by Jamie Begley
“No … they … are … not.” Ginny gave him a withering stare. “I saw you kill Gyi with your own hands.”
Slowly, he capped the syringe.
“Finally … finally!” Satisfaction poured out of Allerton as if he had run a mouse into a corner and was about to beat it to death. “My dear, that was what I waiting for.”
Ginny fiddled with her bracelet, as if he was beneath her notice. “What? For me to admit that I saw you kill Gyi, and willingly watched Manny being beaten by your men to what I assume was his death? You should have just asked. I would have told you that first day you sent for me to come to your office.” Ginny said carelessly, dropping the secret she had harbored for so long and downplaying the admission to deliberately rile him even further. It was everything she could do to set aside her hatred and disgust of the man to appear unaffected.
Her plan worked.
Angered by her indifference to what he believed to be his victory at getting the admission from her, Allerton reached out, ripped the bracelet from her wrist, and flung it across the room. The metal clinked on the glass table.
“That was very rude.”
His veneer of sophistication cracked, exposing the monster within. His hands encircled her throat as he began strangling her, shaking her like a rag doll.
Forcing herself not to panic, she grabbed his wrists, fighting dizziness as she used her nails to rip into his flesh. At the same time, she brought her knee up … hard. Allerton released her with a howl of pain, as he went to his knees.
She would have kneed him in the face, but two guards caught her by the arms and dragged her back. The guard who’d brought the polygraph machine took out a baton from his holster, pulling his arm back, preparing to bring it down on her head.
“Stop,” Allerton ordered, using the edge of his desk to help himself to his feet. Holding onto the desk, he slowly limped around it to sit down on his chair. Then, flinging the syringe onto the desk, he opened a side drawer to take out a golden handle.
Ginny frowned at the object, not understanding what it went to.
As Allerton rose from the desk, she watched his eyes go to the computer screen while simultaneously pressing a button on the golden handle. With a click, the handle lengthened into a long cane.
Straightening to his full height, Allerton started to move away from his desk when something must have caught his eye because he turned back to the computer.
“Riz, Desmond is by door six. Go see why he is loitering there.”
Ginny wanted to rub her arm when the guard released her, but the second guard secured her other arm. The three additional guards in the room closed in on her.
“You’re such a coward. You have to pay other men because you’re too much of a wimp to take on one woman by yourself.”
Coming out from behind the desk, Allerton slid his hand down from the golden handle to the middle of the cane to twirl it between his fingers. Then, as he drew closer to her, he let the cane slip through his fingers until he held the handle once again. Raising the cane higher in the air, he moved it around and she heard it create a whizzing sound.
“What happened to the islanders on Clindale?” Ginny asked before he could strike her.
An evil smile played on his cruel lips. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me that question. What do you think happened to them?”
“I think you killed the strongest ones and sold the weaker ones.”
“You’re too astute for your own good. Move away from her, Nino.”
The guard hastily dropped her arm to move a safe distance away.
Ginny didn’t cower or try to run, knowing the guards would be on her in an instant to drag her back. She simply and proudly raised her chin. “Who did you sell them to?”
Swinging the cane in an arch, he then brought it down, hitting her in the thigh. Agonizing pain splintered through her, forcing her to her knees.
“I didn’t sell them. I gave them away for free.”
“You don’t do anything for free.” Childhood memories of the generous people who she had considered family gave her the strength to keep antagonizing him.
“I did receive a few perks,” he boasted with a mocking laugh at her disgusted expression. “I didn’t keep any of them for myself. I haven’t kept my wealth intact by being foolish. Being blackmailed or incarnated holds no appeal for me.
“I have found, while men exercise caution with their businesses, where women are concerned, they tend to lose their judgment. While I’m not above taking advantage of their lapses, I have lived my life above reproach. I have not had to refute claims of any sexual crimes. I keep my sexual activities to those who are willing, and where I can’t be accused of coercion. It’s not as stimulating or exciting, but then, neither do I have to bow to a woman’s demands or deal with an unexpected pregnancy. Too many of my friends have been held hostage to the dictates of their child’s mother, both financially and emotionally. I am accountable to no one but myself.”
Ginny let her eyes spew the hate she felt. “That’s not true. Just because your crimes haven’t been discovered, doesn’t make you’re unaccountable. One day your crimes will catch up with you.”
“If that day comes, which it won’t,” Allerton continued, unperturbed by her threat, “I have several residences where I can live just as comfortably as I do here.”
“My death won’t go without punishment.”
“By whom? The Last Riders?”
The whizzing sound of the cane was the only forewarning she received as Allerton brought it down on her shoulder.
Ginny winced in pain but didn’t lower her hate-filled eyes from his.
“Please,” he scoffed, “they won’t even be a thorn in my side. Your parents?”
The cane whizzed again before striking her other shoulder.
Ginny held Gavin’s image to keep strong. He had suffered for years at Slate’s abuse; she could bear whatever Allerton dished out to get the answers she needed.
