Ultimate Risk (R.I.S.C. Book 6)

by Anna Blakely

  Coop read the note aloud. It was addressed to Abigail. “Come to your uncle’s funeral. Once you’ve made your presence known, I’ll contact you with further instructions. The price is two million dollars, or he’s dead.”

  His gut clenched, and as he silently read those words again, it all suddenly started to make perfect sense.

  The change in her behavior. Mac acting like she was trying to distance herself from him lately. Her refusing to let him come with her.

  The fucking fear in her eyes.

  “There’s more.”

  Coop looked back up at her. “What?”

  “Tony’s lawyer stopped me after the funeral today.”

  “The bald guy?”

  “Right. You were watching. Anyway, yes. That was Henry Doyle, mafia attorney extraordinaire. Despite that fact, he’s actually a very sweet man.”

  “What did he want with you?”

  “To give me this.” She handed him a very formal-looking document.

  It took Coop less than three seconds to comprehend what it was. His brows shot up. “Your uncle left you his estate?”

  “The house, the cars…all of it.”

  “There’s only one reason a man like Tony Moretti would leave all his worldly possessions to his estranged niece he hadn’t seen or spoken to in over a decade. He wanted you to come back here.” He tore his eyes from the papers to look at her. “Do you think he was trying to set you up?”

  “From the grave?” Mac huffed. “I have no idea. According to Henry, Tony left me the property because I’m his only living relative. Before he died, he told Henry he wanted to make sure I was taken care of.”

  “Bullshit. Leaving you as his sole beneficiary only makes you a target.” Coop held up the threatening note. “Point in case.”

  One side of Mac’s perfect lips threatened to lift into a smile. “I think you mean case in point.”

  “Whatthefuck ever. My point is, someone lured you back here, and for whatever reason, they’re using a threat against me to do it. And you’re letting them.”

  He looked at the dress she had on again, focusing on the bright colors. No one wore bright colors to a funeral. Not unless…

  Coop thought of the words in the note. Once you’ve made your presence known, I’ll contact you with further instructions.

  The realization of what she was doing finally began to sink in. Fear turned his veins to ice as he locked eyes with hers.

  “No.” Coop shook his head vehemently. “No fucking way.”

  “What?”

  He ground his teeth to the point he thought they’d break. “If you think I’m going to stand by while you put yourself in danger to protect me, you’re out of your goddamn mind.”

  “It’s too late.” Mac smiled sadly. “It’s already done.”

  5

  How was it possible for a man to be so pissed and still look like walking, talking sex?

  With everything Mac’s life had become, the question shouldn’t even be a tiny blip on her radar. Yet here she stood, staring back at her extremely pissed-off partner and all she could think about was stripping off his clothes, pushing him back onto that bed, and filling her body with his until she didn’t know where she ended, and he began.

  Unfortunately, there was still too much standing in their way. The most pressing being the person threatening to kill him.

  “Fuck this.”

  Coop’s angry words snapped her attention back to reality. Blinking, she saw him turn around and head for the door. He opened that door.

  “Wait. Where are you going?”

  Storming across the few carpeted feet to Trevor’s room, he ignored her and started banging on the door. “Open up, Matthews. We need to talk.”

  “Will you keep your voice down?” Mac looked both ways down the hall.

  “Why?” He threw back at her from over his shoulder. “You worried I might draw attention to you? Thought that was the whole reason you were here.” He pounded on the door again.

  Glaring at the back of his head, Mac tried to remember he had every right to be pissed. But damn it, she was trying to keep him safe.

  Trevor opened the door. “Sorry. I was in the—”

  “Did you know about this?” Not waiting for an invitation, Coop pushed his way inside the room.

  “Uh, which part?” Trevor asked cautiously, his questioning eyes landing on Mac as she passed by. He shut the door behind her.

  “Gee, I don’t know, Trev.” Coop stopped and turned to their interim team leader. “Let’s start with the part where our hardheaded girl here has decided to risk her life to protect me.”

  Trevor stared back at him. “The whole purpose of my being here is to make sure she stays safe.”

  “And the sole purpose for keeping you in the dark was to avoid this,” Mac added calmly.

  “This?” Coop’s narrow gaze landed on hers.

  “Yes, this. You know, you losing your shit?”

  “Of course I’m losing my shit!” he yelled. “You’re walking into a fucking trap! How do you not see that?” His head swung toward Trevor. “And why the hell are you letting it happen?”

  Mac put a hand up and stepped between the two men. “I’m sorry. Letting me? Last I checked, I was a grown-ass woman with the exact same experience and training as you. I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”

  Coop snorted. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Seriously? I have to spell it out for you? Look around, Mac. You just finished telling me how you risked everything to get as far away from this place as you could. Yet you’re back?”

  “I don’t have a choice!”

  “Like hell you don’t! You can choose to walk away. Go back home and let these assholes come to us on our turf.”

  “Do I strike you as the sit back and wait type?” she growled.

  “Not really. But I never took you as a death-wish type of gal, either, so—”

  “Guys?” Trevor jumped in. “Do I really need to be here for this conversation?”

  Without breaking eye contact with Coop, Mac answered, “No.”

  At the same time, Coop said, “Yes.”

  “Alrighty, then.” Trevor looked at them both. “I was going to order a pizza or some room service or something. You guys hungry?”

  This time they both agreed, answering with a unified, “No.”

  “Well, I’m starved.”

  Trevor was obviously trying to de-escalate the situation, but Coop and Mac were both too riled up to let him.

  “Here.” Mac handed him her keycard. “You can order from across the hall.”

  With a sigh, Trevor took the piece of plastic from her hand. “Do me a favor and let me know when you’re finished with my room.”

  Mac waited for the door to close before talking again. “You know, just because you’re walking around with that massive thing swinging between your legs doesn’t mean you hold a monopoly on protective instincts.”

  “Never thought I did.” The corner of his lips twitched. “But my ego thanks you, for that.”

  She rolled her eyes. Of course he’d pick up on that particular part.

  “When I realized you were in danger, that someone was threatening you because of me, I wanted to hunt them down and kill them.” She moved toward him. “I don’t have a death wish, Sean. I’m just trying to do the right thing.” For once.

  “How? By putting yourself in some asshole’s crosshairs? Whoever the bastard is, they’ve already proven they’re not in this thing for the money. Otherwise they wouldn’t have taken a shot at us before you paid them off.”

  “They would if they were trying to send a message.”

  “You think those were warning shots?”

  Mac took a step toward him. “Think about it. We were out in the open. Nothing between us and that SUV.”

  “Open targets.”

  Coop’s brows turned inward. She hoped that meant he was beginnin
g to see her train of thought.

  “Exactly. Look, I’m pretty sure I know who’s behind all this. If I’m right, and he really wanted to kill either one of us, he wouldn’t have missed.”

  “The guy from the cemetery? Tall, black dress coat, dark hair?”

  “That was Luca Marino.”

  Recognition crossed his face. “He’s the one who shot the guy on your birthday.”

  Son of a bitch did a whole lot more that day, but that was one secret Mac wasn’t ready to share. “Yes.”

  “You think it’s him?”

  “He’s the only one who makes sense.”

  Coop paused for a bit. “Did he say anything about it when you two were talking earlier? Reference the pictures or the money in any way?”

  “No.” Mac shook her head. “That’s the weird part. I kept expecting him to ask for the money, but he never said a word about it. If anything, he seemed irritated to see me there. Asshole warned me to keep my nose out of his business.”

  “Could be he was feeling you out to see if you suspected him. Can you think of anyone else who’d be pissed your uncle left everything to you?”

  “I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of someone else it could be. I mean, Luca was my uncle’s right-hand man. From the time he was twenty until the day my uncle died, he was Tony’s most trusted employee. According to the papers Henry gave me, Luca is listed as a secondary beneficiary. Maybe he feels jilted that I got first dibs.”

  Coop considered this. “Tony knows he’s dying, has a change of heart where you’re concerned. Has his lawyer create a will that will ensure the niece he failed years before is taken care of, now. Luca finds out, gets pissed, and somehow convinces your uncle to tell him where you are.”

  Damn, watching his wheels spin was such a turn-on. Sure, the guy was attractive as hell, but he was also incredibly smart. Mac loved it when he got all up in his own head.

  “But why all the trouble?”

  Coop’s question broke through her untimely thoughts. “What do you mean?”

  “If Luca already knew how to find you, why go through the trouble of hiring someone to follow us? Why all the pictures and phony blackmail scheme? Wouldn’t it have been a hell of a lot easier to just take you out and claim the estate for himself?”

  Mac’s gut tightened. “Not if the blackmail’s legit.”

  “You have a cool two million lying around Luca might know about?”

  His question was clearly a sarcastic one, which made this next confession that much harder to reveal.

  “Actually.” Mac stared back at her partner. “I do.”

  With the exception of learning Mac’s real identity—and all the shit that came with it—her newest bomb ranked pretty high on Coop’s life list of what the fuck moments.

  “Where the hell did you manage to get two million dollars?”

  The money they made working for R.I.S.C. was really fucking good. Still, it wasn’t millions good.

  When Mac bit her bottom lip, Coop knew he wasn’t going to like the answer.

  “I stole it from my uncle’s stash the day I left.”

  Sometimes he really hated being right.

  “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

  “I was pissed, okay? I wanted to get back at him for what he did to that man. For what he did to me.”

  “You could’ve gone to the cops.”

  “No.” Mac shook her head. “I couldn’t. Tony’s pockets ran wide and deep, and they were filled with all kinds of important people. Including cops.”

  “Damn.”

  “Some would even come to the house. They’d have drinks and closed-door conversations with my uncle in his office. I had no way of knowing for sure which ones were on his payroll.” Mac hugged herself again.

  “So how’d you pull it off?”

  “Tony was always ‘working’. As long as I stayed out of the way, he didn’t pay much attention to what I was doing.” She shrugged. “Made it easy to watch from the shadows.”

  The picture she was painting broke his fucking heart. Not only had she lost both her parents, she’d been sent to live with a murdering asshole who didn’t give two shits about her.

  “It took a couple weeks after my birthday to get my new I.D. and documentation made, so I used that time to plan. I knew I’d need some cash to get me out of the state, plus food and whatever else I’d need until I got to boot camp. I saw Tony getting into a hidden panel in the floor in his office one night when he thought I was sleeping. The first chance I got, I picked my way into his office and looked inside.”

  “And you found the cash.”

  She nodded.

  Coop thought for a moment. “Two million’s a hell of a lot of money for someone about to enlist. So it was what, a giant ‘fuck you’ to your uncle?”

  “Pretty much.” Mac’s lips curled into a slight smirk. “After what happened at that car dealership, I felt my only choice was to leave. I assumed the money I found was his emergency stash in case he had to go on the run, so…”

  “Karma’s a bitch?”

  “Exactly.” Mac’s smirk grew into a conniving smile. “The morning I left for good, I waited until my uncle and Luca went off to do God knows what. Once I knew the coast was clear, I went into his office, took the money, and locked the door behind me when I left. In total, I took two million, two thousand, fifty dollars. I hid two million and took the rest.”

  “Why not take it all?” Coop couldn’t help but ask. “Single girl, on your own. You could’ve lived pretty damn well with that kind of money.”

  She looked horrified at the thought. “It was blood money. The only reason I took any of it for myself was because I needed bus tickets, food, and lodging until I could get far enough away to felt safe.”

  “Where is it now?”

  “On the roof of my uncle’s warehouse. I separated the stacks of money and hid it behind several loose bricks in the roof’s access structure. It’s been in my family for years, and it’s where he went for most of his business dealings. I was confident Tony would never sell that place, and I was right. It’s listed as part of the estate I now own.”

  “You hid the money right under his nose?” Coop had to admire that decision. “Ballsy move.”

  “It was a place I knew no one would ever think to look. And yeah, I have to admit…knowing it was there all along was a little satisfying.”

  Digesting all she’d shared, Coop turned and walked the length of the room. Running a hand over his jaw, he slid it around to the back of his neck, squeezing the tense muscles there.

  For the next few minutes he stood like that, silent and staring out the window. Realizing there was so much he never knew about the woman he loved.

  Despite the lies, at his core, he understood why Mac had kept her identity a secret. He even got why she’d taken the money.

  Hell, if he were being completely honest, he was equally proud and impressed. Sixteen-year-old Mac was a force to be reckoned with. So was the woman she’d become.

  And he still wanted her.

  What Coop didn’t want, had never wanted, was for Mac to put herself in harm’s way to protect him. Yeah, they were partners in the field, but this was different. This was personal.

  Someone was using him to try and hurt her, and as God was his witness, Coop would die before he let that happen.

  “We need a plan.” He turned and looked at her. “One that’ll take the fucking target off your back.”

  “It’s not on mine, remember?”

  “I’m just a pawn in all this. You’re the one they’re trying to get to.”

  She shook her head in disagreement. “I’ve been in town all day and no one’s contacted me yet.”

  “They’re playing a game, baby. One we’re damn well gonna win.”

  Mac stared back at him, hope blooming behind her eyes. “You said we.” She moved toward him. “Does that mean you decided to quit trying to talk me out of this?”

  “I want to,” he answere
d honestly. “Actually, I want to put you on the next plane back to Dallas, but I know that’s not going to happen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still pissed as hell that you lied. But knowing why you kept all this from me...I mean, I get it.”

  Her relief was palpable. “Really?”

  With slow, deliberate steps, Coop covered the remaining distance between them. Standing directly in front of her now, he used a fingertip to sweep aside a few wayward strands.

  “You’ve had my back from day one.” He let that same finger trail along her jawline. “It’s my turn to have yours. We’re gonna do this together, Mac. That’s the end of the story.”

  “And us?” She bit her bottom lip. “What about our story?”

  “Ah, baby.” He leaned in, brushing his lips against hers. “It’s just beginning.”

  Coop took her mouth in his, swallowing the tiny whimper that escaped from the back of her throat. As his tongue swept against hers, he could taste her desperation and fear. Her hunger and passion.

  Cupping the back of her head, he continued to take what she was so willing to give as he guided her to the bed closest to where they stood.

  When the backs of her knees hit the mattress, Coop pressed on, leading them both down until she was on her back, his body lying on top of hers.

  “God, woman.” He trailed short, rough kisses down the side of her jaw and neck. “You drive me fucking crazy.”

  “Right back at ya, soldier.”

  Mac tipped her head back to give him better access while her hands began pulling at the hem of his black V-neck. At the same time, she spread her legs wider, allowing him to settle between them even better than before.

  Coop ground his restrained erection against her core, causing them both to moan from the delectable friction. He reached down, his hand sliding under her dress and up the length of her bare thigh.

  She shivered beneath him, and he loved knowing she was as affected by his touch as much as he was hers.

  “I need you, Coop. Please.”

  I know the feeling, sweetheart.

  “I’ll take care of you, baby.” He nipped the sensitive skin at the pulse point on her neck. “I’ll always take care of you.”