Touching Sin (Vegas Sin Book 1)

by J. Saman

  This is it. I’m going to die. I can’t stop him. Multicolored stars splash in front of my eyes, life slipping away along with my last breath.

  My phone rings again, but it’s too late for that.

  My world stops. My heart, my breath, my mind, all stop.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “How the fuck did he get in this room?” I bark at Maddox as I give Gavin Moore, the asshole who threatened me and has been after Fiona, my most menacing death glare. I point at him, turning my attention over to Maddox. Maddox isn’t giving me anything to work with. And really, this doesn’t seem like the moment to hold your poker face. This seems like the moment to show your level of crazy and hope it’s more than the other asshole’s.

  “I found him here,” Maddox deadpans, and I think my eyes might have just bugged out of my head.

  “What do you mean, you found him here?”

  Maddox opens his mouth to answer, but Gavin cuts him off with, “What he means is when he arrived in the security tower or whatever you call this place, I was sitting here waiting for you. Or him. Or both, I guess.” He shrugs like it’s all just so blasé and he’s bored with explanations and details. “Where is Fiona?”

  “None of your fucking business,” I seethe. “He’s carrying a weapon?”

  Gavin rolls his eyes, crossing his large arms over his broad chest. He’s in all black and has the air of a professional killer. It’s a look on him I haven’t seen up until this point, but after everything Luke and Maddox told me about him, I know that’s exactly what he is. “Of course, I’m carrying a weapon. At least, I was until your man-muscle over there confiscated it.” He juts his thumb at Maddox, rewarding me a wolfish grin. “I let him have it, but it was only to demonstrate my goodwill and all that friendly shit. But really, we’re getting off target.” He snickers. “Pun intended.”

  Gavin doesn’t look around to see if anyone else can hear us. We’re in a soundproof room in the back. He must be aware of this, like he seems to know everything else. He angles forward in his chair, placing his elbows on his forearms and throwing me an expression I’ve only seen in the military. The face before you’re about to interrogate someone and are willing to get the information you need by any means necessary. “Where. Is. Fiona?”

  “Somewhere safe. That’s all you need to know.”

  “Good. Because I have reason to believe her psychopath husband, Niklas Vaughn, is either on his way to Las Vegas or is already here.”

  That stops my heart. One. Two. Three. It takes three seconds before it starts beating again.

  “Does Fiona know this?” Maddox asks and right now, I’m sort of pissed at him. Because he’s just leaning back against the long table, with one ankle crossed over the other and his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He looks far too casual for this type of conversation.

  “No. And for the record, this was not part of the plan. Fiona and I set everything up earlier this afternoon and now it’s all fucked up. She was to meet me after changing out of her work clothes. That was supposed to be at 16:15. But she didn’t show, and this asshole could be here any second. She and I need to figure out a plan B, which means I need to speak to her. It also means you and your man muscle here, unfortunately, need to be in on it.”

  “What do you mean you set up a plan with Fiona?”

  Gavin sighs like I’m trying the last of his patience with all my questions. I’m about two seconds from putting my fist through his smug jaw. “Again, that’s really not important. Yes, Fiona and I spoke earlier this afternoon. Yes, we came up with a plan, even if I sort of hung back on the full extent of mine. It’s not about me and her. I care about her, I want to help her, but not in the way you do. This is about fucking over Niklas Vaughn. This is about revenge.”

  I take in a deep breath and pace around in a circle, my hands on my hips, thinking everything he’s saying through. I believe him. I hate that I believe him, but I do. “That’s why you contacted him on our open network? So, I’d find you and see what you were up to?”

  Gavin nods his head like I’m finally starting to get it. “Yes. I knew you were an overprotective bastard and would do everything in your power to keep her safe if you thought me a threat. You did, and I’m grateful. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

  “Tell me about this revenge plan. Why Niklas Vaughn? It can’t be about Fiona?” Maddox questions.

  Gavin stands up so suddenly, both Maddox and I spring into action. Maddox with a fucking gun drawn. Jesus, no wonder his hand was in his pocket.