“Jasper?” Allerton gleefully went on, trying to tear her down mentally and physically. “You’ll be seeing him when Nino reunites you with Gavin. He was no threat to me. Soleil? She has been loyal only to me, even before your disappearance. Why do you think your parents remained on Clindale after there was no further need of them to do so, and why does she stay on Sherguevil with me now?”
“You tell me.” Flippantly Ginny asked the question wanting the answer more for Trudy than herself. Her sister deserved her own answers.
“Jasper was a brilliant engineer, unfortunately for him, too brilliant. I needed him on my team. No one doubted Jasper’s integrity, and it was much easier when several of my patrons needed permits. It took awhile for him to decide to get on board, but eventually Jasper agreed.”
“You blackmailed him, forced him to give the go-ahead for permits,” Ginny guessed.
Allerton smug grin became even more pronounced. “You give me too much credit. I wasn’t the one who blackmailed him.”
“What did Mother use to blackmail him?”
“You’ll have to ask her that question. I left that tedious task to her.”
“You’re lying.”
“How does it feel to be lied to?” He said as he swung the cane.
The pain doubled from the two pronged attack of him using the cane on her while gloating about her mother’s betrayal of her father. It hurt deeply, grinding the last visages of her happy childhood memories into the dust, hurting her more gravely than the cane flying at her skin.
Ginny refused to be defeated, not willing to give Allerton anymore satisfaction by deriding her father instead of filling in the gaps of her history.
“You actually think four agents disappearing won’t hold any ramifications from the FBI?”
Allerton stopped swinging the cane to point it at Agent Collins. “My dear, I hate to disillusion you, but your little jig with the FBI is up. I never put my eggs in one basket. I knew the real purpose for your return to Sherguevil Island was to get me to incri
minate myself. Agent Collins was a double agent, pretending to be on my payroll while in reality he was gathering information to incriminate me. Fortunately, I have multiple sources in the FBI and the CIA; they warned me of the deception. Needless to say, the four agents will disappear without a trace, just like you and Gavin. Those on my payroll will bury the disappearance beneath miles and miles of red tape where it will never be found.” Giving a malicious chuckle, he brought the cane down on her shoulder with such force she fell to her side.
“Ginny raised her hand to push her hair from her face to look him in the eye. “Just tell me one thing … What was the artifact you think I stole?”
The cane stopped midswing, as if he was taken by surprise. “You really don’t remember?”
“No,” she said truthfully.
His chuckle melted into a frown.
“You took it. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“How?”
“On videotape. All the interiors of the ships coming into the island are set up with surveillance when visitors dock their boats for screening.”
“Why am I not surprised you lied?” Scornfully spat out at him. “You make that a habit, don’t you?”
The expected swing of the cane didn’t come because of her snide remark. Instead, it gave him the opportunity to gloat. “Sometimes my guests need motivation to come to an agreement with me.”
“Agreement? You mean kiss your ass?”
Ginny saw little black dots when he struck out at her.
“That day, with the owner being present, I couldn’t get access to the camera. The owner was there and found the artifact missing. He didn’t know who had taken it, only that it wasn’t where it was supposed to be. He searched for it before he called for my assistance. One of the crew had accidently left a deck door unlatched, which is how you must have gotten inside. By the time we got to the boat, all we had to go on was a vague description of Gyi’s son going to different boats at the marina and looking for something or someone. We only knew what the owner told us—the artifact was missing. Naturally we assumed it was Manny. Unfortunately back then, I didn’t have the state-of-the-art equipment to work with or the feed would have gone to my office. I had to wait until I got access to the equipment on board the owner’s boat to see what Manny had stolen. By then, my security had cornered Manny on Gyi’s boat. Manny denied being on the board, saying he didn’t know what had been taken. Needless to say, he was telling the truth. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that at the time, and sadly for Manny and Gyi it was one of the few times in my life I lost control. By the time I was able to retrieve the security tapes, clearly showing you were the one sneaking on the boat, you and Trudy had already been sent to your grandmother’s. I was eagerly waiting for your return when the plane went down. Your pretend death was a stroke of genius, by the way. I believed it, but I did cover my bases if you were alive, but somehow you managed to keep just out my range. I’d like to know how.”
Ginny didn’t flinch when Allerton used the tip of the cane to force her shoulder backward so she had to look up at him.
“You admit killing them was a mistake?”
“I’ve never been a man dwell on my mistakes. Especially”—clicking his tongue at her he walked around her prone body—“because those were your mistakes. You alone are responsible for the events that transpired. I was only trying to appease a guest who was quite angry.”
In spite of the excruciating pain of her injuries, Ginny pressed on with her questions, determined to find out the answers since that fateful day had changed the course of her future. “So, the owners of the boats don’t even know you’re watching them to this day?”
“Depends; it’s on a need-to-know basis.”
“In other words, you use the tapes to blackmail them to get what you want, when you want?”
“It’s a quid pro quo world. I merely take advantage of the fact.” He shrugged. “I’ll have to re-evaluate that night over again. Don’t fear, my dear, you will be reunited with your husband once I’m assured you no longer have any information I need, then my men will wear away the shine of you being their new toy.” As he spoke, he lifted the cane high above his head.
