Queen of Hearts (23 page)

“Jesus, Kelsey. I’m so sorry that happened.”

She nodded. “I’m afraid for my sister. It’s dangerous doing what you do, isn’t it? I mean, what if some guy kidnapped her?”

I cleared my throat. That pretty much hit the nail on the head. Honestly, I had a feeling Kristine was already dead. She didn’t have the connections in Vegas to keep her alive, and I was pretty sure she wasn’t savvy enough to hide from mobsters. She got in over her head, and she paid the price for being literally—a greedy whore.

“They’ll look for her, Kelsey. If anyone can, it will be Vince and Flynn.”

“I know something bad has happened to her. She hasn’t called my phone one time since that day she called so upset. I know that’s why Vince found me. Someone hurt her, and they want to hurt me, too.”

I gave her the best reassuring smile I could muster. “Vince will never let anything happen to you. Once he decides he’s going to protect something, he does it with everything he’s got. With his life.”

She nodded, chewing on her lip. She was still worried, and I couldn’t blame her.

“I’m getting all wrinkly,” she winced. “I think I’m going to get out for a while.”

“Go on. I’m going to take a couple laps before I get out.”

She climbed, scaled the side of the pool, and padded toward the chairs. Once we were in the clear and Doyle was either dead or behind bars, she would have to face the truth about Kristine. Hopefully, for Kelsey’s sake, she was hiding somewhere. That was the best case scenario. I wanted to try to convince her to go home and make it right with her family because at least she had a family. She needed them, even if she didn’t know it.

I swam hard against the resistance of the water and let the adrenaline clear my head. Getting Flynn out of my head was almost impossible. We’d gotten through the hard talk, at least most of it. I wanted to put that all behind us for the rest of the day and enjoy our girls’ day at the pool.

I was getting pretty good at being just a girl.

I
was a nervous wreck. I had my hands tangled together in my lap to stop the fidgeting, and I swear I was breaking out in hives. I itched all over. Mrs. Maguire did that to me, even when she wasn’t trying. Flynn’s mother was a ferocious woman, and she intimidated the shit out of me.

She sat staring at us, a small smirk pulling up the side of her lips. She wanted to blurt out ‘I told you so,’ and I was going to let her have her moment. She knew the second she met me that I’d end up with Flynn. She’d pushed my heart in the right direction, and it was inevitable.

He’d been an asshole since the day he’d had to deal with the detectives regarding his father’s whereabouts, and I was close to strangling him in his sleep. I’d gone all out on my outfit, trying to excite and entice him into pulling the stick out of his ass, and he hadn’t even commented.

I even bought a pair of freaking red stilettos. If that wasn’t love, I wasn’t sure what was.

But he was completely distracted. Moody, touchy, angry... it was a true test of my patience. I understood that he was under a lot of pressure, but everything was so new, I wasn’t sure how it was going to affect us going forward. It was a pivotal time for me personally. I was letting go of so much, so much of my past, and so much of myself. Trying to become something new and something better, and most of all, I was trying to become a couple. It was as difficult as I knew it would be. The theory of happily ever after was becoming just that—a theory.

“You look lovely, Jayne.”

I smiled at Cherese. “Thank you. You look really beautiful tonight too. I love your wrap.”

She had on a nice black pantsuit and a gorgeous silk pashmina around her shoulders. She looked so put together and classy, a woman with more confidence than I’d ever had. I thought I had the market on being the center of attention, but Cherese knew how to make the world revolve around her like no one I’d ever met.

“Thank you. It was a gift from my rat bastard husband. Speaking of—what did you find out the other day, Flynn?”

He cleared his throat, obviously irritated that he had to talk about it. I sat up straighter, suddenly very interested. He hadn’t told me much, only that Doyle was zigzagging across the southwest after leaving Mexico. He wouldn’t elaborate, but gave me the general speech about how he had it under control and I shouldn’t worry.

As if that was an option.

“I told them he’s attempted to hack into the offshore accounts, but he wasn’t successful. I have them well secured.” She raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“And...” he snapped. “Mother, I told you when I have something to share, I will. He’s getting desperate now. If he’s already run out of money, we know what that means. Can we not talk about this now?”

