to his stunned face. She kissed him before hurrying away.
Zoey and Leo weren’t the only ones who weren’t having a good time tonight. Jessica wasn’t having a good time, either. She knew she would never have a good time until this case was closed. Until she told Leo the truth, and figured out some way to get him to forgive her. She would never have a good time again.
Not until Victor King was under arrest.
Tonight, she’d kill herself making sure she put him there.
***
Val followed Reggie out of the ballroom, past the valet, and down into the grassy area outside. A cool breeze wafted off the calm waters of the Hudson River, blowing the flaps of both their jackets back as they moved deep into the grass, out of earshot.
Val wondered if Reggie was going to lead him all the way to the pier that stretched into the river. He hoped he wouldn’t. It would take everything Val had not to throw him in the water.
Reggie stopped a few feet away from the pier and turned to Val, pushing his hands in his pockets.
Val slowed to a stop.
They watched one another.
“What do you want, Reggie?”
Silence.
Val lifted his shoulders with a cringe, shaking his head. He was with his family—this gala was bullshit, he’d handed King a sizable check to ensure their protection, and he was ready to get the hell out of there.
“What do you want?” Val demanded again.
“What have I ever wanted? What have I always wanted?” Reggie’s eyes searched his, and he let a few more quiet seconds pass before he spoke again. “I want Novsky.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“All I want is Novsky, Val. That’s it. And I’d really, really hate for things to get any more difficult than they have to be.”
“How many times do I have to say it, Reggie? Over my dead fucking body. That is when you’ll have Novsky, and not a goddamn minute sooner.”
Reggie breathed in deep, and then sighed just as heavily. He looked off into the distance for a while before letting his eyes travel back to Val. “Sell Novsky to me, or I will tell Zoey everything.”
The color drained from Val’s face. His muscles churned to a tight stop on every inch of his body. For a long moment, he had no response at all.
Finally, Val smiled. It spread across his face and lit it up, even as his eyes shot fire. “Oh, you’re gonna tell Zoey everything?” he mocked, voice low, running his hand down his face. When it passed his lips, his smile had vanished. He leaned down and stepped closer, holding Reggie’s gaze. “You’re gonna tell Zoey everything, Reggie?”
Reggie lifted his head high. “Sell Novsky to me, or I will tell Zoey everything.”
“You gonna tell Zoey that you were in the car that night, too? Huh?” Val seethed, the smile returning to his face even as his heart pounded. It hit his ribcage so hard, nearly barreling right through his skin, that it was a miracle he was able to remain standing. Assisting his violent heart, his bones shook out of control, making him feel like a baby lamb learning to walk. “You gonna tell her whose father made it all go away?” Val licked his parched lips, clenching his fists where they were shoved deep in his pockets. “You gonna tell her everything, you son of a bitch? The fuck you are. You’re full
of shit.”
Reggie’s eyes searched his. “Sell Novsky to me.” He paused. “Or I will tell Zoey everything.”
Val stepped away, taking his fisted hands out of his pockets, his breath slowing as fury took over. He reared back, but the wetness clouding his gaze stopped him from going forward.
“Sell Novsky to me.” Reggie’s voice lowered. “Or I will tell her everything.”
“You wouldn’t.” Val bared his teeth. They chattered. “He owns you, the same way he owns us. You wouldn’t tell a soul. You would never risk throwing his life away.”
“Sell Novsky to me, or I will tell her everything.”
Val stumbled back, chest heaving.
Reggie lowered his head, holding Val’s gaze, seeing it grow more alarmed with each second, until he was looking at him from under his eyelids. “I will tell Zoey everything, Val.”
“Tell Zoey everything about what?”
So entrenched in their conversation, Val and Reggie both jolted at the sound of a voice.
Their eyes flew to the voice, and they found Zoey standing at the edge of the hill with her arms cradled around her body, watching them with questioning eyes. The red evening gown she wore wafted in the cool breeze.
