French Connection Vol. 3 (7 page)

I'd need something big.

There was plenty of furniture in the room, but it was the heavy, antique kind of wood I wasn’t strong enough to break. Great for a spare room. Sucked for needing a weapon.

I started toward one of the other two doors in the room. One would be a closet, the other a bathroom. I doubted I'd find anything there, but I had to at least look. I couldn't just sit here and do nothing.

I'd only made it a few feet when I heard noise from outside. Not party noise. Other noise. Bad, fighting kind of noise.

I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, but I hoped a fight meant Gavin had figured out what happened and was coming for me. I just couldn't figure out a way he could take down both of those guys on his own. I loved the guy and he was tough, but those two were dangerous.

I tensed as the door opened, not knowing who I was going to see. The person walking in was just about the last person I expected to see.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Pierre flashed a dimple.

“Pierre, oh my God. How did you find me? What are you doing here?” Relief flooded through me as I looked into his friendly face.

He grinned again. “What is the phrase?” he asked. “Rescuing a damsel in distress?”

I was still in shock and searched my brain for a decent response. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Pierre was here! How?

“How did you know I was here?” I finally found my voice enough to ask.

“I have my ways.” He turned toward the door and looked both ways. “What reason did she give for locking you in here?”

“She claimed I stole from her,” I said and started toward the door. “I need to find Gavin. She could be hurting him.”

He held up his hand and I froze, suddenly frightened as to who may be coming from the hallway. He placed a finger against his lips to hush me. I didn’t dare breathing, just listened intently.

Finally, after endless minutes, he whispered, “Can you prove you are innocent?”

“She said I took a bracelet of her. My prints won't be on it,” I whispered back, wondering if was safe to try again. Now that I felt a spark of hope, I feel desperate to get to Gavin.

Pierre opened the door again to peek out, and I began to say we should climb out the windows when I saw them, the two security guards slumped on the ground.

For a moment, I didn't think anything of it, I’d seen unconscious bodies before. It made perfect sense that Pierre would have needed to overtake them to get to me. Then, I realized there was blood, a lot of it and realized Pierre had killed the men, not only knocked them unconscious as I’d first supposed.

Slowly, my brain began to process everything happening around me and I gasped, it all beginning to make horrific sense.

I looked at the guard’s again.

The wide eyes.

A gaping wound across their throats.

I looked at Pierre, trying to understand. The gooseflesh that crept up my skin was evidence I already knew.

He sighed and eased the door closed again, trapping me with him in the spare room. “I wish you had not seen them, that you would have trusted me to lead you out of here without witnessing things you shouldn’t.”

“It was self-defense, right?” My lawyer's brain scrambled for an explanation that would get me out of here in one piece. “You saw that they were holding me against my will. You tried to talk them into releasing me and they attacked. You had no choice.”

He gave me an appraising look. “You truly are a skilled lawyer.”

“Thank you.” I slowly backed away. The window was definitely looking like my best bet right now. I had to get away from Pierre before I could worry about where Gavin was.

“And I like you, Carrie,” he continued.

This was not going a good way.

“But you are an honest person. You will have to tell what you saw, and I cannot allow that. My employers cannot allow that.”

“Your employers?” I asked. I wasn't stupid. The moment I'd seen the bodies I knew Pierre wasn't a journalist, but I asked for confirmation anyway. Part of me wanted to know so, if I got out of here, I'd have information. Most of it, however, was because I needed to keep him talking.

“Let us say that my... family is not fond of hers. In Corsica, we are what you would call rivals.” Pierre reached down and pulled a knife from his boot. It still had blood on it.

A thought hit me. “Those pictures you showed me, the files... were they real?”

“Yes,” he said. “I needed for you to believe me so that you would testify to the authorities about the things Alizee had done. Your word would have weight.”

“So she killed those girls?” Even as I said it, I knew what the answer would be.

“Unfortunately,” Pierre said. “Alizee is not so sloppy. She does not leave evidence. I was forced to create my own.”

