by Kailin Gow
“Why?”
“Because,” I say. “Money’s not that important to me. I want enough to take care of my family, to live on, to not have to be a Blue Girl. But beyond that, whether it’s a dollar or a million dollars, I frankly couldn’t give a shit. I’ve seen how unhappy money makes people. I see how it split my father and my mother up. I see what it does to the patrons at the Blue Room. I don’t want money.”
“Okay, you’re a martyr,” says Roni, rolling her eyes at me. “Get to the point already.”
“My point is,” I say, “that, alive, I stand to inherit more money than I know what to do with. More money than I’m interested in, personally. How much did Gloria Tannenbaum promise you from her estate? A couple hundred thousand?”
Roni snorts.
“A few million?”
“Twenty-five million.”
“And what’s my fortune – a hundred million?”
“Two billion.” says Roni. “Keep with the times.”
Jeez. Two billion. I’d almost be tempted to kill for that kind of money myself.
“Right. What am I going to do with two billion dollars?”
“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me. Am I right?”
She’s dubious, but listening. And every second that Roni Taylor is listening to me is a second that I get to stay alive.
“Well, I bet you could use your share getting upped from twenty-five million to…”
Hell, I’d give her all of it, but Roni’s so suspicious that would probably make her trust me less. “A hundred million,” I say.
“Two hundred,” she says. “After all, I’m the one holding the gun.”
“Two hundred,” I say, “plus a percentage of whatever else I make.”
“Okay.”
“I’m an okay dead enemy,” I say. “But I bet I’d be a hell of a great living friend.”
Roni looks straight at me.
“You’re smarter than you look,” she says.
“Thanks.”
“Danny, Terrence, they’re small fry. They don’t see the big picture. Not like I do. They don’t see where the real sausage gets made, where the real money is.” She walks over to me, gun in hand. “How’s this for size, sweetheart? If you behave, I’ll treat you real good. I’ll make sure you get what you need as the sole heir to all that sweet Tannenbaum money, and then we’ll have…shall we say…an arrangement?”
She’s liking this. I’m liking this. I’m liking the me-not-dying part, mostly.
“But let’s not forget the Blue Room,” she says. “I may not have gotten my oar in with the younger Blues the way I’d have liked, but Terrence and even that pigheaded Xander are clearly besotted with you. And that could be useful. If you were to, say, marry one of them, and get some of that Blue money under your control…you’d be unstoppable.” Her eyes shine with avarice. “We’d be unstoppable.”
“And of course I could never do it on my own,” I say. Better to let her think I’m all hers. “I’d need you to teach me. To train me. To make sure I’m working to the best of my abilities.”
“Of course you need me,” Roni snaps. “I’m the only competent person in this whole hellhole. Let me tell you what I want you to do. You keep up your hot, steamy little encounters with Terrence and Xander. The former will be easier to manipulate, I bet – Xander’s a little too smart for such things, you have to get creative. Then again, he did make you Exclusive. Oh, missy, I heard all about that. Apparently the world’s ice king has a weakness, and it’s you.
“So let me tell you what I want you to do, Atussi. If I let you go, you’re mine. And this is what you’re going to do for me. Go back to the Blue Tower. Pretend nothing’s wrong. Continue your little sexcapades with both men. Start to make them jealous, pitting them against each other, so they’re both competing for your – ah – favors,” she smiles. “Then, when the time is right, the media gets wind of who you really are. The Tannenbaum princess. The long-lost Tannenbaum progeny. Then we make sure that inheritance comes straight to you and you come through on your arrangement with me. Capiche?”
Make sure that inheritance comes straight to you. By killing my father, I presume.
But now is not the time to say “no”. I don’t want to set her off again. I just want to get out of that room alive.
But now that Roni’s playing ball, it’s time to figure out another piece of the puzzle.
“So my dad…” I say. “He’s been AWOL lately. Much like my childhood – the bastard.” Let’s not let her think I like the guy. “How are you so sure you’ll be able to find him to declare I’m his kid?”
Gina – or Rita – or whoever she was had texted Xander that she “had” my father – presumably safely. But I need to know how much Roni knows.
“I’m sure,” says Roni, smiling. “My girl Gina has him in custody as we speak.”
Shit.
So my father really is in danger.
“Gina,” I ask. I try to sound casual. “Who’s that?”
“She’s my right-hand woman. She works at the Blues Tower as a maid – but spies for me. She’s like Ben. But less stupid. She’d do absolutely anything for me. And I mean anything.”
Who is Gina? Is this Rita under a different name – or a different person entirely? And is she working for Xander or Roni – or both?
And is my father really safe?
There’s no way out other than to agree, no matter what. There’s no way out other than to agree to this sick bargain.
I hold out my hand.
“I’m all yours,” I say.
Then I hear the shouts, the banging on the door.
The door flies open.
There is Terrence Blue, standing right in front of me.
Chapter 4
I am stunned. Somehow, Terrence Blue has come to my rescue. I am in shock. Despite the fact that I tried to vanish into the night, to leave no trace of myself behind. I paid in cash for the car, wore a hoodie so I wouldn’t be caught on any security cameras, did every single thing right so that the Blue Room and their minions would never find me. But evidently, find me they did. Clearly the Blue Room’s security staff and PI’s work overtime for the Blue family. Not that I can regret that too much right now. Right now, I’m just so happy to see Terrence I can forget about just how weird it is that he found me in the first place. Better him than Roni Taylor, I guess.
Terrence is smiling up at me. His wicked grin is as mischievous as ever, as if this isn’t real, as if none of this is real, as if Roni Taylor isn’t pointing a gun straight at my face, as if Ben isn’t lying there on the floor face down bleeding his life away.
“Hey, baby,” he says. God, even his voice makes me weak-kneed. Even right now I tremble at the sound of his voice. He knows how to make me crazy the way nobody else does or can. “Miss me?”
I open my mouth but no words come out. I’m so shocked, surprised, overwhelmed by what has happened that I can only emit a vague sigh.
“T-t-t-terrence?”
“It looks like you’re up to no good, Roni?” His smile is slick and smooth, like a cat’s. Seductive. Like he’s not even worried about the gun she’s holding. Like he’s one hell of a cool customer, capable of talking her down from the ledge with just one flash of those shining, piercing eyes of his. “I say, this is all a bit dramatic, don’t you think? I mean – it’s one thing to have a catfight with another woman. But a gun, Roni?” He smiled his slow sexy smile that would get any woman heated up. “Roni…there’s plenty of me to share…”
Roni is staring at Terrence in shock and horror. Clearly the two aren’t in league together – I can tell that much from the way her eyes bulge out. It’s more than just consternation. It’s absolute fear. She does not want him here, that much is clear.
But now that he is here, she has to think fast.
“Terrence…” she purrs. Her voice is like a tiger’s. “What a pleasant surprise seeing you here!”
He’s not buying it.
“Put the
gun down, Roni,” says Terrence in a low, dark voice.
“Staci and I were just…playing around. Weren’t we, Staci?”
I don’t say anything. I shoot Terrence a searching look which I’m hoping he’s able to correctly interpret as oh my God help me please I’m stuck here with a crazy bitch who is pointing a gun at my face.
I think he does.
“Roni, put the gun down,” he says again. This time he takes another step closer to her. “I don’t want to fight you.”
“Fight me?” Roni’s purr raises pitch into a growl. “Why, whatever do you mean, Terrence? I don’t want to fight you at all.” She slinks over to him and puts her arms around his neck. “In fact…I missed you, Terrence. Missed you so bad. It’s been a while. My whole body’s been aching for you for months. The way you can take me hard for hours…no one else hits my spot as hard and on target all the time as you do. You really are made to fuck, Terrence. I’m getting wet just thinking about it.”
Terrence looks faintly amused. His ears turn pink. Maybe part of him is vaguely aroused. I don’t know. All I know is that Terrence is shaking his head.
