The Ultimate Romance Box (6 Bestselling Romance Novels)

by Eckhart, Lorhainne

  No wonder Dianna had tried to incriminate Greg. She wanted to divert their suspicions to him while she ordered Carter to steal Alexa’s jewelry. Good thing Alexa had enough foresight to lock up her valuables every night.

  Shaking his head in disgust, Dante glanced at his watch. He’d lingered too long. “Time to get out,” he mumbled as he pushed the chair to stand up.

  “Too late.” Carter’s frigid tone froze Dante in place. “Stay where you are. I have a handgun.” The sound of a gun being cocked alerted Dante to remain still.

  “Shit.” His back straightened, and his fingers surreptitiously covered the cell phone hooked to his waist. His head still, he punched the number two, Alexa’s programmed number, counted to three, and stopped the call.

  Behind him, Carter came closer. “Put your hands on your head. Stand up, and slowly turn. One suspicious move and I shoot.”

  Keeping his mind alert, Dante turned around. His gaze met Carter’s icy blue eyes. He understood what Alexa meant when she’d told him she didn’t like Carter’s eyes. They narrowed and glinted like steel, and then flickered right and left as if he couldn’t look his opponent in the eyes. Contrary to his usual neat appearance, a wisp of his hair fell low over his forehead.

  Carter came closer, his weapon aimed directly at Dante’s chest. “Now, keep your hands on your head and back up. Move.” With his gun Carter directed him out of the room.

  Dante took little steps, his gaze never wavering from his enemy’s face and hands. Would Carter dare to shoot him? Here in his own apartment?

  A heavy silence enveloped them as Carter had him back up to the living room and all the way to the kitchen, until Dante’s back hit the glass door of the side balcony—a balcony that had no view of the ocean or the Intracoastal, but only of the narrow driveway leading to the sub-basement garage.

  Dante understood the SOB’s purpose and groaned inwardly. He had no intention of being pushed over the rail. His biceps flexed, but he controlled his expression and kept his eyes fixed on Carter’s.

  A smirk flashed across his enemy’s face, and his eyes crinkled at the corners. “You’ve been a pain in the ass. But now you’ve helped me by coming here.” Carter pressed the tip of the barrel into Dante’s chest and reached behind him with his other hand to open the glass door.

  Bunching his muscles, Dante focused on his opponent’s face and mentally prepared himself. One, two, three. He raised his knee and connected with Carter’s groin, at the same time, he smacked the hand holding the weapon, and followed with a punch into the man’s left eye and another at his right one. Perfect coordination.

  With a growl, Carter doubled over. The Colt flew up into the kitchen aisle and dropped onto the marble tiles, releasing a gunshot that made a black hole in the beige cabinet.

  Dante lunged down to grab the gun. Before he could reach it, a shot hit him in the shoulder and a stiletto heel ground into his hand, pinning him to the floor. An agonizing pain seared his whole body. He ventured a glance at his attacker.

  “Stay put.” Dianna’s voice had lost its soft lilt. She threw him a venomous look and aimed a silver pistol at his head. “You’re not getting out of here alive. Carter, are you okay?” His groan answered her. “Good thing I heard the gunshot from my condo.” Her heel left Dante’s bleeding hand, and pushed Carter’s weapon under the oven.

  Acutely aware of the gun pointed at him, Dante grunted, breathing hard to control the ache in his shoulder. He heard her open a cabinet. What was she looking for? Favoring his arm against his chest, he lifted a painful eyebrow to follow her moves.

  “Carter, you idiot, stop cuddling your crotch and help me open this bottle.” She was trying to twist the cap of a vinegar bottle with one hand and her teeth.

  What the hell was she up to?

  “We’ll make sure he can’t see a thing after this.”

  “No,” Alexa screamed from the door. At her shriek, Dianna turned her head.

  Madre de Dio, why did Alexa come? “Alexa, no.” His shout jammed in his throat. “Run. Go away.” He scrambled to his knees and cursed Dianna and his own weakness.

  “Bitch,” Greg bellowed from the hallway.