I felt sick. I'd trusted this man, believed that our goals were the same. I couldn't afford to think about that now though. I had to keep him talking.

“If you're from some rival family, why didn't you just kill her? You obviously don't have a problem killing people, and getting to Alizee isn't too difficult.”

“You are much smarter than I thought,” Pierre said. There was admiration in his voice, as if he hadn't expected me to come up with such a good question. “If I killed her, my family would be the first suspect. It could cause war between our families and that would result in death. If she is arrested or discredited, we cannot be blamed.”

“And everyone else is just collateral damage?” My heel hit the wall and I knew I was there. The window was to my left, a desk to my right. If I was going to do this, I needed to do it fast.

“I truly am sorry,” Pierre said. “This is just business.”

And then he lunged.

Chapter 11

Carrie

Just as Pierre started to make his move and my brain began to work on some sort of gibberish I suppose had something to do with fight or flight, the door opened.

Vincent let out what I assumed was a string of curse words in his native tongue and Pierre turned.

Maybe it was a reaction to what Howard had done, maybe it was instinct. Most likely, it was my self-defense classes kicking it. Whatever triggered it, I reacted.

My hand closed around something solid and heavy and I swung it at Pierre's head.

I had one of those moments where things seemed to go into slow motion.

I watched Pierre start to turn his head as the statue arced toward him. There was a moment of surprise in his eyes, followed by the realization that, no matter how fast he moved, he couldn’t get away. The head of the statue slammed into the side of his face with a hollow-sounding thunk and the momentum spun him around. His eyes rolled back in his head and his body dropped. Blood sprayed from his mouth and I was pretty sure there were a couple pieces of teeth in it too.

As he collapsed to the ground, sound and speed came back into the world. My mouth hung open in shock and I could hear my blood rushing in my ears. Sure, I'd had a face-off with Howard that had been violent and physical, but I'd at least known Howard had been a sleaze before he tried to rape and sell me. I'd thought Pierre had been my friend. The swiftness he’d gone from being savior to killer took my breath and was more than a little shock to my system.

“Carrie?” Vincent said my name, his tone cautious.

I turned toward him and he took a step back, his eyes flicking down. I followed his gaze and saw him staring at the statue still clutched in my hand. One side of it was smeared with blood.

“Fuck!” I dropped the statue. I looked at Vincent and I could feel the horror on my face.

“Gavin told you I am on your side?” Vincent's voice was cautious.

I nodded. “I'm sorry about your daughter,” I said automatically.

“Thank you,” Vincent said hurriedly. He glanced behind him into the hallway and then down at the two men on the floor. He frowned. “I don't understand. Why would the man Alizee sent to kill you also kill her security guards?”

“He didn't work for Alizee,” I said. “He said he was from a rival family in Corsica.”

Vincent's eyebrows shot up and he came closer, this time looking at Pierre rather than me. “He said that?”

“He was supposed to discredit Alizee or something...” My short-circuiting brain finally remembered how to work enough to communicate what I should've been doing instead of standing here talking to Vincent. “Shit! Gavin!”

“Where is he?” Vincent asked.

“I don't know,” I said. “But wherever he is, he's with Alizee and that can't be good, especially if she's telling him she's going to have me arrested.”

Vincent looked confused, but I didn't want to waste more time by trying to explain, especially not when I'd already let myself waste time freaking out.

“Find something to tie him up with.” I gestured toward Pierre. “And call the cops. We might not have enough to take down Alizee right now, but Pierre's killed four people I know of and tried to kill me.”

“And you are going to...?”

“Find Gavin,” I said as I leaned down toward Pierre. I'd spotted something useful. “And if Alizee has done anything at all to him, I'm going to kick her scrawny ass back to Corsica.”

Chapter 12

Gavin

I was pretty sure there were a lot of men who would've loved to have a woman as beautiful as Alizee try to seduce them, and more than a few who wouldn't mind if she was a complete psychopath, but I wasn't one of them. And I probably wouldn't have been one of them even if she hadn't been threatening to arrest my girlfriend.

“It’s very simple,” she said as she pressed her body against mine. “You give me what I want and things in France do not become complicated for you and your lover.” Her hands were at my waist, tugging my shirt from my pants.

My hands curled into fists. I didn't know how to get her away from me without having to physically manhandle her, and I knew that wasn't a good idea. She was already accusing Carrie of a crime she hadn't committed. If did anything she didn't like, I had no doubt the next set of false charges would be against me. Vincent might be able to help, but it might cost him everything.

“I promise,” she continued as her fingers skimmed over a strip of bare skin at my waist, “you will enjoy it.” She smiled at me. “So much so that you may ask for more.”

I put my hands on her shoulders as one of her hands dropped to the front of my pants, cupping my still soft cock. Her mouth twisted into a scowl when she realized I wasn't enjoying her ministrations. I seized the opportunity to move her away enough that I could step out from between her and the wall, putting distance between us even though she was still between me and the door.

“It's not going to happen, Alizee,” I said firmly. “I am not going to have sex with you. Carrie is innocent and I'll make sure everyone knows it. I don't care how many officials you buy off, you're not going to pin some theft on my girlfriend just because I can’t get hard enough to fuck you.”

“I believe I will,” she said. “I may even find more items she stole to ensure she enjoys the hospitality of a French jail for a while.”

I bit back the insult on the tip of my tongue and focused on trying to find a way to get out of here and look for Carrie. I had no doubt Alizee had security guards all over and they could easily take me down. Even if it was just me, I wasn't sure I could get out. But it wasn't just me. Carrie was here somewhere and I knew Alizee would call the cops on Carrie if I ran.

“Alizee, think about this.” I decided to try to reason with her. “If I don't want to have sex with you, it's going to be difficult for me to... perform. It won't be satisfying for either of us.”

She laughed. “Come now, Gavin, do not play coy with me.” She took a step toward me, making sure she was still positioned between me and the exit. “I am quite a skilled lover. I have no doubt I can... persuade you to be an active participant.”

Apparently I was being too subtle. I glanced down at my jacket. There was one thing I could say that would definitely get my point across. I hadn't wanted to put it quite this bluntly, but she wasn't really leaving me any choice. “You know that blackmailing someone into sex is rape, right? And what you just said, you're taking about non-consensual sex, Alizee. That's illegal. So how about you just take a step back, let me and Carrie leave, and we can pretend like none of this happened.”

“Rape?” She raised an eyebrow. “Americans have funny notions about sex. A woman cannot rape a man who is able to perform.”

I made a disgusted sound. “Unfortunately, there are Americans who would agree with you about that.” I started to edge toward my jacket. “But I don't think I'll have a problem proving it.”

“I do not understand.” She scowled at me. “This is not a betrayal of your precious lover.” The words dripped with scorn. “You would do this to protect her. Is that not a, as you Americans would say, a free pass? You are being given the chance to fuck me without repercussion from Carrie. She cannot claim you cheated and there would be no guilt as your reasons would be noble.”

“You don't get it,” I said. “I don't want a ‘free pass,’ Carrie is the only woman I want.”

I was within arm's reach of my jacket. I didn't want to grab it now, not when I still didn't have a clear line to the door. I could knock Alizee down if I had to, but if she had some of those massive men within shouting distance, I wouldn't get very far. I would need a better head-start.

“Very well,” Alizee said.

She reached toward the fireplace and picked up the poker. From the look of it, it was iron and while the point wasn't knife sharp, I had no doubt it could be used to kill. She pointed it at me.

“If that is your final word, then you will wait here while I have my men bring Carrie to us.”

Her obvious threat told me she wasn't bringing Carrie here so she could let us both go together. Well, that and the fact that I'd see how vindictive she could be.

“I am going to hurt her while you watch. And then I will have my guards hurt her.”

Alizee and Howard would've been a match made in heaven, I thought. I remembered what it had been like to see Carrie tied up and know that Howard wanted to rape her. I'd never forgotten the expression of fear and pain on her face. I couldn't put her through that again. No matter what it meant for me.