“Sorry, Roni,” he says. “But I’m not here for you this time, Roni. I haven’t been here for you for a very long time. I’m here for Staci. She’s the one I want. She’s the one I care for. And right now, you’re threatening her life and health and safety. Which doesn’t, in my book, make you someone I’m particularly excited about seeing.”
Roni’s angelic smile turns upside down. Now she’s letting loose a decidedly bestial snarl, her white teeth gleaming like a dog’s.
“Well,” she says. “If that’s how you feel about her, maybe you should be a bit more careful how you talk to me. After all, I’m the one holding a gun.”
She does have a pretty good point there.
“Terrence…” I say. “Keep calm. Roni and I were just talking…”
Maybe I can de-escalate the situation: at least until such time when Roni’s no longer got a pistol up her sleeve. Then Terrence can have at her for all I care.
Unfortunately, nothing makes Roni madder than rejection.
“You fool,” she screeches. “I can end you, I swear it. I can end you just the way I ended Benny here…”
She lunges for him, gun in hand.
“Terrence, no!”
I fling myself against Roni, causing her to stumble as the gun goes off. A single shot is fired into the ceiling. Dust and plaster falls down like a blizzard from the hole in the ceiling.
“Close…” Roni says. “I’ll get closer next time, Blue, mark my words.”
She’s still got the gun in hand. Sweat mats her blonde hair against her high porcelain forehead.
“Not so fast, Veronica!”
Another familiar voice fills the room with its echoing. My heart skips a beat. It’s Xander Blue, standing there in a perfectly tailored Armani suit with dove-gray pinstripes, standing in the doorway with a serious and determined look on his face. Unlike Terrence, who until he was being shot at seemed to take this whole thing as a joke, Xander looks deadly, terrifyingly serious.
“Shit, not you too…” Roni grimaces. “I assume you’re not here to whisk me away to Barbados this time, are you, Xander?”
“No, Roni. You and I, well, it never clicked between us, as much as you had hoped. There are boundaries even I wouldn’t want to cross, sister-in-law.”
She looks desperate, like a caged animal, like a panther, starved of blood and ready to pounce out onto the flesh of the first thing she sees.
“Fine,” she says. “If that’s the way you want it, that’s the way you’ll have it.”
She points the gun at Xander. She fires.
He’s able to tackle her, but not quite fast enough. As she falls, he falls to his knees, crying out – just once! – in pain.
“Xander!” I cry. “Xander, are you okay…”
He forces himself up to his feet, clutching at his shoulder. Blood is dripping from the wound.
“Grazed me,” he says through clenched teeth. “Bullet’s in the wall.”
“Damn it,” Roni cries. “Will you just hold still for a second so I can kill you both?” She’s outnumbered, now, three to one, and she’s aware of it. She’s aware she doesn’t have much time left. But she still has that gun, and by God she’s going to take down as many of us as she can before we get here.
“All of you Blues boys,” she says. “Sick. Sick, just like your father, your brother. I knew you were both utterly useless. Not like Danny. Danny was always my favorite. Always a gentleman. Until that conniving little Neve got her claws into him, he was all mine.”
“Until you went behind his back and married our father, the richer and more powerful, Clarence Blue. You and him were through way before Neve entered the picture, Roni,” Terrence said. “You have to accept responsibility for that and stop blaming other people.”
“Such loyalty to your half-brother, Terrence,” Roni said. “All too happy to give it to stepmummy when it suited him…”
“You’re crazy, Roni. Danny, who is not here to defend himself against your false accusations, never had anything to do with you like that after you broke his heart, marrying our father while you two were supposedly still dating, but you’ve tried to seduce him even after marrying Dad,” Terrence said.
“You two…you’re the crazy ones for refusing me. Vain little cowards that you are. Obsessing over this whore. When you could have had me. My beauty. My brains. I know how to make money almost as well as I know how to spend it. I got money out of Clarence Blue. But I got money for him, too. Blackmail. Secrets. The usual espionage. I earned him as much as I took. And he had the gall to take me out of his will. Left the whole damn thing to Danny – his golden boy. Except the Blue Room. That’s all yours, Terrence. And you, Xander, guess you didn’t inherit a thing, but then again, you’ve got enough money as it is. I should have went after you instead of old Clarence. You’re just as wealthy if not more so, on your own.”