“Zoey.” Reggie smiled.
Zoey’s eyes were riveted to Val.
Val could feel the heat on his cheeks, the tremble in his body, and the rapid pounding of his heart, which had, by some miracle, remained planted under his weakening ribs.
“Val and I were just talking about you,” Reggie said.
“Tell Zoey everything about what?” Zoey asked, eyes going to Reggie.
Reggie backed away while unbuttoning his jacket, eyes moving to Val. “I’ll see you at Novsky, Val? What do you say, first thing Monday morning? After the wedding?” He didn’t wait for an answer, turning away from both of them and strolling back up the hill with his hands in his pockets.
Neither Zoey nor Val watched him go.
“Val?” Zoey raised her eyebrows.
The last thing Val saw was her mouth dropping open before he turned his back on her and stumbled toward the pier, loosening his tie as he went.
He couldn’t look at her.
He couldn’t breathe.
As far as he was concerned, he was as good as dead.
***
“I just got past security and saw King go into a private room. I’m following him in. If I die tonight, it was him.”
“Jess, there are other ways. Please turn around, go back to the table, and rethink this,” Chet said over the line.
Jessica’s eyes dashed around the quiet hallway she’d snuck into. A large security guard was right around the corner, and had put himself there to guard Victor and his goon the moment they’d entered that hallway. Jessica had managed to get by him when a guest had blessedly stolen his attention to ask where the bathrooms were.
She whispered into her phone as she moved toward the private room she’d seem Victor go into. “I’m closing this case, Chet. Damn it, I’m closing it tonight.”
“Please be safe.”
Jessica disconnected the call and knelt as she came to the door, peeking around the corner.
Victor King and the white man who almost matched him in sheer size and stature—which was no easy feat—stood facing each other in an empty ballroom scattered with folding tables. Dining chairs sat in high stacks all over the room, and Jessica hiked up her dress before going to her hands and knees, crawling behind the stack closest to the door.
Her logical side told her to stay crouched behind that wall, that trying to get any closer was too risky. She couldn’t be sure, but from the grim expressions on their faces, she had an inkling that if she was caught listening in on this conversation, she had no chance of living to tell the tale.
Still, her pounding heart, maddening curiosity, and dire need to protect Leo and his family overrode her logic, and before she knew it she was scampering across the floor as quietly as she could go, trying to get closer. She stopped behind a dining chair encased in a long white cover, putting her ear to the air. She could hear them more clearly, but not clearly enough.
This time, however, she was not willing to risk moving again, because the next words that left Victor’s mouth didn’t just freeze her limbs, but her heart.
“I told you to shut her up, Mitch,” Victor said. “It’s been a month.”
“That blond kid is all over her, all hours of the day, Vic. They’re holed up in a billion-dollar high rise in Brooklyn. Max security. We can’t get close enough. The blond only leaves for food and water, and Colt doesn’t leave at all.”
Victor was unmoved. “It’s only a matter of time before we get to the rest of them. Might as well start with Roman.”
Jessica slammed her eyes shut as she realized what she was listening to. Victor was growing impatient, frustrated, and he was getting sloppy.
Usually, her main suspect getting sloppy was a cause for celebration. Not this time. This time, King’s sloppiness meant spilling the blood of the Romanovskys, and that was not something Jessica was going to allow.
As quietly as she could, she popped her purse open, pausing to make sure they hadn’t heard.
They continued talking, and her heartbeat picked up as she fingered her cellphone out of her bag, pulling up the camera. The camera rolled, and she angled the lens around the chair as best she could, only able to get Mitch in the shot with a sliver of King’s shoulder.
Victor had just finished raising his voice, but Mitch remained calm.
“I’m not dragging my feet, I’m looking out for you,” Mitch said in a hushed voice. “I just don’t want you to find yourself in over your head in your attempt to muzzle too many people at once. We can’t pluck too many feathers at the same time.”