  “Slow your cocks there, boys. I think better when I’m moving. If I wanted either of you dead, you would be, and you wouldn’t have seen it coming. I may be former military, same as you, but my psych profile sent me in an entirely different direction.”

  Maddox sets his gun on the table, right next to Gavin’s. Maddox likes his firearms small, compact, and powerful. Gavin’s is a FN Five-SeveN. Those guns are meant to kill. They have special Kevlar-penetrating ammunition. So yeah, things just got real in our small room.

  “Talk,” I bark.

  Gavin stoically walks over to the glass wall that separates us from the rest of the security area and places his fingertips on the pane. “I’ve known Niklas since I was eighteen and he was twenty-two. He interned for my father’s company in Denver while he finished up his senior year in college.” He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “My family has money. Not Foss money. Nowhere close, but enough money to draw attraction.” He lets out an incredulous scoff and a headshake. “My father instantly liked him. Niklas is a charmer if ever there was one. And when he took a liking to my older sister, no one batted an eye.”

  He spins to face us, pressing his back into the glass and pinning Maddox and I with his discerning gaze.

  “I left shortly after he showed up. I went into the Army and I traveled around, learning my trade. But when I came home, needing to dry out after a particularly difficult job, my sister was different. She was always sweet and innocent and full of life. But when I came home, she was quiet, reserved…jumpy,” he adds, turning his head to catch my eye. I get what Gavin is saying. She was like Fiona was with me when I first met her. “She never admitted anything and hell, did I push. She said Niklas loved her. She said he would never hurt her. When I saw them together, well, I couldn’t tell to be honest. Gabriella insisted she was just going through some depression but would be okay. I believed her like the idiot I was and left shortly after for another job. Four months later, she was dead. Hung herself, is what the coroner said, but I hacked his shit and read the report. Strangled seemed a closer description considering there were some defensive wounds. I was pretty sure Niklas paid the prick off to call it a suicide, but I couldn’t be positive. The evidence just wasn’t conclusive, and I was angry, looking for anything to cling to. Anyone to blame other than Gabby.”

  “Then what?” Maddox prompts, waving his hand in the air to keep this moving when Gavin falls silent.

  “Niklas vanished,” Gavin drawls. “Left Denver immediately after the funeral. A few months later, he popped up in Dallas, working for Foss. I watched him, but everything seemed on the up and up. The moment Fiona turned eighteen and her parents died, they announced their marriage. Gabby was a grown woman when Vaughn moved in on her, but Fiona was only sixteen when Niklas blew into Texas.” His eyes grow hard, the unforgiving determination of a killer etched in his features. “When Fiona ran, the stupid asshole called me to find her, thinking I was an idiot who didn’t know what he was really doing to her and would help him. So yeah, I want my revenge, because after seeing how Fiona is, how afraid she is of male attention and physical contact, I know without a doubt he killed my sister. That it wasn’t suicide. If I can keep Fiona safe in the process,” he shrugs, meeting my eyes once again, “all the better.”

  “You’re going to kill Vaugh,” I say simply. It’s not a question, but Gavin surprisingly shakes his head, a look of pure determination in his eyes.

  “Then what are you aft
er?” Maddox asks, standing up just a bit straighter, his hands on the table, resting comfortably next to his weapon.

  “Death is too good for him,” Gavin declares. “If I wanted him dead, I’d have killed him ages ago. I’m a patient man. I’ve been biding my time. I want him in ass-raping prison for the rest of his life. Or at least long enough for it to completely destroy him. Then I’ll kill him.”

  “Does Fiona know this?” I ask.

  “Some of it. The prison part,” Gavin exclaims, pushing off the glass and moving until he’s directly in front of me, nose to nose. “She would have never agreed to the rest. Girls like her don’t know from street justice, but guys like us do. I informed Fiona that I have information on Niklas, which I do. I told her it’s illegal, which it is. I promised her he could go to prison, which he will since I’m a vengeful fucker. Guys who look like Niklas with his sense of entitlement don’t do well in prison. I’m counting on that. If things don’t go my way for whatever reason, I’ll end him.”

