Their Virgin Hostage, Masters of Ménage, Book 5 (10 page)

Law turned, his face a bitter mask. “Yeah? You don’t feel
anything for her? Neither one of you? If you’re trying to sell me that shit,
you should do a better job of hiding your hard-ons.”

Riley sighed. “Fine, I wouldn’t mind taking her to bed. If
she’s what she seems to be, then she’s kind of sweet. At least when she’s not
biting me. But man, I’m not going to touch that. She’ll never be what we need.
And after we’ve kidnapped her, she won’t ever get past it to be what even one
of us needs. There won’t be any dating or romance so we can win her trust or
woo her slowly.”

Dominic put a hand on Law’s shoulder. “I will admit to being
attracted to her, but it can’t go further than that. This is for her own good,
Law. She’s in bed with a man who has already killed one wife. Let’s focus on
keeping her from being victim number two by sitting her down and seeing how
fast we can close this case. Then we can all move on with our lives.”

Law nodded. “Fine. I’ll set up the interrogation room.”

“It’s just a dining room. We don’t have to be dramatic,”
Riley said with a sigh.

“I like to call things the way they are.” His brother turned
and disappeared down the hall.

Riley looked at Dominic. “I think we’re doing the right
thing.”

Dominic suddenly looked a decade older. “For Carrie, yes. Is
it really the right thing for Law? He’s in love with that girl. Damn it.”

“She can’t possibly want him.”

Dominic stared down the hall. “Can’t she? Sometimes, the
sweetest, softest females can prove to have the strongest minds and wills. I
wonder what that woman could be if she had a sturdy man behind her, encouraging
her.”

“Don’t you mean strong men?”

“I don’t know. You don’t seem interested in that life
anymore, Riley. When this is over, I think I’m going to try to settle down for
a while. Date a little. Look for the right woman, someone who can handle me and
Law. I can’t leave him behind. He’ll never be comfortable on his own. Even with
financial security, he would always worry about what would happen to his wife
if he died. If we leave him alone, he’ll wither. I can’t do that to him. I owe
him too much.”

“You think I don’t owe him, too?” He was painfully aware of
how much he owed Law. When they didn’t have enough food, his brother had gone
without so Riley would have a full belly. Law had been the one to sit up all
night with a baseball bat in his hand when their mother brought clients home.

“If you want a different life now, it’s okay. You need to be
free to pursue it. We’ve talked about this since we were kids, but dreams
change. Law and I will be fine on our own.”

“It’s not that I don’t want that life anymore.” Frustration
welled. “I just don’t think it’s possible. And I sure as hell don’t think a
socialite who spends all her time lunching is going to be ‘the one.’”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Law gave me a lecture on the rituals and
habits of our little blonde bombshell. Neither of us has paid any attention to
her except as a potential witness for the feds to nail Jansen. Law has really
gotten to know her. I have to concede… she didn’t cash those checks. He has the
proof. She works. Apparently she works really hard. Fuck. I don’t know.” He
raked a hand through his hair. “I see your side. I see his side. She’s got me
confused, and I can’t afford to be.”

“I hear that, man. We just need to do the job. The rest will
sort itself out.”

It had to.

“You’re right about one thing,” Dominic said as he stared at
the files in his hand.

“What’s that?”

“Law never stood a chance with her. If he’s wrong about her,
then what I’m about to do won’t mean a thing to
Kinley
,
but it will shatter all of Law’s illusions.”

“And if he’s right?”

Dominic grew grim. “Then I’m about to tear her down and rip
her world apart. And after this evening, she’ll never forgive any of us.”

Kinley
kind of wondered why they
didn’t just bring in a spotlight and shine it directly into her eyes. The
evening had become surreal, like she’d been dumped on the set of
Law and Order: Kitchen Edition.
In
contrast to the sleek, modern room, the three big, alpha men who occupied the
space were all displeasure and brute strength.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she swore. “My
charity gives clothes to the homeless. I do not work for the mafia. Unless they
could wear husky boys jeans. Then I could likely help them out.”

She was getting a headache. Worse, Gigi was getting antsy,
probably because Dominic had brought in his hulking bulldog, who sat by his
master’s feet as though he was a physical extension of the big guy’s bad mood.
And the dog growled up at Gigi like she was dessert.
Kinley
sighed.

How long had she been in this interrogation? It felt like
days, and Dominic just kept asking the same questions over and over again, with
occasional help from Riley. Law barely looked at her. It might be ridiculous,
but his indifference hurt. When she’d been brought into the room, she’d tried
to smile at him. He’d returned a blank expression, his gaze sliding over her
like she wasn’t there at all. He hadn’t said a word since Riley escorted her
from the bedroom that functioned as her cell, into the kitchen, then sat her
down in front of a ream of deeply boring accounting reports.

Then the rapid-fire questions had begun.

What do you know about
account 433629? Account 775410?

Tell me about invoice
35249. When was it paid out? Who received the funds?

What were you doing on
May 15th?

And she’d answered the same way every time.

“Kohl,
Kinley
. Bride-to-be.
4325510996.”