“I want them gone. I want every last one of them gone.”
“They will be.” Mitch nodded. “But in time. Let me handle Angie first… and then we’ll move on to the Romanovskys.”
“Governor?”
Victor, Mitch, and Jessica all jolted at the sound of a voice coming from the door.
With wide eyes, Jessica’s gaze flew to the door, catching sight of one of the young female interns working King’s campaign in the doorway. Jessica froze, realizing she was in full view of the brunette intern.
The intern, however, was riveted to Victor, eyes wide. “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but Donald Trump is on his way out and insists on speaking to you before he goes. He says it’s a conversation you don’t want to miss.”
Smelling big money, Victor straightened his jacket and zoomed to the door. Mitch followed slowly behind, and it wasn’t until she was alone again that Jessica allowed herself to take a deep breath.
It shook, and her lungs closed.
She knew she wouldn’t breathe again until Victor King was stopped.
25
The more Zoey called his name, the faster Val moved, jacket catching the wind and floating behind his body. She saw him crane his neck and rip off his tie, dropping it to the pier without slowing his stride. She swept it up as she moved after him.
“Val!” she demanded, sucking in an alarmed breath when he didn’t turn to her.
She tumbled after him onto Pier 87, heels disagreeing with the wood slats instantly. The pier stretched deep into the Hudson River, one thousand feet offshore. Way too deep for her liking. Zoey had always been afraid of piers like this, but that fear was nothing compared to the terror her fiancé had sent flashing through her body.
When her heels got stuck in the wood slats one too many times, she toed them off, still calling after him, watching as he clawed his fingers through his hair and moved toward the full moon.
Holding her shoes and her red floor-length gown in a bunch at her side, Zoey sighed when he came to a stop at the edge of the pier.
Strings of white lights had been wrapped around the pier’s railing, winding through the weathered wood, giving it an ethereal feel, only out-shone by the remnants of the setting s
un, leaving a deep orange glow lingering in the night sky.
The lights wobbled when Val took hold of the railing and curled over the edge of it, trying to empty his stomach.
It didn’t work. His desperate heaves jumped out into the night sky and floated across the calm air.
The sound took Zoey around the neck.
When she was close enough, she wrapped her arms around him from behind. He was breathing so hard it made both of them wobble. His stomach tightened under her hold as he tried to throw up, but he couldn’t find the release.
“I trust you with my life,” she said, once he gave up the fight to empty his guts, feeling his breathing calm down. “I trust you more than myself. Please, baby. Please, give me the same trust in return.” She fought tears, knowing that wet cheeks wouldn’t get her anywhere. “Val…”
He stepped away, out of her arms, and glided deeper onto the pier. He watched the moon for a long while and then turned to her, hands going back to the top of his head.
Zoey was stunned to see tears filling his red eyes, and her arms collapsed at her sides. “Look at yourself, Val. Whatever you’re at battle with is about to finish you off. You’re on your last leg, on your knees, bruised and bloodied, and you still won’t talk to me. Don’t you understand that I would throw my body into the crossfire for you, if only I knew where the bullets were coming from?”
A tear escaped his eye. “Come to Paris with me.”
Zoey’s mouth dropped, and she held her arms out at her sides. “Val, what in the world are you talking about? What are you talking about?” she screamed.
Val continued clawing his hands through his hair. “Paris, Rome, Venice… we could go anywhere. Wherever you wanted, baby.”
“I want to be here. I want to be in New York, with my family.”
Family. Instead of that word getting through to him, it only seemed to upset him further. His voice trembled. “We could buy a beautiful house on the water, we could raise our baby in a beautiful place. We could be together.”
“Val, we are together now.”
“Please, let’s just leave this place and never look back. I’ll take care of you for the rest of my life. I will love you and our baby with everything I got… I will cherish you both for the rest of our lives. Please come with me.”
Loving Leo (The Romanovsky Brothers Book 3) Page 27
