Ice found himself holding his breath. His heart accelerated until it was pounding hard. He wanted to snatch Soleil up and run with her. Soleil ran her palm down his thigh, keeping her other arm right where it was so Absinthe could loosely wrap his fingers around her wrist. His touch was light, but it was deadly. She didn’t ask why he was holding her wrist, or why the room suddenly became filled with palatable tension, she just rubbed her hand up and down Ice’s thigh as if to soothe him. He fell even harder. His heart did that weird clenching thing, and if he could have, he would have kissed her.
“Winston insisted I memorize all the names of the men he wanted me to befriend. We attended four events in the two months I was with him. I had to know those names. Winston would quiz me on them, to make certain I knew who I was supposed to talk to. I needed to put names with faces, so I looked them up on the Internet, and I also, at each event, made certain to study them before I went over to them. I didn’t want to make a mistake.”
Absinthe let go of her wrist and nodded his head. Ice continued the story with her lawyer’s “accident.”
“They would have arranged the accident when the highway patrolman was on duty so he could pronounce it an accident,” Steele mused. “The medical examiner would concur. They would all be useful in making murders look like genuine accidents.”
Czar indicated he wanted Soleil to tell the rest. Absinthe once again took her wrist. She glanced at him this time and then to Ice as if for reassurance. He nodded his head and placed his hand over hers, pressing it into his thigh muscle.
She told them how Winston hired a lawyer and she was upset about it. She thought it was too soon, and she needed to interview the lawyer herself so she could feel comfortable with him. Kevin oversaw her trust and the financial portfolio that was maintained for her. She lived on a very healthy budget, but if she ever needed anything, she had only to ask. She was so uncomfortable with the new lawyer she officially terminated him. That infuriated Winston, as had her refusal to marry him.
Absinthe nodded and some of the tension in the room dissipated. It didn’t for Ice. The churning remained in his gut. As long as Absinthe had his hand on Soleil, he was going to be nervous. If Czar touched on anything Soleil didn’t want others to know, she could be hurt if she chose to lie.
“Soleil, did you break off the engagement because you didn’t want to marry Winston or because he refused to sign the prenup and you didn’t want him to be able to get to your money?”
Czar slipped the question in so smoothly, Ice almost didn’t notice. He scowled when he realized what had been asked.
“That’s more personal, Czar, and has nothing to do with this ring of con artists who have targeted her for murder.” Ice tried to push down his anger and instant resentment. He didn’t care if the president was asking. He didn’t want Soleil to have to answer personal questions with Absinthe touching her, or even in front of all of them.
“I don’t mind,” Soleil said. “I made up my mind I wasn’t going to marry him before we ever went to Vegas. I told him several times it was too soon, and I needed time, but he refused to listen. I mostly needed the time to figure out how to break the engagement off for good. I knew he’d be upset, although I didn’t realize he would resort to violence.”
Absinthe nodded and the terrible tension in the room dissipated along with the churning in Ice’s stomach. His woman. She spoke matter-of-factly. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles before pushing her palm into his thigh again.
“How did you end up in the bar, meeting Ice?” Czar asked.
“Winston and I were walking along the strip and he wanted to go directly to a chapel and get married. I told him that wasn’t happening. That we agreed we weren’t going to get married. I mentioned the prenup. He actually had it with him and shoved it in my face and then he grabbed my arms and shook me. Hard. It scared me.”
Ice clenched his teeth. He wanted two minutes with Winston Trent. He’d show him what pain was. He could tell by the sudden stillness in the room that the others agreed with him.
“I had bruises and I was crying. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry, so I detoured and went to one of the restrooms on the main floor. Lana was in there changing. She was beautiful and confident, and I wanted to be like her. I imagined that no one would ever be allowed to treat her the way Winston had me.”
Soleil smiled at Lana. “She was worried about me. No one had worried about me in a long time. She programmed her number into my phone and told me to call if there was a problem. She showed me her Torpedo Ink jacket and said she had lots of friends and that they’d help if Winston got rough with me.”
Czar’s gaze flicked to Lana. She shrugged, uncomfortable with the others hearing the admiration and respect in Soleil’s voice.
“When I told Winston I wouldn’t marry him, he went crazy, hitting me, and then he told me to clean myself up, we were getting married in half an hour. I went into the bathroom but left the door ajar just in case he was coming back. He left the bedroom door open and I heard him talking. I thought it might be room service and I could yell for help. That’s when I overheard that Kevin’s accident wasn’t an accident and that they could easily kill me, but if he didn’t finish what he started, it would be him.”
“Thank you, Soleil. I’m certain that wasn’t easy reliving.” Czar nodded to Absinthe, and he removed his hand from her wrist.
Soleil gave him a faint smile. She seemed to have such a natural compassion for everyone. “I still want all of you to see how dangerous they must be. I’m not the only one they tricked. It’s a little humiliating to know I was taken in by Winston.”
Steele shrugged his broad shoulders. “They studied you, found out everything you liked, where you would most likely go, and then Winston had to memorize those things, much like he wanted you to make friends only with those he trusted. If he cut you off from others, you would have no one looking to find out what really happened to you. That’s the way a lot of these cons work, although murder isn’t necessarily a part of them.”
Ice threaded his fingers through hers. “Code, can you find these people?” Code was always their go-to man, a genius on the computer.
“I’ve located nearly all of them. I’ve gotten into Winston’s private email accounts. He had four addresses. He’s already corresponding with another woman. She’s older. A widow. Her estate is large, but not nearly as large as Soleil’s.” He whistled, still not looking up. “Nowhere in the ballpark. They aren’t going to let this one go, Ice. They thought they had that money in the bag. Now it’s gone. I’ve got demands from four others in the ring insisting Winston find Soleil fast, marry her and dispense with her. That’s the word they use. Dispense. I guess they’re too sophisticated to use the word murder.”