Page 65 of Black Jack (Advantage Play 5)

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I grit out, “Then what?”

“Then we both disappear with the money you collect from your previous clients.”

“And if I haven’t collected any yet?”

“What the hell have you been doing, then, Bianca? You know, I don’t wanna know. Just…I suggest you start,” he answers as if we’re discussing the weather. “Because if you don’t, you’ll be left with nothing but a dirty name and a target on your back.”

“I thought you said my marriage to Jack would keep me safe.”

“For a little while. But things happen, Bianca. Accidents happen. I’d hate to see one befall you.”

With my head in my hand and my elbows pressed to the top of the vanity’s edge, I replay his words in my head before a dark laugh slips out of me. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because we’re family.”

“And that makes it okay to blackmail your own sister?” I challenge.

“You’re the one who suggested I rot in prison for the rest of my life.”

“I didn’t––”

“Don’t deny it. You should know I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty, Bianca. Don’t push me. We clear?”

I sniff but swallow back the emotions that are threatening to strangle me. If I let them loose right now, he’ll simply find a way to twist them against me.

“I’ll see what I can do,” I murmur.

“Good. And Bianca?”

“Yes?”

“Run a few extra laps today, would you? You sound like you’re getting soft.”

Then the call goes dead.

And my hatred for him blazes hotter than ever.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I pull up Higgins’ number and type out a quick but vague message.

Me: Hey. We need to talk.

20

Jack

Beer in hand, I turn on ESPN in the family room. It’s on for background noise more than anything else because I can’t focus for shit. After my conversation with Kingston, anxiety has been eating away at my nerves, and I haven’t been able to find an antidote. And it doesn’t help that my new wife has been missing all day, either.

Where is she?

Scratching the scruff along my jaw, my eyes glazed with disinterest, I watch a basketball hit the backboard before falling into the hoop as the front door creaks open behind me.

I glance over my shoulder and find an exhausted Bianca with a bit of makeup smudged beneath her eyes.

“Hey, where have you been?” I sound like a new puppy that’s starved for affection, waiting at the door for their owner to come back home after a long day at work.

Fuck, I’m so pathetic.

Bianca tosses her keys onto the counter but avoids my gaze like she’s lost in her own head.