Her name, rank, and serial number. Well, her Neiman Marcus
credit card number. It was the only number she knew by heart. If they wanted to
steal it and buy high-end shoes…well, they were in for a shock because she was
at her limit after buying wedding clothes.

She wasn’t going to give them anything else, especially
answers to questions she didn’t know.

“Are you even going to look at the files?” Dominic asked. He
stood over her, placing his hands flat on the table. He was a gorgeous man,
even when he frowned, though now that she thought about it, she’d never seen
him smile. In fact, no one was smiling now.

“There’s no point. I don’t know what you think is going on,
but someone took funds out of my charity. They didn’t use it to launder money.
My accountant would have alerted me to that or any abnormalities.” But why
hadn’t Steve told her about all the missing funds…unless he had something to do
with it. Come to think of it, he’d been quiet lately. God, none of this made
sense, but she wasn’t going to look at these reports when they’d only try to
use them to hang her.

“Then why is all that money missing? And when did you get in
bed with Third World manufacturers?”

She thought about answering, but when she couldn’t tell them
what they wanted to know, then what? They kept claiming that they didn’t intend
to hurt her, and some hopeful part of her wanted to believe that. They’d
probably sent Law/Mike in earlier to butter her up. But she wasn’t falling for
it. When it became apparent that she couldn’t fill in the gaps in their
information, would they kill her? Or would they extract everything out of her
they could, no matter how minute, then off her? Either way, her best shot was
to say nothing.

“Kohl,
Kinley
. Bride-to-be.
43255—”

“Do you know what RICO means?” Riley asked.

“Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. And the
grand jury cleared him.” Greg had explained that there were corrupt people in
the government trying to help his competition. After her kidnappers’
accusations that Greg was a criminal, she might at least think it over. Or not.
Greg was a pillar of the financial community. The men who kidnapped her
were…well, kidnappers. Yes, Greg had been hauled in front of a grand jury, but
there wasn’t an indictment. Even more compelling, one of the prosecutors who
had tried to indict Greg had been found guilty of fraud himself not a year
later.

Dominic shook his head. “No, the grand jury doesn’t clear
anyone. They simply didn’t have enough evidence to move to trial. Do you know
why?”

“Because he’s not guilty.” From what she understood, the
grand jury had convened two years before and had found nothing since. The FBI
had given up because there was nothing to find.

“Because the prosecution’s primary witness against him was
brutally murdered three days before he was scheduled to appear. The man was an
accountant. He had three kids. They all died in a house fire. Arson.”

A chill went through her, but she tried to maintain her
logic. “I’m sorry for that family, but timing alone doesn’t prove that Greg set
their house on fire. It could have been anyone, a pyromaniac out looking for a
kick. In the months I’ve known Greg, he’s never been less than a gentleman.
I’ve seen no evidence that he’s done any of what you claim. I know you want to
take him down because you think that will avenge your sister, but this seems
like a witch-hunt. Honestly…” she
teared
up. “I wish
I could bring Carrie back for you. But I can’t.”

Dominic slapped a hand down on the table, making the whole
surface shake. Gigi whimpered and huddled on her lap. “I didn’t want to do
this. I wanted to keep everything to business and leave your personal
connections out of this, but apparently you don’t give a shit who your fiancé
kills or if he robs your charity blind.”

“He’s not a murderer,” she insisted, trying to calm down her
dog.

“Is charity work just something that rich women do to fill
the long, dull hours between Botox treatments?” Riley growled.

It was harder to look at them now that she knew Mike was
really Law. He’d probably told the other men the stories she’d told him in
confidence—some of her innermost secrets. But he’d also told her stories about
his brothers. Dominic was obviously the idealist. Dominic fought for what was
right, even when it cost him. The younger brother, Riley, he’d characterized as
the brilliant prankster.

Law had humanized them, given her a basic knowledge of them.
So while they fumed and paced, snarled and clenched their fists, she wasn’t
quite as afraid as she’d been this morning.
Kinley
knew that Dominic loved justice, that Riley worried they would never find a
woman who wanted them all because they’d had bad luck before.

Unless it had all been a lie, like “Mike” himself had been.
She was so confused. The only way to not fall into their traps was to refuse to
engage them. She kept her mouth shut, concentrating on her dog. It didn’t
matter what they thought of her. It just didn’t. They were the ones who had
spied on her, taken her from her life, played with her head.

“I’m not answering your questions. If this was a legitimate
investigation, I would be sitting in a police station or an FBI field office.
Real law enforcement officials would be asking me questions. You three should
think about that. Pretty soon, you’ll be the ones answering the questions,
probably from behind bars.”

Dominic practically stared a hole through her. “So you don’t
care about Jansen’s criminal activity. Maybe you give a shit who he’s sleeping
with.”

He slapped a picture down in front of her. It wasn’t one of
those grainy images, taken with a cheap telephoto lens. She didn’t have any
trouble at all discerning the focus of the picture. Oh, no. Someone had
expertise with a camera and had spent money on superior equipment and photo
processing.