She laughed bitterly. “Terrence, guess you and I are the ones left with nothing or almost nothing from Clarence’s will. You should be siding with me now, against that old Blue. The Blue Room…it’s not all yours. Terrence. You’re co-owner. Not with Xander, but with another of Clarence Blue’s bastards. A daughter. Unnamed. Conceived in Vegas about twenty something years ago after his beloved Mrs. Blue died. Bet you all didn’t know that. He has a bastard daughter like you, Terrence.”
Conceived in Vegas twenty something years ago…
“I’ve been looking for her for a long, long time.”
“And you think…that’s Staci?” says Terrence?
Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew.
That would make me Terrence’s half-sister.
And just – ew.
Besides, I can’t be Clarence Blue’s bastard daughter. I’m a Tannenbaum heir – whether or not Terrence knows that or not. And while that fact has done little to improve my life in recent weeks, it does, at least, mean that I haven’t been fucking my half-brother for the past couple of months. Which is a small mercy, in the scheme of shitty things that have happened to me lately, but at least I wouldn’t have to throw up a little in my mouth.
“I tried to get dear old Clarence to change his will,” Roni continues, still holding the gun. Sweat has made her face soaked. “Especially when he became ill, when he suffered that heart attack upon learning that Danny and I had been lovers before I married him…when that tape of us fucking surfaced. I wondered who made that tape appear so suddenly? Oh yeah, it was to make Neve jealous. Ha ha. But then the old Blue got a hold of it, mysteriously, sending everything I worked for flying out the door. All those years of sucking his wrinkly weenie, of bending backwards for him, of…”
“Spare us the details, Roni, please,” Terrence said in disgust.
“Cheated from any inheritance because of that video. Despite the fact that my face and my body and my charm brokered all those deals for him, he insisted on treating me like a little useless h
ousewife who couldn’t access the big bad men’s affairs. He cheated on me. Treated me poorly. Then had the gall to be surprised when I showed him that the goose can do just what the gander can. Wheel, deal, get her rocks off. I put up with all his affairs. But when I fucked Danny, Clarence tries to file for divorce. Thank God for that heart attack, am I right? Then I’d really have been screwed. Now he’s in a coma. And let’s hope I can get my affairs in order before he finally bites the big one, huh? I could be a great fucking wife for either of you boys. I could influence you. I could make you a star. I could make you bigger than the motherfucking Tannenbaums. But you two are too busy obsessing over this dumb whore to see my potential. Now Terrence – if you would just back off the Blue Room, let me handle it. You hate it, don’t you? You hate the degradation. You hate the life. Hand it over to me…and let me run it at a profit. Collect some of the money. Sit back. Relax. Let the woman do all the work – the way men at your company always do – just look at how little credit little Josie Walters gets for all the shit she puts up with. And smile and nod and get your photo taken when they want to impress you. As for this long-lost daughter – I’m afraid I don’t swing that way, or I’d try to seduce her, too. So I guess I’ll just have to kill her.”
She peers at me. “The age range fits. The single mother fits. Birth in Vegas fits too. Either way, Tannenbaum or Blue, you’re an heiress to a nice piece of property. And either way, I want nothing more than to get rid of you.”
Chapter 5
Xander stands up straight. His back is like a rod. “Sorry, Roni,” he says. “I’m not interested in any of your schemes. And besides, you’re outnumbered here. One of you against three of us. You won’t get far. The second you fire the gun the rest of us will tackle you to the ground. Then you’ll be done in for murder.” He takes a step towards her. Roni is breathing sharply, almost trembling. Almost like she’s aroused by his presence. Not that I blame her. Xander is a powerful, commanding force even when he’s not trying to be. Tall, remarkably handsome, and sweating with virile masculinity, Xander was the model of ideal commanding man. In another time period, he would be a general. When he’s trying to intimidate you, he’s downright dominating. I feel myself blushing with desire just by looking at him.