Before Ben

by Cynthia Eden

  “You’ll see.” Hayden’s nervous gaze jerked to the elevator doors.

  Ben tensed. “Why are you doing this?”

  Hayden’s stare flew back to him.

  “You’ve got plenty of money.” Ben was trying to figure this out. “You don’t need more money.” Why did people commit murder? Three main reasons came to his mind.

  Money? Hayden was rich as sin.

  Sex? Considering that Hayden and Sharon were apparently working together, Ben was going to assume the two of them were still fucking, too. The woman had sure seemed to be more than a willing partner in this mess.

  Revenge? Why would Hayden want—

  Hell. “What did he do to you?”

  A muscle flexed along Hayden’s jaw.

  “It’s Courtney’s father, isn’t it? This whole mess is about him.”

  The elevator doors opened. With a wave of the gun, Hayden indicated that Ben should get out. Hands fisting, Ben moved forward—and immediately felt the gun shove into the base of his back again.

  “He did something to you,” Ben decided. “And now you want payback.”

  Hayden grunted. “Not to me.”

  Then who did her father hurt?

  “Sharon,” Hayden snarled. “He killed Sharon’s fucking family, and now she is going to kill his.”

  Ice closed around Ben’s heart. He’d left the law office because he’d believed that by going with Hayden…by going with Hayden, he was removing the threat. He’d thought Hayden was the one he needed to fear. The one pulling all the strings. The one who’d been after Courtney all along. He’d left to protect her.

  Or, he’d thought that was what he was doing.

  Instead, I left her with the biggest threat.

  Hayden laughed. “You’re such a dumbass. Didn’t see that coming, did you? Of course, it was Sharon. She was always my girl. I was with her long before Kadi, and I’ll be with her long after.”

  They were in front of the condo’s door. With his left hand, Hayden reached around and typed in the key code. The lock disengaged.

  More laughter from Hayden. “This is how it will work. Sharon has one of her guys in that room. She hired a team because she wanted those fellows to snatch Courtney from your place. I mean, it was obvious where she was hiding. But the idiots Sharon hired—those morons got the wrong woman. They took Kadi!”

  Because Kadi had been at his place. He’d gotten a cab for her…

  Hell.

  “Kadi offered them a deal, of course. Because Kadi is always looking out for number one. Kadi promised she’d get Courtney here. She was ready to trade your girl for her own life.”

  The door was unlocked. The gun was at his back. And Hayden was a gloating piece of shit.

  “Don’t worry, though, if you’re pissed at Kadi. If you’re mad because she sold out Courtney so easily, don’t be. Kadi got what she deserved. I took care of her.” The nozzle of the gun nudged Ben’s spine. “Told one of the guys who came here with her to cut Kadi up. She should be in pieces by now.”

  Fuck.

  “That’s how it will end. You’ll be found with her body. Folks will think you and your client were lovers. That you went crazy and killed first her, then yourself. As for Courtney…no one will ever find her again. I mean, hell, not like anyone would look, huh? The woman is a loner. No close friends. No family other than the bastard Sharon is going to—”

  “A bullet to the back won’t look like suicide, jackass.”

  “I’m not going to shoot you in the back,” Hayden snarled. He lifted the gun away from Ben’s spine, just a few precious inches. “I’m gonna wait until we’re inside and them I’m going to—”

  Ben whirled and slammed into the SOB. They fell to the floor even as the gun exploded. The blast was loud and thundering, and Ben’s ears rang. Hayden’s lips were moving, but Ben couldn’t hear a word he said. He didn’t care what the guy had said. Rage fueled him as Ben plowed his fist into Hayden’s face again and again. Hayden tried to fight back. He tried to swing up his gun, but Ben snapped Hayden’s wrist. He felt the bones break beneath his grip.

  Then Ben went right back to pounding Hayden. Over and over. Blood spattered from Hayden’s nose and mouth. This was the bastard who’d been plotting to hurt Courtney. This was the bastard who’d planned to kill Ben and—

  “Ben!” A hand grabbed his shoulder and the sharp voice finally penetrated past the blaring bell in his ears. “Ben, we’ve got him!”

