Depths of Salvation (Love on the Edge) (22 page)

“You’re a sick fuck. You’ve already got more money than God.”

“I know who I am. I’m a businessman. I make deals. I move things. I create gateways to better futures.”

I scrunched up my face at him.

“And you should know who you are,” he continued. “
No one
. A decent diver, better welder. One whose always only cared about the money until he got himself sunk into a piece of dirty-blonde tail.”

Adrenaline surged through my veins, and I drew my fist back.

“Just take the deal, Murphey,” he said. “You’ll lose the girl, but you won’t
lose
the girl.”

I dropped my fist. He meant it. The fucking asshole meant it.

“I’ll even pay you what we agreed on in the first place. Pretend like this little trip down lover’s lane didn’t happen.”

“How do I trust you?”

“You don’t. Trust the money. Your word on my side means I keep
my
money. Sadie lives. But you can’t tell her or anyone a whisper of this, or I’ll push the hard-deal quicker than you can blink. Same terms as before.”

I’d never contemplated if I could actually murder someone until that moment, and I was on the fucking edge thinking about it. My mind calculated how I could get him underwater, because down there, enough could go wrong to not raise suspicion.

“Do we understand each other?”

We didn’t, but I couldn’t risk he was bluffing, or risk taking him out right this instant. I needed time to think of an out, one where Sadie’s life wasn’t the bargaining chip.

“Do we have a deal, Connell?”

“Yes,” I snapped.

“I need you to say it.”

“I’ll side with you. Her site won’t stand a chance,” I snapped. The words tasted bad in my mouth, but if they bought me some time, enough to figure out how to save her life and her site at the same time, then I would say them over and over again until he believed them.

“And you’ll be rich.”

“Wonderful.” I bit out the word, cracking my knuckles to stop from punching him.

A gasp from behind me had me whirling.

When had the door opened?

And how long had Sadie been standing there?

Sadie

MY BODY BETRAYED
me because I’d gasped despite being breathless. Connell and Slade’s words had my head spinning. I couldn’t have heard that right . . . had Connell really just said he’d side with him to have my site destroyed, and for what,
money
?

“Sadie,” his voice was a twisted tone of hurt, and it stung every cell in my body.

I spun around, stomping down the hallway toward the exit, forgetting my reasoning for being there in the first place—giving Slade a piece of my mind over his fake drug-deal incident seemed so fucking small on the scale of things at the moment.

“Sadie, wait!”

I spun around, my anger overtaking all rational thought. “That’s all I was? A fucking paycheck?” I flew at him, smacking him against the wall of the hallway. He took it, only lifting his hands to slow my thrashing.

The fight in me quickly fizzled out, replaced with the sheer feeling of stupidity.

“Is it true?” I asked again, wanting him to take back his words, explain them away until everything made sense again.

He leaned against the wall, shoving his hands in his pockets. He parted his lips, but he closed them again. He fucking shrugged. “Yeah,” he said, but his eyes glistened.

I shook my head, swiping at the corner of my eyes. “No.” I closed the distance between us, placing my hand on his hard chest. “I call bullshit. What about Conner?”

He flinched, his eyes darting toward the floor.

“The night you told me about him? Why rip the scab off that wound?”

“I needed you close—“

“No. You simply
needed
me. Needed me to help heal you. And you know the saddest thing, Connell?”

His eyes locked with mine.

“You had me. Body, heart, and soul.” I kissed him, hard and fierce, pouring my anger, the sting of betrayal, into his mouth. I ripped away from him the second his hands reached for my waist. “Something money couldn’t buy. Now you’ve lost it. Good luck finding it again.”

I turned on my heels and slammed the exit door on my way out of Slade’s vessel. Nemo didn’t ask questions when I boarded the boat—God bless him he just took off toward home.

My heart shattered; my brain called me an idiot.

I never should have let him close enough to cut me. Not when he was already mixed up with Slade.

Money. Everything came down to money. If I had enough, I could save every site I wanted, but I’d never been in this job for the glamour. I only wanted to help people. Slade only worried about his bank account or making a name for himself by building the first natural gas pipeline route in the area.

Anyone could do his job; I’m sure there were dozens of VPs underneath him dying to take his place. Maybe they’d do it better, maybe not.

Well, he was a fool for messing with me.

I was one bitch who wouldn’t take a play like he’d pulled lying down.

Connell should’ve known as much, but he’d been blinded by the dollar sign.

Something twisted inside me, arguing how tender he’d been with me, how close we’d grown—how could he have faked that?

“You want to go to the lab or straight to the bar, boss?” Nemo asked over the loud roar of the motor hitting the ocean.

“Bar.” I loved this kid. I didn’t have to say a word for him to know I needed a drink. Or lots of drinks.

“You got it.” He turned the boat toward the main docks, and I tossed my thoughts in the ocean behind us. I could battle with myself for weeks over whether or not what Connell and I had was real, or I could suck it up and drown my sorrows in rum like a woman.

And tomorrow I’d wake up—likely hungover—but armed and ready to take Slade, and whoever stood in my way, down.