  Reassured that Alexa had reinforcements, Dante lurched forward, clutched Dianna’s legs, and yanked them out from underneath her. She fell on her back with a loud thump while another shot hit the ceiling before her pistol slipped from her hand. The bottle of vinegar she was holding smashed into a hundred pieces on the marble tiles, and the acrid liquid sloshed everywhere, on their clothes and the tiles, but thankfully not into his eyes.

  A copper pan in her hand, Alexa ran into the kitchen, and hammered the cooking utensil against Dianna’s head.

  “Carter,” Dante grumbled. The bastard had kicked Dante’s bleeding arm, and grabbed his Colt from under the oven. “Alexa, duck,” Dante screamed, his head exploding from the ache in his shoulder, but his eyes focused on the gun his enemy aimed at Alexa.

  “No.” Greg’s terse voice was followed by a gunshot. Carter collapsed.

  “Stop. Police.” Detective Ladd’s thunderous order filled the rooms. Pandemonium broke out as a dozen policemen stormed the apartment. “Handcuff them all. We’ll talk later,” Ladd ordered. In a split-second, Dianna, Greg, and Alexa were restrained, pulled out of the kitchen, and lined up in the living room.

  No one had touched Dante. They must have noticed the blood oozing from his right shoulder and hand. From the corner of his eye, Dante saw Carter sprawled on his stomach, a cop holding a gun to his still form. Dante wondered if his enemy was dead or alive after Greg had fired at him.

  A buzz of protests reached him.

  “Hey, we’re the victims,” Greg bellowed before anyone could recover enough to talk. “Stop that nonsense. I’ll report the abuse.”

  “Greg, my love. Look at what this bitch did to me,” Dianna wailed. “Help me.”

  “Go to hell. I don’t know why you’re here, but I’ll deal with you when I hear the details,” Greg snapped back.

  “You shot Carter, you, whoreson,” she snarled, giving up the pretense.

  “Sure, I did. That SOB was about to kill Alexa.”

  “Oh Greg, thank you for saving my life,” Alexa said.

  Dante moved his head with effort, searching. Through the daze numbing his mind, he spotted her staring at him, a deep frown between her eyebrows.

  Thank God, Alexa was safe. “That shrew shot Dante and wanted to throw vinegar in his eyes,” Alexa accused as she glared at Dianna. “Look at the shape he’s in now because of you and that monster.”

  Dante blinked and forced himself to smile. “I’m fine,” he mouthed to reassure Alexa.

  “Your Dante was pummeling Carter with punches,” Dianna spat.

  “He wanted to push me from the balcony.” Dante’s weak voice hardly reached his own ears. His head reeled from the agony of his wounds, but the sight of Dianna spitting curses at Greg, Carter, even Steve, cheered him up.

  “Enough,” Ladd hollered. “I’ve heard enough for now. You’ve already tried to kill each other.”

  A policeman approached the detective. “We found three guns.”

  “One is mine,” Greg said.

  “Carter’s and Dianna’s,” Dante muttered. “I had no weapon.”

  “I used the frying pan,” Alexa declared proudly. A cop burst out laughing, the others cleared their throats and turned to hide their grins.

  Gathering a last shred of energy, Dante called, “Detective Ladd.” He wondered if Ladd heard him.

  The detective squatted beside him. “Yes?”

  “Carter’s laptop. Bedroom,” he mumbled between ragged breaths, hoping he’d have the energy to finish his sentence. Dio, it hurts so much. He gritted his teeth to control the blistering pain and inhaled. “Dianna and Carter... abduct... Alexa. Steve marry her...money...kill.”

  “Got it.” The detective motioned to one of the cops to pick up the laptop without closing it. “Take it to the lab and ask for a full report on it.”<
br />
  “In my pocket, tickets.” Understanding his message, the detective shoved his hand into Dante’s pocket and extracted the airline tickets. “Hmm, you had no right to enter this apartment, but...” He granted Dante a half-smile. “Good job.”

  Dante’s strength betrayed him. He squirmed and contorted, trying to press his good hand on his damaged shoulder. Blood squirted from his wound.

  “Now, Cantari, you’d better not move. Or you’ll hurt yourself more.”

  “Call 911,” Alexa screamed. “Dante is bleeding to death.”

  Uncontrollable sobs shook her, but through her tears, she saw the nice officer walk into the condo. “Please, Officer Raines, please, undo these.” She squirmed and rattled the handcuffs. “Give me a towel. I have to stop his bleeding.”