  Gavin smirks, staring off out the glass wall and into the security tower. Maddox and I exchange glances. I don’t know what to make of the guy. He’s ruthless and honest and protects women. I like him, however odd that is. Maybe it’s our like-minded goals. Who cares, really?

  Gavin shifts his weight, turning back around to face both Maddox and myself. “She thinks I’m going to go to Dallas with her and help her put him away in some white-collar prison for the next fifteen years. There will be nothing white-collar about his prison, because I will ensure he ends up in the place of my choosing.”

  “But you think he’s here now.” That’s Maddox and he’s standing up straight, tucking his gun into the back waistband of his jeans. Once it’s secured the way he likes, he picks up Gavin’s gun and hands it to him. Gavin nods his appreciation but doesn’t do anything to conceal his weapon the way Maddox did. He just holds the thing like it’s an appendage he feels naked without.

  “Yes,” Gavin answers. “Shortly after Fiona and I parted ways, I got a message from Niklas telling me he’d found her in Vegas. It’s why I’d like to get Fiona—”

  “I’m calling her now,” I interrupt. The phone rings and rings and rings. She doesn’t answer and now my heart is really starting to go, sweat slicking the back of my neck. Where are you, Sunshine? I try her again and get the same result.

  Sick, hot, nauseating dread fills my gut. Like pouring cement into a bathtub and trying to run the water. If he already has her, I am going to rip him apart. Fuck Gavin. He’s not getting his revenge. This asshole is mine and if he hurts one pretty hair on her beautiful head, I am not just going to kill him. I am going to torture him and enjoy every second of it. Fiona called me her caveman and she was right.

  That girl is my universe and you don’t fuck with a man’s universe.

  “She’s not answering. Something is wrong,” I tell them.

  Maddox’s eyes blaze at me, and for a moment, we have a private conversation that only people who really know each other, understand each other, can have. I’m going to get more guns, is what his looks says. Mine says, I’m going use them.

  I try her one last time with the same results.

  I want to chuck my phone across the room. I want to slam my fists into the glass walls. I might, in fact, be losing my mind. I can’t believe I let her go up to my place without me. I can’t believe I let her go up without checking it out beforehand. Stupid. So motherfucking stupid. “I have to find her,” I snap at someone, anyone. “I have to find her now. He’s got her. I know it.”

  “Where is she?” Gavin asks.

  “My place.”

  “Let’s move,” Gavin barks out. “But if you kill that dickhole without me there to pull the trigger, you and I are going to have some serious issues. I want him in prison, but I’ll settle on death if I have to.”

  “You think I care?” I breathe fire and pulse venom.

  “You will.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Maddox asserts, his voice perfectly calm. His massive hand grips my shoulder and it’s his non-verbal cue to get my shit on straight. Because this is about to go down and I cannot lose my temper. Not yet. Not before I know exactly what’s going on with Fiona and if she’s okay.

  I don’t wait for anyone else. I just leave the soundproof room and march my way through the security tower. I make my way down the long narrow staircase, taking the steps two at a time, until I hit the casino floor. It’s busy in here tonight. A lot of happy cheers from the craps tables. None of it registers. None of it matters.

  I sprint across the casino, my misguided confidence driving me forward. Driving me to her. If she’s even with Niklas. I have no idea where this thought comes from, but in my gut, I know she’s with him. I know he has her. Maddox catches up quickly, having the advantage of a few extra inches on me and long ass legs. He doesn’t speak. He doesn’t have to.

  We reach the elevator and I take a moment to catch my breath.

  “One of us should get off on the forty-ninth floor and take the stairs up the last floor, entering your place through the back,” Maddox recommends softly so only the two of us can hear.

