Chapter Twenty #2
Rose kept her aim on the man and stalked forward, slowly walking at an angle as she went, as if making a half circle behind him.
If he turned around to shoot, he would waste time adjusting his aim because of it.
James followed her, trying to stay as quiet as possible while also staying close enough to Rose in case he needed to act.
Rose continued to watch the man. James eyed his gun.
“You’re hurt,” Rose said, voice carrying with authority across the shrinking distance. “Put the gun down and we can take you back inside for medical treatment.”
The man barked out a laugh.
His words carried with just as much ease.
“You know, I called him an idiot.”
James and Rose had made an arc around the man so now they stopped at the edge of the roof as well, just with several feet between them.
The man stayed facing the edge, his profile showed his gun at his side and blood dripping down the same arm.
Even though he had laughed, there was no smile there now.
“Who?” Rose asked.
“Damon Tillman. The man who was supposed to kill you but apparently didn’t.
” The man laughed again. “I understood why he wanted to kill you, even if I thought it was a waste of time, but the way he wanted to kill you? