He’d damn near had a heart attack when the alarms started going off. He’d almost gotten caught, and it was all Jane’s fault.
Jane shrugged. “She saw me murder a guy, though I’m sure she couldn’t tell you how I did it. MaeBe is a personal project of mine. Don’t worry about her. All you have to do is ensure the weapon is functioning. My guys will handle everything else. It’s imperative that the launch moves forward without a hitch.”
“You don’t think losing the AI expert is a hitch?” Somehow this whole thing had gone off the rails. He’d liked the idea the night before, but now all he could think about was how he was going to have to deal with the press. Jane would be long gone by then, and he would be left holding this particularly scandalous bag. “I think we should just kill them both and bury them where no one will find them.”
“We have a plan, Nolan.”
“No, you have a plan.” He moved into her space, anger and frustration thrumming through his system. She’d put him in a terrible position. “You’re manipulating me.”
She didn’t back down. “If I am, it’s only because you need it.”
He didn’t think. He followed his instincts. She’d promised him a night of BDSM. Well, he was at least going to get the part where he disciplined her. He drew back his hand and slapped her right across her smug face. Her head snapped to the side, and he saw blood on her lips.
She slowly brought her head around, eyes on him. For a moment, he thought about taking a step away from her because he’d never seen that look in her eyes before, never seen such darkness in anyone’s eyes. But then the moment passed, and she drew her hand over her mouth, wiping the blood away.
“I’m not trying to manipulate you, Nolan. I’m trying to deal with the situation the best way I can. You had two problem employees. I handled those situations for you, and it turned out fine. If you would like to take over, then please do so. How would you like to handle this situation? After all, you’re the boss.”
Now he did take a step back. It was good that she understood that none of this worked without him. “Don’t you dare pull another stunt like that again. You want to kill someone, do it on your time.”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“I want you to tell these guards of yours that they answer to me.” It was time to get things on the proper footing. “And I will be meeting the board before I give up anything else. Am I understood?”
“I’ll make it happen,” she promised. “But for now you should change. You don’t want the police to find you in those leathers. They would ask questions you don’t want to answer. I’ll go check on Madeline and make sure she’s got everything she needs to do the job at hand.”
He didn’t like how calm she was. He wanted her off-kilter, but there wasn’t time to really hurt her. “You’ll take the other one with you? I’m not going to keep some random girl here because you have an itch you need to scratch.”
“I will absolutely take her with me,” she agreed. “You don’t have to worry about her at all. I’ll go and talk to the guards and make sure they understand you’re in charge, Nolan. I’m sorry this has been stressful for you.”
Apparently slapping her around really did work for Jane. “Fix it for me and we’ll be fine.”
She nodded deferentially. “Of course.”
She walked out, her feet not making a sound.
Nolan watched her disappear up the stairs.
She was right about changing. He didn’t want to get caught in these leather pants. If he was going to deal with a scandal, he would do it in decent clothes.
And maybe he wouldn’t leave everything to her. He had a gun of his own. It might be fun to see what it felt like to take that fucker’s life. He’d never liked Deke.
And if Jane gave him more trouble, he’d shoot her, too.
He was the king of this castle, and it was time to let everyone know.
Chapter Fifteen
Madeline glanced over to where MaeBe was laid out on the couch. She was still and had been for a couple of hours. Had the bleeding stopped? There had been so much blood at first. The bullet had gone through her upper arm. Maddie had checked on it while they’d been in the back of the SUV that had taken them away from The Reef. MaeBe had already been out by then. Right before they’d been shoved into the car, Jane had taken a needle from her well-armed driver and shoved it into MaeBe’s neck.
The driver turned out to also be an asshole guard who was standing at the door to the very office she’d meant to get into tomorrow night.
She was pretty sure the party was off.
The door came open and Jane strode in, but she’d changed out of her fet wear and into what looked like her version of tactical gear. And she had something new. The whole right side of her face was red and puffy, a bit of blood still on her cheek.
Had something gone wrong with Nolan? If there was a crack in their partnership, Maddie would try to find a way to use it.
“Uh, you okay?” The big guard’s brows rose.
Jane looked up at him, one shoulder shrugging. “Cost of doing business sometimes. At least I never had to sleep with the fucker.”
“You want me to deal with him?” the guard asked in a way that made Maddie wonder how close they were.
Jane sighed. “John, don’t act like I need protection. If I was ready to deal with him, he would be dealt with. But I need him to verify our friend’s work.” The woman’s focus shifted, gaze finding Maddie. “How is it coming, Madeline?”
Maddie sat back. She had to stay calm. As calm as she could when she was in the room with a couple of killers. “I think I understand where he went wrong. I can fix it but I’m going to need some time, and in order to test it, I’ll need to be in my lab.”
What she needed was to give Deke as much time as possible.
Jane glanced down at her watch. “Well, what you have is about forty minutes, and no one’s taking you to the office, honey.”
“I can’t do it.” She wasn’t sure how to prove the integration was complete without going to the lab.
Jane nodded as though it was no big deal, but that gun was suddenly in her hand again and she stood over MaeBe’s body, the threat made clear.
“Wait!” Damn it. She couldn’t watch MaeBe die knowing she could have stopped it. “I’m almost done. Okay? I’m almost done. He was being sloppy. That’s why it wasn’t working. I’ve had to recode some of Clarke’s base, but I can make it work.”
Jane stared down at MaeBe, her lips curling up slightly. “She’s awake, you know. She’s surprisingly good.”
MaeBe didn’t move a muscle.
“Are you lying there trying to figure a way out, honey?” Jane asked. “Because there isn’t one. There hasn’t been for you since the moment you got involved with Kyle Hawthorne.” Jane put the barrel against MaeBe’s head. “He’s the problem, you know. Not really you. He’s the one who kills everything he touches. It’s odd that I feel some sympathy for you. I didn’t expect that. It might be kinder of me to end you here and now.”