He ran his hand over his head and sighed. “I thought you wanted to spend some time with Jayne.”

She laughed. “If that’s all I wanted, I would have asked
her
to join me for dinner. I wanted to see what new information you had and share some of my own.”

I looked over at him as his head snapped up to face her. “What are you talking about?”

She gave me a wink and then moved her eyes back to Flynn. “What are you going to do with the girl?”

He squinted at her, frowning. “Jayne?”

Rolling her eyes, she sat back, annoyed. “No, not Jayne. I know what you’re going to do with her, darling. We’ll get into that later. I’m talking about the young girl—Kristine’s sister.”

He shook his head slowly. “Nothing. She has nothing to do with this. She’s in need of protection, so Vince is taking care of her.”

“Bullshit. Why else would she come out here?”

I had to speak up. Kelsey did not need Cherese on her ass. “She truly doesn’t know anything, Mrs. Maguire. I’ve spent a lot of time with her the past few days, and she’s in the dark. She’s worried sick about her sister.”

She picked up her drink and stared at me over the rim of the glass. Suddenly, I was covered in a light sheen of sweat, and I kind of wanted to throw up.

“If you believe her, I will give her the benefit of the doubt.”

I didn’t know what to say, but that sounded pretty damn close to a compliment coming from Cherese. When I looked up at Flynn, his expression told me he agreed.

“Doyle sent Sullivan to the house about a week ago. He’s been tasked to keep an eye on Kelsey. Your father thinks she has access to the money Kristine took, so she needs to be watched.”

My heart plummeted. Just thinking about harm coming to Kelsey gave me the cold chills. She was still certain that nothing would happen to her, no matter what we told her. She couldn’t fathom someone wanting to hurt her. What she didn’t understand was that she was an easy target.

“Doyle will use her as a pawn, Flynn.” Her eyes moved over to gaze at me before giving him a serious look. “He’s done it before.”

I knew what she meant. Me. He’d used me to get my father. Doyle had wanted to hurt him, and he had by humiliating me.

“He won’t touch Jayne. Over my dead fucking body,” he hissed.

“I know your father, Flynn. He is stewing in anger knowing that I’ve allowed you to take over his business. Through Sullivan, he knows that you’ve disassembled and destroyed the most lucrative associations. That flamboyant piece of shit casino is nothing to him—you know that.”

“What are you trying to say?” I finally asked. I pretty much knew where she was going, but I wanted a definitive answer.

“You’re leverage. Again.”

“She’s not,” Flynn howled. “Damn it, Mother. I’ve done my best to reassure her that she would be in no danger. I won’t let him hurt her again.”

She smiled. “I know you will try to keep her safe, and that scares me, too. You’re all I have, Flynn.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. I felt horrible. I was afraid for Flynn’s safety, the same as he was of mine. I couldn’t imagine what his poor mother was going through. How she lived with a man like Doyle so long baffled me.

“Don’t be sorry. My son loves you. I told you the day we met that he would never stop. He gets
that
from his father. It’s a good trait in Flynn’s instance. I believe wholeheartedly he will let no harm come to either of you if he can help it. We just need to find Doyle before he can strike.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do.” He was defensive and suddenly very tense. “What else do you know, Mom?”

The waiter delivered our entrees, and we were silent as he set the table. We were in a very quiet, very small French restaurant on the outskirts of town. I’d never been there before, but apparently it was Cherese’s favorite place to eat. The food smelled delicious, but my stomach wasn’t much interested in consuming any of it at that point.

“Do you remember the ranch up north? We used to visit when you were a young boy.”

He busied himself with refilling our wine glasses and nodded. “I used to drive up there all the time. I haven’t been in years, but I love that place.”

She smiled. “He has the ranch fitted as an escape plan. The entire bottom level is secure and holds a full arsenal. He’s always been paranoid, for obvious reasons. I think he may sneak up there and hide.”

Flynn set the bottle down and leaned forward with his elbows on the table. “Have you told the detectives?”

She shrugged. “They should know of its existence. They’ve gone through every property here in Clark County, and they knew about the houses in Arizona, Mexico, and Texas. I figured they already knew.”

He chuckled darkly. “What do you have planned?”