  I nod. I can’t quite speak. I’m getting myself ready for whatever I’m about to face, including my own death. It’s not the first time I’ve faced it. Not by a long shot. I’m not hesitating, though. I’ll go freely, and I’ll go willingly, because I’d die for Fiona. If I’d die for my country and my fellow soldiers, you bet your ass I’d die for the woman I love. It’s really that simple. But it won’t be that easy to kill me. I’ve been shot before and out of the three of us who were there that day, I’m the only one who survived. There is no trade here and there is no tit for tat. It’s going to be a dogfight.

  Fiona would have picked up. She would have called back if she had missed the call.

  This isn’t right.

  The elevator dings and the three of us enter quietly. Maddox hits the button for the forty-ninth floor, followed by mine. The doors close and we take off, my heart hammering against my ribs, sweat dripping down the back of my neck.

  The elevator stops and Maddox steps out without prompting. I catch him running full speed down the hall.

  “Niklas might not be there,” Gavin says. I count to twenty, giving Maddox enough time to get himself somewhere useful, and then I move my finger away from the door-open button and press the one to make them close.

  “Do you really think that’s the case?” I ask.

  “No.” Gavin answers bluntly. “I think he has her. And they might already be gone. There’s a good chance they might not be in your apartment.”

  “Are you a good hunter?”

  “The best,” Gavin replies.

  “Good. Because I’m thinking if he took her, hurt her, then prison is too good for him.”

  Gavin smirks, eyes me hard, and then we both fall silent as the elevator starts to slow.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Gavin and I exchange glances, both of us staring at the open elevator door. No sound. It’s absolutely silent in there. It could be because Fiona is standing, waiting for me to walk out. It could also be because she’s not here.

  “Stubborn fucking woman, she was supposed to come with me,” Gavin hisses, under his breath.

  I hold up three fingers and he nods. Then I count them down until I get to one and we step out together. It’s hot in here. Or maybe that’s just me because I’m sweating like I’ve never sweated before and I served in the goddamn desert.

  Click.

  The cock of a gun behind us freezes us both.

  “That better be a friendly, Jake Turner, or I swear I won’t hesitate to kill the motherfucker, splattering your nice apartment with blood.”

  “You really are a sociopath, aren’t you?” Maddox laughs from behind us. I sigh out my relief, sagging for a flicker of a second before jumping back into high-alert mode.

  “I prefer morally indifferent,” Gavin offers wryly. We spin around to face Maddox who does not look happy. “Wh
ere is our lady?”

  Our lady? My lady. Fiona is mine. And I do not like the fact that I’m standing here in my foyer in my quiet ass apartment with nothing but these two assholes beside me.

  “I haven’t seen her yet.” Maddox holds a finger up to his lips, indicating they could still be here. “She’s not in the utility room, laundry room, kitchen, living room or here, obviously. But…” Then he trails off with an up thrust of his chin. I spin back around automatically and so does Gavin and now we’re staring at my messed-up living room.

  Before I can think or stop myself, I amble toward the disarray, glaring down at the blood on my floor. The blood on my floor. What did Gavin just say about splattering my nice apartment with blood? Someone beat him to it. My jaw clenches so tight I’m shocked I’m not chipping my teeth. My coffee table is shoved back. The chair on its side. So much blood.

  Where are you, Sunshine?

  I don’t think I’ve ever been this terrified in my life. I can’t lose her.

  I sprint toward my bedroom, flying through the closed door. Why is the door closed? My bed is made and I’m positive I did not make it this morning after Fiona left it. No way she would have come in here, made my bed, closed the door and then fought Niklas? Or one of his hired goons. Jesus, that almost feels worse than Niklas. Maybe because I like to imagine on some level, the sick bastard cares about her enough not to kill her.

  “He made the bed,” I say aloud, not even caring if they hear me.

  “Who? Niklas?” Gavin asks, his tone incredulous. Clearly implying that making a bed is beneath him, but I think it’s a message. It’s his way of saying he knows what I’ve been doing with Fiona. His way of saying he was here and he has her, and now, it’s like she doesn’t exist for me. My bed is made. All traces of our night together are lost.

  Or maybe I’m reading too much into this. Who the hell knows?