  His head whipped up. Julia was there. Julia. Rick. They both had guns drawn and aimed at Hayden. A Hayden who wasn’t fighting back. He didn’t even seem to be conscious.

  Ben blinked a moment, dazed, and then his gaze shot to the condo door. Hayden had unlocked that door, and he’d said—

  God, Kadi!

  Ben surged up and slammed his shoulder into the door. It flew open. “Kadi!”

  She stood in the middle of the den. Blood covered her chest. Her neck. Her fingers…

  And blood covered the knife that she gripped in her right hand. “He didn’t think I would fight back.” She stared down at the body in front of her.

  A big bruiser of a guy who wasn’t moving at all.

  “His mistake,” Kadi whispered. She dropped the knife. Her knees hit the floor a second later, and Ben rushed toward her, trying to catch her before she tipped face-first into the dead man.

  ***

  Half a dozen police cars were parked in front of Worthington, Waller, and Rain.

  “Oh, Jesus, no.” Ben leapt out of Julia’s car and ran forward.

  “Ben!” Julia’s yell followed him, but he didn’t stop. He’d tried to get Courtney on the phone. Over and over again. But she hadn’t answered. He knew that Layla Lopez and her team had swarmed the law office, and he knew—

  That’s a body being hauled out. He saw it, covered, and Ben lost it. “No!” His bellow tore through him as he surged toward—

  Eric stepped into his path and grabbed Ben. “It’s not her.”

  How the fuck was Eric even there?

  “Julia ordered Wilde agents over here as soon as she left to tail you. I’ve already searched the building. Courtney is gone.”

  The words didn’t make sense. He was staring at the covered body—

  “That’s Ross Worthington. He was shot in the heart. Courtney’s phone was found right next to his body, but she wasn’t anywhere in the building. Are you listening to me?” Eric’s hold tightened on Ben. “Courtney isn’t dead. She’s not in the building. And neither is Sharon Long.”

  Ben sucked in a deep breath. “Where is Courtney?”

  “We don’t know, but we are working to find out. The downstairs guard didn’t see anyone leave. Hell, he didn’t even know the boss on the top floor had been killed so talk about being useless.” Eric pulled Ben back toward the parking lot. “My people are digging into Sharon’s background. I already have a group at her apartment, but they said there’s no sign of her there. We’ll try to figure out where she might go—”

  “We need to check Hayden Laslow’s properties. They are together—been that way for years, so she probably knows every place he owns.” She’d know exactly where to stash Courtney. “Hayden has places both on and off the books. Sharon could have taken Courtney anywhere.”

  “What’s the goal of taking Courtney?” Eric asked quietly. “That’s what we need to focus on here. Because if we’re going to find Sharon, we have to figure out what she wants.”

  Ben choked back his fear and rage. “She wants vengeance. Payback on Courtney’s biological father.” Sirens were wailing around him. Have to find Courtney. “Hayden said Courtney’s father killed Sharon’s family. That’s what this has all been about.”

  Eric took a step back. “Who is Courtney’s father?”

  “I have no fucking clue.” He pointed to the body in the bag. “He knew. Ross Worthington knew, and that’s probably why he’s dead.”

  “Hayden Laslow knows,” Eric muttered. “If he was working with Sharon all alo
ng…he knows.”

  Yeah, about that… “Cops aren’t gonna let me near him anytime soon.” His hands flexed and clenched. The knuckles were scraped and raw, and he was about to go out of his damn mind. He had to get to Courtney. Had to save her. Had to find—

  “Gentleman…Ahem…”

  Ben whipped around.

  Kendrick Shaw stood there, with his hands loose at his sides. He gave them a slow nod. “I believe that we need to talk.”

  ***

  “He’s dead.” Sharon paced along the empty stage, the gun in her hand, while Courtney was tied to a freaking chair.

  Courtney glared at the crazy bitch. “Who’s dead?”