  “The ambulance will be here in a minute. They are on their way up. I called them as soon as I saw the mayhem in this place. I was waiting for them outside.” Officer Raines knelt beside her. A curse escaped him as he muttered, “What idiot has put these on your hands?” He unclasped the manacles, and helped her up, but restrained her arm. “Don’t touch your friend. You may hurt him.”

  “But he’s bleeding.”

  “Here are the paramedics. They’ll take care of him.”

  In fact, four men and a woman entered the apartment, rolling and opening two stretchers. They surrounded Dante, transferred him to a stretcher, and raised it.

  “You idiots,” Dianna snarled. “Someone help Carter.”

  “We are, Ma’am.” A moment later, Carter, still unconscious was moved on to a stretcher.

  Her hands pressed over her stomach, Alexa watched them hold towels to the bleeding areas, wrap blood pressure cuffs, and insert IVs in the wounded men’s arms. They measured blood pressure and pulse, and declared both men still alive. After they strapped them to the stretchers, they wheeled them out of the apartment. Officer Raines and two policemen accompanied them.

  “Please, Officer, I want to ride with Dante in the ambulance.”

  “No, Ma’am. We can’t allow it. But you can visit him at Holy Cross Hospital after the medics take care of his injuries.” The officer smiled kindly.

  “Detective Ladd, I insist you remove these handcuffs,” Greg ordered. “This is outrageous.”

  “You tried to kill a man.”

  “I already explained I shot his hand to prevent him from killing my ex-wife. It’s self-defense.”

  “Shot him in the hand? Your bullet went straight into his side.”

  “So? I’m not an expert shot, but who cares? At least, I stopped him from hurting Alexa.”

  “We’re taking the three of you to the police station until we clear the situation.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  It was late in the night when a policeman dropped Alexa and Greg at the Blue Waves. Silence settled over them as they rode the elevator to Greg’s tenth floor, but he didn’t step out. Alexa glanced at him. With his hair rumpled and shoulders slumped, he looked his fifty-one years and more tonight.

  Upset, disappointed, and angry, but also hurt, he banged on the mirror. “I can’t believe she lied to me all this time.” Dianna’s duplicity had taken its toll on his emotions. Alexa studied the tired lines around his eyes. He had saved her life today, for once really protecting her as he’d promised her father.

  “I’m not sleepy. Would you like to come upstairs for a drink?” Amazingly, he was the one who needed her. In spite of the day’s events, she’d regained her calm.

  His head snapped up. “You don’t mind?”

  She smiled. “I can see you want to talk, and I’m not sleepy. I appreciate your rushing to help in Carter’s apartment.”

  “As if I were going to let you face that mess on your own. I got the bejeebers when I saw you running down the corridor with a pan in your hand. I’m glad you told me what was going on. It took me a few minutes to get my gun.”

  “Officer Raines called me when we were at the police station. Dante had surgery. The doctors removed the bullet, and fixed the shattered bones and torn muscles. He’s in Recovery.” She wouldn’t be allowed to see him tonight.

  Resolutely, she pushed the button to close the elevator door and let it go to her twenty-first floor. As soon as she opened her door, she deactivated the alarm. Greg followed her inside, nodding. “That’s a great idea the alarm. You’ll feel safe again.”

  “I don’t know if I’ll need it now that my enemies are dead or arrested.”

  As usual, Greg went straight to the bar and poured himself a Scotch on ice. “What can I fix you?”

  “Nothing.” She followed him and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and prepared a platter of cheese, sausage, and crackers.

  Greg twirled the ice in his drink. A deep scowl gathered between his eyebrows. “I can’t forgive myself for not being able to stop this mess earlier.”

  “None of us could have guessed that these honorable residents of the Blue Waves would have plotted such a devious scheme to steal my money.”

  “Steal, and kidnap, and kill. To think we went out for dinner with Steve and Julia. He got what he deserved, and I hope the two others will be justly punished. That viper...” Greg cracked his knuckles as if he wished to repeat the gesture around Dianna’s neck.

  “Thank God, she’s been arrested on conspiracy to commit felonies. Several felonies.” She counted on her fingers. “Kidnapping, theft of two million, and more.”

  “I still can’t believe I let her trick me this way.”

  Alexa arched her eyebrow. Dianna’s treachery ate at his gut. It was the number one sin in his book. “Greg, you have to put this behind you.”

  “How can I? The viper,” he growled. “She had the audacity to ask for my help when they handcuffed her.”

  “She’s behind bars.”

  “Yes, but I dated her, spoiled her, and I...” And he’d slept with her. He lowered his head with disgust.

  For the first time in her life, Alexa felt sorry for him. She put a soothing hand on his. “Don’t give yourself a heart attack over her. She’s not worth it.”

  He brought her fingers to his lips, and then squeezed them. “You’re an angel. You came into my life like a breath of fresh air. You made me feel young and strong. But I was selfish. I didn’t deserve you.”

  Alexa stifled a gasp, hardly believing her ears. Almighty Greg apologizing in his own way. The events had shaken him beyond belief. She should be the one seeking comfort, but in a strange way she’d reached an inner peace she thought she’d never find.

  Not knowing how to deal with this new side of Greg, she pulled her hand from his, to avoid a mushy situation. “Anyway, for me the most important thing is that Carter is out of the picture. After the surgery on his side to remove the bullet and stitch the tissues around the damaged kidney, he’ll be arrested too. And I’ll be able to sleep in peace.”

  “That guy, Cantari. He’s a good man. And he’s keen on you.”

  “Oh.” She swallowed, unable to say a word after Greg’s unexpected approval of Dante.

  “He’ll take good care of you.”

  “Oh no.” She raised her hand to stop him there. “I don’t want, and I don’t need any one to take care of me. As soon as I learn that he’s feeling better, I’m leaving.”

  “What?”

  “I was planning to leave the day Steve drowned. My suitcases were already packed.”

  “You never told me.” His hand shook around his glass. “Did you tell him that?”

  “He knows I want to go to New York and then study abroad, maybe in Paris.”

  Eagerness spread over his face. “I’ll be happy to help you find—”

  “Thank you, but I plan to do it on my own.” She stood, about to end the visit, and reconsidered. Greg’s stony reserve had collapsed after today’s event. Hoping he’d be more receptive to the delicate subject that had burned her heart for too long, she crossed her arms over her chest and captured his gaze—hers as stern as could be. “If you want to h
elp me, answer my questions.”

  “What questions?” He arched a suspicious eyebrow.

  “Why did my mother leave?” Her question fell like a bomb in the living room causing Greg to turn livid. His jaw dropped and then locked. “Answer me. Why did Annabelle leave her home and her family?”

  “She ran away with a lover.” His unsteady voice betrayed his emotion. Alexa knew he’d repeat what her father had often declared with the tone of a judge sentencing a criminal.

  “The truth, Greg. I don’t want to hear more lies. Why did she leave her only child?”

  “He didn’t allow her to take you.” Greg’s gaze flipped to the window. Was he looking at a far away scene from his past?

  “Why?” With a tremendous effort, she infused more strength into that single word. “Tell me, damn you. Tell me what happened, or you’ll never see me again.”

  His exhale sounded like a wail. The tyrant who’d controlled her for many years lowered his head. “After a few years of marriage, things deteriorated between Dan and Annabelle. He threw himself into his work, and she dedicated herself to her little girl. They never went out. She suffocated and joined a tennis club. She made friends and never told him where she spent her days when you were at school. He followed her and caught her kissing a young man. He threw her out of the house, divorced her, and forbade her to see her daughter.”

  So her mom had never abandoned her as her father claimed. Alexa’s heart filled with understanding for the young woman who’d tried to find an outlet to her marital loneliness. Hadn’t Alexa been ready to run away too? “But the judge didn’t allow her to see her child?”

  “Dan was a powerful man. No one could cross him. He got a court order forbidding Annabelle to ever come near you. He moved to this condo and notified the security she should not be allowed in the building. After several months of futile effort to take you, she left for New York.”

  “Alone or with a man?” Alexa shrugged as soon as she blurted the question. It really didn’t matter whether Annabelle had lived with a man or not. Alexa wished her mother had someone to console her after losing her daughter and home.