“Want to talk about it?” Nemo asked, bringing me my third rum and OJ.

“Nope.” I took the glass, gulping half the contents down before smacking it hard against the wooden bar. Now this was working wonders. The sweet heat helped untie all the knots my muscles had twisted into, and my brain was good and fuzzy.

“Okay,” Nemo said, dragging the word out. “At least tell me who we’re silently plotting against.”

I smiled at the kid. Loyal, dependable. He was the kind of worker I wanted to keep forever. I hoped he’d want to stay on my crew no matter where the jobs took us.

“Slade.”

“That one I figured,” he said. “But what about—“

“Don’t say his name. He’s not worth it.”

“Ouch.” Nemo hissed. “I kind of feel bad for the guy.”

“Excuse me?” I glared at him.

He quickly set his beer down, raising one hand at me. “Don’t toss me to the sharks, boss. I have no idea what he did, but I saw the way he looked at you. The man loves you. To have that and lose it? Fuck, I wouldn’t want to experience that.”

The air left my lungs in a hurry. There was no way he’d loved me. Not with what he’d agreed to do. Not with how he’d betrayed me.

Something whispered in the back of my clouded brain, repeating words he’d said to me, showing me kisses we’d shared. I shook my head to rid myself of the sappy loop.

“I think you read him wrong. He wasn’t that easy to read in the first place.” Unless you’d been me, or so I’d thought. God, I couldn’t have been more off the mark with him, and I’d given him . . . everything. A flush raked across my skin, thinking of how much of myself I’d given him, how quickly I’d laid myself bare.

“I’m not wrong, boss. Not on this.” Nemo’s voice cut through my thoughts, and I sighed.

Even now, where I tried to feel shame for letting Connell take me as many times as we did, I couldn’t. I didn’t regret it. The pain, the betrayal, I regretted that for sure. But for a little while, he’d let me in, whether he wanted to admit that or not. That was worth it.

Knowing that I could love someone, have someone who was my match, only to have him turn out to be the biggest liar ever? That was the worst, and it turned my stomach sour now.

Or it could be all the rum.

But the rum was helping more than he had.

“Can I buy the rest of the bottle?” I asked the bartender, and she laughed, shaking her head. “Fine, one more then,” I said and graciously took the full glass from her. I handed Nemo some cash, despite his protests. “I need some air. I’ll be back in a little while.”

“You think you should go alone?” he asked, standing from the barstool.

“I’m fine,” I lied. Well, I was fine enough to walk to the beach and watch the waves. My heart . . . it was broken. I turned around too quickly and ran straight into Ryan.

“Sadie, you all right?”

I slit my eyes at him. He had to have known the dirty deal Slade had struck with Connell. I shook his hands off my shoulders where he’d steadied me. “No, I’m absolutely not.”

“But you just said—“

“I know what I said, Nemo.” I cut him off.

Ryan tilted his head. “Does this have something to do with Connell nearly taking Slade’s head off today?”

“What?” Nemo and I said at the same time.

“Yeah, just before you two showed up. I assumed it was over the fake drug deal earlier.” He looked me up and down. “Guessing there is more to it?”

“Like you don’t know,” I snapped.

He took the empty bar stool I’d just left, not confirming or denying anything. “I can see you’re up in arms about something. Can I help?”

His face was genuine, showing a level of concern I’m not sure my attitude had earned. Still, he worked for Slade, too, which I meant I couldn’t trust him. “No. Unless you can tell me who I can go to that is above Slade.” I doubted it, so I turned to walk out of the bar, needing the salty air on my skin.

“Actually, I can,” Ryan said, and I stopped in my tracks.

I glanced over my shoulder. “You really want to help me?”

“I do. Connell is a friend, and he cares about you. I’ll do anything I can to help.”

My stomach sank at his mention of Connell caring about me.

“Bring your beer; I need to hear the waves,” I said and motioned to him. He grabbed his drink from the bartender and followed me.

“Sure, he can come but not me! I only work for you!” Nemo shouted behind us.

“I’ll fill you in, Nemo. I promise.” I didn’t want the kid involved in this. If it went south, then his career could be marred. Slade had enough power to do it, or worse—that’s why I hadn’t rushed to Henrick with the tape recorder from the fake drug deal earlier because there was no way of knowing how deep Slade had the authority in his pockets. And Nemo was just starting out in life. I wouldn’t be the cause of a setback so early in his career.

Ryan and I walked down the beach, the waves crashing against the white sand as the sun set. I told him everything—how I’d fallen for Connell, how he’d betrayed me, and how Slade seemed hell-bent on using any means necessary to win—despite not knowing if I could really trust him or not. He needed to know the full story if he really was going to help me, and I needed him as he was the last connection I had with Slade Industries. It felt good to talk to him, someone who knew both Connell and myself, but it was even better when I laid my idea on him.

“Well, there is only one person above him who we could go to with this,” Ryan said when I’d finished unloading on him. “It’s Slade’s company, but his investor actually holds fifty-one percent of the interest, so he has final say on everything but has always been more of a silent partner.”