  Sharon whirled to point the gun at her. Back at the law office, they’d slipped out a private stairwell and exit, and Sharon’s ride had been waiting. Only Sharon hadn’t been alone. Two hulking men had been at her beck and call. They’d grabbed Courtney, shoved a hood over her head, and the next thing she’d known…she’d been in this place.

  Looked like an old strip club. Complete with a pole in the middle of the stage.

  Sharon threw her a wide grin. “Your friend Ben.” She glanced at the slender, gold watch on her wrist, tilting the gun. “Should be dead by now.”

  The rope cut into Courtney’s wrists as she lunged forward. “No.”

  “Yes.” A nod. “That was the plan, you see. Hayden was going to make it look like Ben and Kadi Laslow killed each other. Very bloody. Very painful. Very perfect.”

  “You are a fucking psychopath!” Ben’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not!

  Julia and Rick had been tailing him. They would make certain he was okay.

  “I had an acquaintance waiting on Ben and Hayden.” Sharon’s smile could not have been more taunting. “He was going to make sure that Kadi was already dead by the time Ben joined the party.” Her smile slipped a bit as her stare lingered on her watch. “Should’ve heard from him by now.”

  She swung around and pointed to one of the jackasses helping her. “Call Keegan. Find out what is taking his ass so long.”

  Keegan…that must be the man who’d had the order to kill Kadi? “I don’t understand why you are doing this.”

  Sharon stalked closer to her. “Because your father is a bastard.”

  “I don’t even know him!”

  “I know him. He’s the man who ordered the murder of my parents. I was twelve years old. I was in the house. I was supposed to be sleeping over at a friend’s, but I’d gotten sick. I had to stay home.” Tears slid down her cheeks. “I was home when your father’s men arrived! My mom screamed for me to get under the bed, and I hid, and I heard everything!”

  Twelve years old… “I’m sorry,” Courtney said softly.

  “I heard them say, ‘No one betrays the Jackal.’ Then the guns fired and my mom screamed, and I covered my mouth, and I didn’t move. I didn’t move until the smell got so bad that I had to crawl out from under the bed because I was going to vomit.”

  OhmyGod.

  “Your father took my family from me.” Sharon looked at the gun in her hand. “Now I’ll take his family. He will have nothing.”

  “I am sorry for what happened to you and your family.” Courtney lifted her chin. “But I’m not his family. I’ve never been in his life. He hasn’t been in mine—”

  Sharon leaned in close, putting her face close to Courtney’s. “He’s been in yours. Long before you did your stupid ancestry test to see where you came from. He knew the truth ever since Frank McKenna left you. He knew, and he’s been pulling his strings all along. You think you magically got the plum job at the best law firm in Atlanta?”

  “I earned that job. I graduated at the top—”

  “You think you were given all the richest clients just because you were lucky?”

  Courtney’s breath froze in her lungs.

  “And you had a bodyguard. Watching you always because your father became afraid in his old age. So afraid that someone like me…” Laughter. “Would want to make him suffer, too.”

  “Don’t do this, Sharon.”

  “I already did it. I killed the man you loved…”

  No, Ben isn’t—

  “Did you even realize you loved him? God, I used to laugh at you when I’d see you at the firm. Laugh at the way you tried to hold yourself back from everyone. So scared, weren’t you? So scared to get hurt. But then you fell. I could see the way you looked at Ben today.” She took a step back. “If it makes you feel better, I think he loved you, too. See, it was hard to get him to leave with Hayden. The only reason he finally did leave—well, Hayden said if Ben didn’t leave right then, when you walked out of Ross’s office, Hayden would fire a bullet into your heart.”

  Courtney shook her head.

  “Want to know a secret?” Sharon put down the gun. Just put it on the stage floor. “We never planned to shoot you. That was just a lie Hayden told Ben. Shooting is too quick. Too easy for the Jackal’s daughter. You’re going to suffer. Messages are sent in this world. You’ll be my message. When I carve you apart, your father will understand just what he’s lost.”

  One of the men came forward and handed Sharon a long, wickedly sharp knife.

  The other guy…he put down his phone. “Keegan isn’t answering.”

  “Whatever.” Sharon had taken the knife. “He’ll be coming soon with Hayden. Just keep an eye out for them. Open the door when they arrive.” She smiled. “I’ve got her.”

