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He waited.
“I think people like us don’t get normal lives.”Laughter.“I think you lost her.I think she ran away from you.And I thinkyouwill always be broken and lonely because you can’t really feel.You can’t really care.You don’t have empathy.You don’t enjoy real emotions.You don’t know how to live like anormalman.”
So many of those words were familiar.“You changed my psych profile, didn’t you?”
Her lashes fluttered.“Who, me?”
“You switched my profile with Hudson’s.You knew how dangerous he really was.You covered for him.You did it for years.”
“Hudson’s father twisted him.He got Hudson…he got him to watch so long ago.To watch terrible things.Hudson had to always be handled with care.He could be charming, but, when he saw weakness, when he got too much control…the beast inside came out.It was a hungry beast that liked giving pain too much.”
“That’s why you wanted Naomi to have a seizure in front of him?So he’d enjoy her fucking weakness?”His own rage slipped the leash for a moment.
She shrugged.
His right fist slammed into the table.“Naomi isn’t weak.She will never be weak.”
Madeline licked her lips.“She’ll also never be yours, will she?”
His heart squeezed.
“Why are you really here, Eb?”
“I have a new job.”
Whatcouldhave been fear flickered in her eyes.
“You left a big mess at the CIA,” he told her.Total truth.“Someone has to clean it up.Lucky me, I get to be that someone.Oh, by the way, the psych reports have all been sorted out.No worries on that score.Declan Flynn helped fix that, uh, technical glitch, shall we say?The glitchyoucaused.”
Her lips pressed together.
“I got your old job.Well, with a few perks.Because I don’t come cheap, and you left one major clusterfuck in your wake.Every case you ever worked is compromised.”
“You worked with me.”
“Yeah, but I’m not the delusional psychopath.That would be you.I always vetted my cases on my own.I never believed you blindly.”Because I’m not Hudson.
“But you…you believed Naomi.When she said she was innocent?—”
“I believe Naomi.I don’t believe you.I’m here today to let you know that the higher-ups are very, very unhappy with you.Lateisha told me that you once threatened to put Brock in a prison so deep and dark that he would think he’d found his way into hell.”
She shook her head.“Eb…”
“You’ll be going to hell soon.Hope you enjoy the trip.”Now it was his turn to lean forward.“Told you…you’ll pay for hurting Naomi.I don’t make idle threats.I say what I mean.Always.And I get my payback.I’m a real vengeful bastard that way.”
“No.No!”
“Enjoy hell.Hope it’s worth the price you paid for admission.”
Vegas was…Vegas.Beautiful.Glittering.Full of magic and sin.And everything in between.
Naomi slowly walked across the rooftop bar.Stars shone overhead, a band played soft jazz, and all of the richly dressed couples swayed and charmed and partied the night away.She’d taken the job at the hotel three weeks ago.After she’d fled from Baton Rouge.The fresh start she’d wanted down there?
Yeah, that was dead and buried.
Declan Flynn had pulled strings and gotten her the new gig in Vegas.Temporary, for now, while she tested things out.But, if she wanted, she could become the permanent manager of his new hotel.
Her head turned.Her gaze landed on the tall, broad-shouldered male who stood near the railing and stared out at the night.Thick hair.Dark, lustrous.A line of stubble on a powerful and stubborn jaw.A profile that was killer handsome.