Dominic seriously doubted that. “Like she’s been listening to Annabelle all this time? She’s a socialite who takes lunches and goes to charity balls. How f**king intellectual can she be?”
“She’s raised millions of dollars for the homeless. And those lunches she takes are usually about her charity.”
He hated to burst Law’s bubble because the guy so rarely had a positive outlook on anything, but he had to do it. “Her charity is on the brink of ruin.”
“Because of her father.” Law could also be a little like a pit bull with a nice hunk of meat when he decided something. He never f**king let go.
But Dominic needed Law on his side. “Her gambling father who’s run the whole family into the ground. Yeah, and she just keeps feeding him money. She’s giving him funds earmarked for warm coats and shoes for poor children. She’s probably hoarding some herself for shopping sprees.”
“You’ve got her all wrong.” Law’s jaw squared, and Dominic just knew he wasn’t going to like what his best friend was about to say. “I think she’s the one for us.”
“Fuck.” Riley put a hand to his head, shaking it as though he couldn’t believe what his brother had just said.
Dominic felt his blood pressure tick up. “Are you f**king crazy?”
Law held out his hands in defense. “Just listen to me. She’s not what you think she is. I don’t know why she’s marrying him.”
“For his money,” Dominic shot back.
Law ran a frustrated hand on top of the dark stubble of his buzz cut. “Yeah, but the money isn’t for her. I think she’s trying to save her family. You should know something about that.”
“I never spread my legs to save my sister.” What he didn’t say was that he would have. He would have done anything to save Carrie. “This isn’t the same thing at all. She’s marrying for money because her father gambled everything away. You are willfully misjudging her because you want to f**k her. Do I need to take you off this case? You’re either with me or against me, brother.”
He wasn’t sure what he would do without Law. Riley was the computer genius, but Law was really smart muscle. He’d come to rely on the man’s instincts, his training, his sheer tenacity. His friendship.
But he owed it to Carrie to succeed. He couldn’t allow Law’s obvious attraction to Kinley Kohl to stand in the way of justice.
He could still hear his sister’s whispers on his voice mail.
Dom, I need to talk to you as soon as possible. Please call me back. It’s all going wrong. I’m leaving Greg. I think he’s…I have to go. He’s here. Call me.
He’d been off with Riley and Law, screwing some brunette he’d met at a bar while his sister was being murdered.
Law’s face cleared, becoming a polite blank. “Of course not. I know how much this means to you. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
He turned away from the monitors, all excitement gone. Law was a predator again, cold and unfeeling. Exactly what Dominic needed. So why did he feel like he’d just taken something precious from his friend?
Riley leaned in. “He’s fine, man. We’re both here for you. She’s just his type, that’s all.”
Pretty, blonde, and stacked was just about every man’s type, but he’d never seen Law react so fiercely to a woman. What had he learned about her that Dominic hadn’t?
It didn’t matter. Getting her isolated and making her talk did.
“We’ve got movement. Annabelle just rang for room service. That’s our cue. She’ll make sure Kinley is alone in that suite for the next fifteen minutes.” Riley turned back to him. “Who’s ready to roofie a blonde? This guy. Come on, Law, you can stare at her boobs up close.”
Law sent his brother his happy middle finger. “Let’s get this done.”
Dominic put a hand on Law’s shoulder. “We’re not going to hurt her. We’re saving her.” She might not thank him for it, but… “You know that.”
Law nodded, but Dominic wasn’t convinced. “Sure. We need to go. See you at the extraction point.”
Sometimes Law sounded like he was still in the military. He and Riley walked out.
Dominic turned back to the screen. Kinley was a gorgeous woman, and he had a wistful, fleeting thought that it would have been nice if she had been the one woman who could love all three of them. The woman who could become the center of their world.
She turned, her face so sad, so beautiful that he nearly reached out and touched the screen.
He growled a little as he turned away and started wiping the room clean. He didn’t have time for bullshit. He had a killer to catch.
And a hostage to nab.
Chapter Two
“I deserve to find happiness.” Kinley forced herself to take a deep breath as she paced the floor in her white, four-inch Manolo Blahniks. “Greg will be my happiness and my joy.”
The room responded with an echo of utter silence. Yeah, no one believed that, not even the walls.
Was this how she would spend the rest of her life? Would she wake every morning and try to convince herself that she was happy and fulfilled? Since she was a kid, she and Annabelle had a ritual before big events like Christmas, birthdays, and big dates. They would get together and hold hands and wish out loud for their dreams to come true.
Tears threatened as she remembered the last time they had done it. It had been at her mother’s bedside. Annabelle had flown home from Chicago. She’d beaten Becks to the hospital, despite the fact that her sister lived only a few miles away at the time. It was a silly ritual, a daydream between young girls. It hadn’t saved her mother’s life, and it wasn’t going to work today. But when Annabelle had taken her hand, she’d wanted so desperately to believe that magic could work.