“So who’d my father piss off now?” He shrugged and wondered if this was it. The time he’d be offed instead of only threatened with kidnap or torture in an attempt to blackmail his father. Little did she know, that bastard wouldn’t give a damn or try very hard—if at all—to reclaim his only acknowledged son. He certainly wouldn’t part with a single one of his precious Euros in exchange.
The woman didn’t bother to respond. Instead, she shoved her hand into an artfully concealed panel in her dress and withdrew a funky-looking white gun, probably made of plastic or ceramic to avoid detection by the metal detector.
It seemed deadly enough as he stared down its barrel.
“You can come quietly with me or I can kill you. Your choice.” She blocked the gun from sight of the guests indoors with her body.
Cash figured it said a lot about the state of his existence that he didn’t really give a fuck if she pulled the trigger or not. But there was something about her, the urgency in her eyes—almost an unspoken plea—that called to him. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t want to disappoint someone.
So he shrugged. “Lead the way.”
“Don’t try anything stupid. We have a sniper with his sights set on you. You will not leave here alive unless it’s with me.” As if to prove her point, the glass wall rimming the balcony—which he’d so recently been clutching as he wished he were anywhere but there—shattered into a billion dazzling shards, raining to the ground below in a deluge of prismatic rubble.
“Son of a bitch!” He jumped as the woman flew into action.
She clutched his wrist then tugged, dragging him inside even as security and curious guests began to swarm the area like angry ants, trying to figure out what the hell had happened.
“Was that really necessary, Aarav?” she grumbled to someone he couldn’t see as they approached the stairway. “A bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
A pause as she kicked open the fire exit door to keep from letting go of either her gun or his arm was followed by, “Yes. I realize you’re pissed. Okay, fuck stealth. It’s a good distraction. We’re heading to the boat. Same extraction plan. See you at the plane.”
Looked like they were going on a trip together. That was if his father didn’t have something to say about it. As they barreled into the stairwell and chaos erupted around them, Cash looked over his shoulder in time to catch a glimpse of his father glaring in their direction before the steel door clanged shut behind them. Probably because Cash had ruined his father’s party and stolen the attention from him.
“He can’t save you.” She yanked Cash hard enough he might have tumbled down the stairs, taking her with him if he hadn’t gripped the railing with his free hand. As it was, he had no idea how she was outpacing him in those heels and with maroon silk flying all around her.
Damn, she was gorgeous. This was not the time to find a woman interesting for the first time in longer than he cared to think about. But this femme fatale with rich walnut hair and eyes to match, rimmed with gold, along with ovaries of steel…well, he wasn’t too sad to be following her out of this hellhole.
“No shit.” Cash practically rolled his eyes. He figured he would wait her out and take his shot at escaping once they reached whatever boat she’d mentioned to whomever she was talking to. On the water, he was in his element. He’d swim for it if it came to that. “Nor would he be likely to break a nail in order to keep my ass alive. You obviously don’t know him very well.”
Which was interesting. Why was she after him if it wasn’t something to do with his father?
Or his father’s money.
“Don’t care to if he looks at all women the way I saw him ogling the ones upstairs, myself included. No thanks.” They reached the ground floor and she tapped her ear. “Am I clear on the exit?”
The answer from whomever she was in communication with must have been affirmative because next thing he knew she slammed through that door too before hustling around the wild side of the island, where a cliff of at least two hundred feet plummeted straight down to the ocean below.
“The team only intended for one of us to be leaving here, so we’re going to have to improvise.” The woman disturbed a pile of brush at the base of the single weathered tree to uncover a freshly set metal anchor, a coiled line in perfect condition, and a high-quality climbing harness.
“We’re rappelling?” He tipped forward a tad to peek at the waves beneath. There was no boat. No land. No nothing but waves from the windward side of the island. “You must be kidding.”
“Have you done it before?” She crouched, preparing the webbing and holding it out for him to step into.
“Yeah, plenty.” The solitude of rock climbing came close to the peace he found bobbing on the open ocean.
“Great. Get in.” She grabbed his calf, her fingers squeezing his muscle for a moment before guiding it into the rigging. By force of habit he drew the harness upward, adjusted it around his package, and clipped in.
“Nice.” She smiled up at him, making something rush through him that was probably shock and adrenaline but felt more like attraction. Was he so desperate for praise that he let his captor and would-be assassin manipulate his emotions? Probably.
In less than a minute he was settled in as she double-checked the gear. “Looks good.”
“And how are you getting down?” He tipped his head as he bent the rope around his waist and gripped it in his brake hand.
“Tandem rappel. She took the skirt of her dress and lifted it to her waist, flashing him a glimpse of lacy red panties that he was pretty sure would have showed off her ass spectacularly if he’d seen her from behind. She used the long fabric including the train to loop around his waist and tied it off in a cumbersome knot. Though she’d done the best possible job with what she had, he wasn’t convinced it would hold her toned weight. “I’m going to hang low to keep from fucking up your center of gravity. Ready?”
Shouts rang out as two men in black charged at them from the casino. They obviously cared more about stopping her than accidentally taking him out. Fuck that.
“This seems like a terrible idea.”