Page 59 of Devil's Retribution
He lifted an eyebrow. “Huh. Well, how about that. So if I, say, brought you a solid lead on where he likely is, you’d be interested?”
“I have to cover every lead, for his sake.” I gave him my most innocent, pleading smile. “Of course I’d be interested.”
Well, it looked like I finally had a bite, maybe Mr. Layton does know more about my uncle’s disappearance. I struggled to hide my exhilaration as I continued.
“So this whole time you were in a hospital bed, knocked out. And when you get out, instead of taking a vacation or something, you found out your uncle was missing, and you thought about him, first. Even us, his employees.”
I nodded, trying to appear the perfect image of a dutiful niece. “I promised my uncle I would take care of it all if he ever needed it, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. If anything, I feel like doing this is helping me recover.”
“Helping others.” He sounded skeptical.
“I don’t think my uncle would want any less—”
“Oh come on,” he said in sudden irritation, all trace of a smile gone. “Your uncle is a greedy prick. You’ve got to be naive as hell not to know that by now. He’s got a goddamn cash register where his heart should be, and no spine at all. I already know what he’d do in a crisis. He’s already done it!”
I blinked at him. “How much do you know about where he’s gone?”
He shook his head, a strange, stressed look in his eyes now. His expression was hard. “Look, I can tell you, but it’s not gonna do you any good.”
The sense of danger was increasing. I didn’t know why, but I felt suddenly that I had made a mistake in letting him in. Oh God, Nick was in the other room, and I had no idea when Viktor was getting back—
I took a deep calming breath and tried for false bravado. “Mr. Layton, if you know anything, I’ll make it worth your while, it’s imperative that I find my uncle, he could be very sick by now.”
“Goddamn it. Okay. Look, I guess I owe you that at least.” He sat forward a little bit. “The guy took as much of his money as he could and ran for it. Had me fly him out to the airport and took off. He’s…” He sighed. “He’s got a compound in Haiti. Petion-Ville, east of Port-Au-Prince, in the hills above the tent city.”
I stared at him. “Haiti?” Almost no infrastructure, hospitals low-quality and commonly at capacity, crime everywhere… “Do you know why?”
“Rich guy can get a lot more mileage in a place like Haiti, especially if he has no morals. It’s also pretty close to a major port and the airport.” He sniffed. “Look, the point is, somebody was after him. Someone dangerous enough for him to run and leave everything in a mess.” He stared at me, then hesitated. “You seem like a pretty nice woman. And way more loyal than he deserves.”
My heart was starting to beat fast. Did I hear the faint rumble of the elevator outside the door? Please let it be, I don’t feel comfortable facing this guy alone anymore. “Why… why do you say that?” I asked him in a faint voice.
He shrugged apologetically and pulled out his gun. “Because he sent me here to kill you.”
Chapter 23
Emma
I stared at my uncle’s bodyguard in horror as he leveled the gun at me. “Please,” I said softly, “My nephew’s right in the other room—”
“Yeah, I know, I’ve kinda got to kill him too. Hell of a thing, really, but your uncle really doesn’t like watching you drain his bank accounts paying off people he no longer has any use for.”
“I don’t get it. His businesses bring him in his only—”
“Oh honey.” He laughed, but his gun hand stayed steady as a stone. “The man’s rich enough for ten lifetimes. You think he gives a damn about his businesses anymore? They’re nothing more than glorified hobbies as far as he’s concerned.” He grinned mockingly. “It’s funny. You grew up with all this goddamn money and you still don’t know how this works.”
He was so busy gloating that he didn’t seem to hear the faint beep of the door’s card reader.
“Yeah, well, just because I’m not a spoiled asshole doesn’t mean I’m stupid.” I glared at him, absolutely terrified inside but refusing to show it. “Anyway, you’ve given me what I wanted, so I don’t have any more use for you.”
His eyebrows went up and he laughed. “Holy shit, honey, you’re not only better than your uncle, you’ve got bigger balls too. Too bad it can’t do you any good now. You don’t have me anywhere. I’m the one with the goddamn gun pointed at you.”
I stared at him steadily. “You’re not the only one.”
The door opened and I immediately threw myself to the side and scrambled away across the floor while I heard my unwanted guest stand up, distracted by the sound.
“You—” he said in confusion.
I dove around the corner into the kitchen a split second before two guns went off in quick succession. Then a body hit the floor. I heard a few faint wheezes, and then they stopped.