  She advanced on Courtney. The two men hurried toward the door.

  When they were out of sight, Sharon said, “Maybe Keegan and Hayden won’t ever show up. Maybe I don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

  “That’s why you didn’t text or call Hayden and tell him that Ben was being tailed. You wanted him caught—”

  “He was a means to an end. I’m at the end.”

  Courtney stared at the knife. Then at Sharon’s smiling face.

  ***

  “What in the hell are you doing here, Kendrick?” Eric asked before Ben could.

  Kendrick inclined his head toward the chaos around him. “I have a new client.”

  Ben grabbed the guy, his friend, and his fingers clenched around Kendrick’s shirt. “It had better not be Hayden Laslow.”

  “No.” Kendrick’s voice was controlled. Too calm. “I think we need to take this meeting away from the others. And we need to move now.”

  Ben let him go and quickly followed Kendrick away from the cop cars and the sirens.

  Kendrick paused next to his Mercedes. “Ross Worthington is dead, so his client came to me as soon as he heard the distressing news.”

  “The body isn’t even cold yet,” Eric muttered. “How the hell does news travel that fast?”

  Kendrick smoothed his hands over his shirt-front. “For the right people, news can travel very, very quickly indeed.” He looked up at Ben. “I have an address for you.”

  Ben didn’t move a muscle.

  “You need to get there right away. If you don’t arrive in time, I truly don’t want to think about the consequences.” A bead of sweat slid down Kendrick’s temple. The guy never sweated. Never showed fear of any kind. But right then… “And I don’t believe you want to think about those consequences, either.”

  “You know where Courtney is.”

  Kendrick gave him the address.

  “Who is your client?” Eric demanded.

  “You didn’t hear this from me,” Kendrick said. “You never heard this—”

  Ben was already running away. He knew exactly who Kendrick’s client was. Courtney’s father. And he knew that if he didn’t get to that address fast enough, Ben would lose his whole world.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I’m sorry,” Courtney said, voice choking out, “for what happened to you and your family.”

  The two goons were nowhere to be seen.

  Sharon pricked her own finger on the blade of the knife, and her creepy smile stretched. “You’re going beg me…”
r />   “I’m sorry that your parents died. And I’m sorry…”

  Sharon’s eyes darted to Courtney’s cheek. “Let’s start here with the little cut that’s already on you. I’ll make it stretch from eyeball to chin. Won’t that be nice?”

  “I’m sorry,” Courtney gritted out, “that you turned into such a psycho!” She kicked out with her legs. Because the dumbasses had only tied her hands together. Her hands were bound behind her back, but her legs were free. She kicked at Sharon, and the other woman screamed as she fell. The knife clattered across the stage, and Courtney rocked the chair hard. It went crashing down, and all of the breath was driven from her body as she hit the stage floor.

  She blinked and saw that Sharon was scrambling for the knife. Shit. Courtney was still trapped. She’d hoped the stupid chair would break when she fell, but it hadn’t. She kicked and jerked, moving with all of her strength. She twisted hard, her shoulders burning and—

  Snap.

  That hadn’t been her shoulder. It had been the back of the chair. The old, wobbly chair. She rolled free, shimmying and heaving her body so that—

  The knife sliced along her arm. Courtney screamed at the pain.

  Sharon laughed. Then she stabbed Courtney in the shoulder. “You’re going to die. You can join Ben. He’s dead, dead, dead—”

  She kicked Sharon in the kneecap. As hard as she could. Sharon’s eyes flared with pain and shock because there had been a terrible crack.

  Courtney kicked her other knee. Another crack.

  Sharon fell, but she was still swiping out with the knife. It flew down Courtney’s side, slicing her open, but she ignored the pain. Sharon yelled for the two men to come and help her. Sharon screamed for them as she rolled on the stage, unable to get up, the knife finally gone from her fingers.

  The knife—

  Courtney dove for it. She grabbed it—still with her hands behind her back—and started sawing at the rope that bound her.

  Footsteps thundered from the front of the club.