She smiled, almost childlike and definitely scary. “If they catch him, they will ask questions first and shoot later. I want that bastard dead. Behind bars, he will be as dangerous as he is outside. You know how deep his connections go. He will still pull all the puppet strings even while he’s in prison. There is only one way for all of us to be free of him.”

I gasped, covering my mouth in shock. I was fucking flabbergasted. I couldn’t believe she’d just insinuated that she wanted Flynn to kill his own father. I hated the man, more than anything in the world, but there was no way Flynn could live with himself if he did that. He was many things, but a killer? Cold-blooded murder? Hell no.

“He can’t do that,” I cried. “How could you even ask that of him?”

She reached forward, her eyes softening as she took my hand. “He will kill anyone that gets in his way. He will not stop, especially if he feels trapped. Life for all of us will not go on as long as he’s breathing.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t agree with any of it. There was no way I was going to let him get hurt. There had to be another way.

I shoved my chair back and stood, ready to leave. “I need to go. I can’t listen to this anymore.”

Flynn grabbed my arm as I moved to leave. “Wait. I’ll go with you.”

Cherese got up and came around the table, her face etched with worry and regret. “I would never willingly put him in danger, Jayne. He’s my only son. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”

She reached to hug me, and I allowed her. My legs shook, and my chin quivered. I didn’t want to think about it.

“My son is a very lucky man. He knows this, which is why he will do anything and everything to protect you. That’s why I worry.”

She kissed the side of my cheek and pulled back, patting my shoulder. “Flynn, darling, can we speak privately for just a moment?”

He nodded, his body stiff and his lips pressed into a tight line. He was angry and worried about me. He could sense that I was close to completely melting down.

“Sweetheart, wait for me up front. Do not leave the restaurant. I’ll only be a minute.”

He kissed the top of my head and I walked away, not bothering to look back. My legs were on autopilot. Every motion was an involuntary reaction. Everything else was numb.

As promised, he walked up not even two minutes later and held out his arm. “Let’s get you home,” he said.

I couldn’t look at him. Tears were already spilling, and I could feel the coarse itch in the back of my throat. I was dying to break out in sobs. There had never been another time in my life when I’d been so terrified.

As soon as the stiff, warm air hit me, I lost it. I grabbed onto him, my legs going out from underneath me.

“I need you. You can’t leave me. You can’t listen to her. There has to be another way. I won’t let you do this. Not after everything we’ve been through to get here!”

I collapsed in his arms, letting all the confusion and panic take over. The fighting, fucking, playing, and the running was over. I more than needed him. He’d become vital to my existence. I couldn’t imagine that all the hurt and pain we’d endured would end with me being without him. We’d come too far to let the idea and vengeance of a bitter old woman tear us apart. I wouldn’t let it happen.

“Baby, calm down. Jesus. I’m not going anywhere.”

“You can’t,” I sobbed. “I love you. I tried to hate you. I tried to pretend you weren’t as significant as you are. I wanted to forget, but I never will, Flynn.”

“Shh.” He soothed my back, rubbing his hand up and down gently, and held me against his chest. I don’t think I’d ever felt more afraid in my life.

“Do you trust me?” he asked against my ear.

“Yes.”

“How much do you trust me? Enough to let me deal with this?”

I pulled back and grabbed his face in the palms of my hands, digging my fingers in deep. “I trust you with everything. I swear it.”

He nodded, his face serious and his eyes dark. “Do you understand why I try to keep things from you? It’s to protect you from bullshit like this. Everyone has a plan, Jayne. You have to trust me to handle this.”

I nodded. “I don’t want to be without you again.”

He stared at me for a long moment and then smiled. “You trust me completely?”

I laughed through my tears and wiped the moisture away from my face. “I said I did. Now is not the time for me to stroke your ego.”

Moving his hand to my face, he rubbed his thumb underneath one eye and then the other. “Come on. I can’t take you crying like this anymore. Let’s go home.”

~~***~~

A
fter a long shower, we crawled into bed, exhausted and reflective. I couldn’t get close enough to him. My body clung to him, so afraid of letting him out of my sight. We lay there, both of us lost in our own thoughts, tangled up in each other.