Ginny could see the salacious desire in his face to strike her one more time before he turned her over to his men. She curled tighter into a ball by bringing her thighs up and lowering her arms to cover her belly.
“Have you finally run out of things you want to say to me?”
Holding her head at a proud angle, Ginny refused to utter the pleas of mercy that Allerton was trying to beat out of her. Then a loud sound coming from the office doorway had everyone turning their heads in that direction.
Gavin stood there like a gladiator ready to do battle.
“Ginny might not, but I sure as fuck do.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ginny took one glance at Gavin and the men who came storming into the room with raised military guns and knew reflexively what to do. She was already ducking her head to the floor when shots rang out, shattering the stunned silence of Allerton and his guards.
Peeking through the hair that had fallen over her face, she saw Gavin lunge toward Allerton, jerking the cane out of his hands and beating him with it like a madman.
One of the guards closest to her fell like a tree, his head landing near hers with blank eyes and a hole between them. Ginny didn’t have to guess that he was no longer a threat.
“Find the keys to the handcuffs!”
Ginny recognized Viper’s voice as she lay still. Moving her gaze away from the dead guard’s face, she saw Gavin continue to beat Allerton with the cane. She could tell from his expression that he wasn’t going to stop until Allerton was dead.
“Reaper, stop! That’s enough!” Hammer yelled, grabbing the cane away from him.
Reaper just started kicking Allerton with his boot.
“Reaper!” Viper shouted out in the sudden silence as the sound of bullets stopped. “The FBI wants him.”
“They can have what’s left of him.” Gavin’s voice held no emotions, like the others who were yelling at him to stop, yet the blows he landed on Allerton were vicious.
“Stop him, or we’ll never find out what happened on Clindale.”
Recognizing Agent Collins’ ragged voice had her looking over to see two of the agents supporting Agent Collins as the third helped him rise, then her view was blocked when Shade’s stark face appeared before hers, as he reached out to touch her.
“Please, don’t,” she managed to get the words out through swollen lips.
“Reaper! Stop! We need to get the fuck out of here before reinforcements come. Jesus, just shoot the fucker if it’ll make it quicker!” Cash shouted as he, Viper, and Rider tried to get him away from Allerton, while Hammer tried to drag Allerton in another direction, away from Reaper’s vicious kicks.
“Good idea.” Gavin’s struggles stopped as he raised his hand to point a handgun at Allerton.
“Gavin ….” Ginny sobbed at the pain of shouting for him. “Gavin, please, I need you.”
Gavin’s eyes flew in her direction. “Get him to the plane before I change my fucking mind!” he roared, moving toward her.
Hammer lifted Allerton over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift, then took off running out of the room, while the three agents supported Collins out as well.
“Let me have her,” Gavin demanded.
Shade moved away, and then Gavin was there, kneeling beside her. Ginny looked him over carefully, feeling a tear slide down the edge of her nose. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?” she whispered through mostly closed lips, so her jaw wouldn’t hurt as much.
“No, nymph. They didn’t hurt me,” he said gently, reaching out to move her hair away from her face.
“Reaper, we have to go!” Viper was at the desk, looking at the computer screen.
Ginny saw Gavin reach out to lift her. “Don’t. I can get up.” She attempted to pull herself into a sitting position, but her hand collapsed under her we
ight at the searing pain in her shoulders and upper back. At her mewling cry, Gavin slowly slid his arms under knees and lower back to gradually lift her into his arms.
“Shade, you go first. Cash, Rider, watch the rear,” Viper ordered when Gavin had her in his arms.
Ginny let her head fall to Gavin’s chest as they ran down the hallway, expecting them to go to the elevator, but they moved past it as Knox ran out from behind Allerton’s assistant to run on the other side of Gavin.
Embarrassed by the pain-filled whimpers she couldn’t help coming from her lips, Ginny clutched Gavin’s shirt to shove it into her mouth to smother her cries. The vibrations of his movements sent shards of stinging pain through her body.
When he stopped walking, Ginny raised her head from his chest to see what he was doing. Embarrassed that Gavin saw her biting his shirt, she pulled it away from her swollen mouth to take a shuddering breath.
“This is going to hurt like a motherfucker,” he warned, not showing an ounce of sympathy for her.
His pitiless regard had her wanting to burst into the tears she was trying to hold back. Would it hurt the big jerk to show a softer side to her just one time, to show that he freakin’ cared about her? Soul mates could cry alongside each other, couldn’t they?
Gavin could put her down, then. She could just walk. She didn’t need his help.
Anger boiled up, displacing the pain she felt … until she parted her lips to tell him to put her down. She looked in his eyes to show him how serious she was and saw all the emotions his face wasn’t expressing. His eyes were mirrors to the pain and torment she was suffering.
Unable to bear his suffering, Ginny looked over his shoulder, taking another shuddering breath as she saw Cash and Rider with their guns pointed with deadly intent toward the stairwell door, waiting for someone to ambush them. When Cash turned his head to see what the holdup was, Ginny read the urgency on his face.
Returning her gaze back to Gavin’s, she forced a smile to her lips, ignoring the pain the movement made. “I’m good. It barely hurts.”
“Shut up.”
