Page 118

“Doesn’t matter if I do or don’t. When I order a job, I want it done right. King thought he had all his ducks in a row, and Ariel was killed.”

“The Predators weren’t working for King then. I’m not going to have my ass reamed for someone else’s fuckup.”

Ice’s comeback pierced into him like a lightning strike. There were two areas of his life that he was vulnerable about, and both women were now dead. Responsibility for both had him trying to make amends. He wasn’t going to add Haley to his list. She was an innocent being drawn into a world she had no knowledge about.

“I was the fuckup. I let King’s sister convince me that she was staying the night at a friend’s house, and she promised not to leave until I came to pick her up.”

“You didn’t know she would sneak out to buy King a birthday present.”

“She wanted to surprise him. Ariel thought I would tell him what the present was. She had saved up fifty dollars. The bastards raped and killed her before we could get there. You know what pissed me off the most?”

“Don’t tell me unless you left one alive for me to take off.”

Desmond continued talking, picturing the beautiful, carefree child who had just wanted to do something special for a brother she idolized. “What burns the most was what they did with the fifty dollars. I see it every time I close my fucking eyes, and the sickest part of it was what it did to us when we saw what they had done. We were going to kill every motherfucker there. We didn’t care if we died making them pay. They underestimated King’s and my reaction to what they had done.

“Don’t make that mistake, Ice. Just because I wear a suit and drive around in a limo doesn’t mean I can’t protect what’s mine when I have to. Don’t make me step in to protect Haley if shit happens because you’re overconfident about your man. You won’t like the consequences if I do.”

“Message received.”

“I hope so, Ice. I really do. I like you, but I would kill you, anyway.”

A curt nod, and then Ice slipped out of the car.

The partition separating the front of the limo from the back lowered.

“You think he’ll still put Cole on her?” Lewis turned to look over his shoulder at him.

“Yes, Ice is sure of his decision, or he wouldn’t have put Cole on her. He doesn’t make mistakes.” Desmond went back to studying the dark window of Haley’s bedroom.

“Then why did you threaten him?”

“Because I don’t want Haley to be his first failure.”

“Or could it be you’re getting attached to the bookworm?”

“No.”

“Then why are we sitting outside her apartment?”

“To send another message to Ice.”

“Which is what?”

“Not to fuck up. Let’s go.”

The limo pulled out onto the deserted street.

“You want me to redress your bandages when we get back to your house?”

“No, they’re good for now. Janine can change them in the morning. Have the car there at nine. She should be done packing by then.”

“Does she know yet?”

“I’ll tell her in the morning.”

“Afraid she’ll have too much time to destroy shit?”

“She’ll throw a fit, but nothing a few monthly payments can’t fix.”

“Why break it off with her so soon? She’s hot as fuck.”

He had met Janine when he had gone to Greece two months ago. He had brought her back with him when their sex was at the steamiest point. However, he hadn’t fucked her since Haley had come to Queens City. Desmond didn’t bother to question himself why, nor why he wanted all trace of her removed from his home. He had decided to send her packing on Tuesday when he had woken to find Janine trying to go down on his dick. Plunking her off him, he had gotten dressed and went to work. Soleil had forced the change of plan when she had showed unexpectedly at his office.

The FBI were trying to force her to turn on Gabriel. Not only did she not want to, but she was terrified of the consequences if she caved to their demands to reveal any of Gabriel’s secrets.

She was right to be fearful. Gabriel’s reach within prison had extended outward to her, which was why it had shaken her into running to him for help. He had ordered a hit on a woman, and he wanted Soleil to do the job.

Soleil didn’t care that the hit had been ordered on her daughter, only that she would be next in line when the job was completed. The bitch had proven yet again that, where motherhood was concerned, she lacked the maternal instincts. Her heart had belonged to Gabriel from the moment they had met.

When he had been working on Ivan Pavlov’s boat, it hadn’t taken him long to hear the rumors about the affair going on underneath Soleil’s husband’s, Jasper, nose. He had been the water engineer working on Clindale Island.