Kinley
stared, blinking a few
times, as if that would right her eyes somehow and clear the terrible image in
front of her. It didn’t work. Every time she opened her eyes, the awful truth
was still waiting. No mistaking what the two people in the picture were doing.
No way could she fool herself into believing that Greg was just giving the
woman in the photo a friendly hug. They were naked, and he was clearly touching
her all over, especially inside. Greg had bent the blonde he screwed into what
appeared to be a lounge chair by his pool.
Kinley
had
laid in that very chair the last time Greg had invited her family over for a
barbecue.

Nausea threatened to overtake her as she stared down at the
damning photo because not only could she clearly see Greg’s face, the woman’s
identity was impossible to miss.

Becks was sleeping with her fiancé.

She looked up at Law. He wasn’t shocked. Instead, he looked
grim and closed off, with his arms crossed over his chest. Had he known the
whole time he had followed and talked to her that she was being wretchedly
deceived by two of the most important people in her life?

Tears welled up. Not for Greg’s betrayal. She wasn’t even
sure she was crying about
Becks’s
. The truth was, she
couldn’t stop berating herself. How stupid and naïve Law must think she was. In
fact, all of them must think that. How had she not even suspected?

“How long?”

Law didn’t pretend to misunderstand, and she appreciated
that. “As far as I can tell they were lovers about six months before he met
you.”

“She introduced us.”
Kinley
hadn’t
meant to admit that out loud. It probably made her sound even more naïve. But
she supposed she was. She certainly felt that way.

Law’s right shoulder shrugged up in a negligent gesture.
“Sounds about right. I believe they’ve been colluding together for a while.”

I have the perfect man
for you, Kin. Don’t screw this up. This is important. This could be your
future.

She’d been so insistent. Becks hadn’t taken no for an answer
when
Kinley
had tried to get out of the date. Nope.
Becks had come over to her apartment and helped style her hair and picked out
her clothes. It had been nice for her sister to pay attention to her. She’d
liked the thought they might grow closer. Becks had said she wanted that, too.

It had all been a lie.

“Your sister recently bought a multimillion-dollar life
insurance policy on her husband.” Riley placed a photocopy of the paperwork in
front of her. No disputing the evidence. Becks had taken out a three-million-dollar
policy on her husband, naming herself the sole beneficiary. She would
absolutely benefit from his death, just the way Greg would have benefitted from
hers once they’d been married.

Kinley
took a long breath, wishing
this nasty position she found herself in—deceived by her sister and fiancé, and
used in a vendetta by the three men around her—wasn’t real. But obviously,
she’d been discounting the truth too often lately.

“Who would run Hope House if you die?” Dominic asked, his
voice completely steady as though he wasn’t shattering her world.

She suspected they damn well knew the answer, but told them
anyway. “Becks.”

“I’d bet every last dime I have that she’s already dipping
into your funds. I have no doubt she’s the one who cashed those mystery checks
from your charity’s account,” Law growled.

Kinley
hated to believe that her
sister could be capable of stealing from her. Cheating on her husband, yes.
Becks had all but admitted it just before the ill-fated wedding. Sleeping with
Greg was crushing enough. But this… It felt like a poison-laced ice pick to the
chest. But who else could it be? No one else knew where she kept the paperwork
for Hope House. Becks was clever enough to forge her signature, too.

“Or I guess your dad could have taken the funds. After all,
he has all those gambling debts to pay,” Law said matter-of-factly.

“Gambling debts?”

Dominic dropped a series of photos of her father at the race
track and at a poker table, smoking and drinking, his face grim. “Riley took
those. He had a camera in his hoodie.”

“Your father likes to play deep and he’s horrible at the
card table,” Riley added. “He tugs on his ear or blinks a lot when he’s
bluffing. They’re obvious tells.”

Kinley
didn’t even know that her
father liked playing cards. “Leave my dad out of this! He’s got cancer.”

Law knew that. She’d cried to “Mike” during a long
conversation one night. She’d confessed how scared she was that she would lose
her dad the way she’d lost her mom. She’d tearfully explained all the long
nights she’d sat up with her mom and how she’d been forced to watch the woman
who’d given birth to her waste away.

“Maybe this is a distraction for him,”
Kinley
spit at them. “If he needs the diversion to escape a possibly terminal illness,
I can’t blame him. I’ll talk to him about not playing in high-stakes games when
I get home, but for now, he’s off-limits.”

“After you told me about his illness over the phone, I had
Riley check it out,” Law began. “He hacked into the patient records of the
hospital your dad said he’d be going to. They have no record of him. Neither
does a single oncologist on staff. Your dad doesn’t have cancer. It’s all a
ruse to bilk you out of money.”

“That can’t possibly be true!” Of course it would be great
news if her father wasn’t dying, but she could hardly believe that he would
scam her for money.

Law’s face remained like granite, resolved and grim. She had
a sudden feeling that the bad news wasn’t going to stop. She forced herself to
meet his stare. “Please don’t do this to me.”

He gave her no mercy. “Your father has been coming to you
for money so he can pay his bookies. He’s also run up all his credit cards.
Someone, probably your sister, forged your name on his new applications as his
cosigner.” He grabbed yet another of those seemingly never-ending photos and
shoved it toward her.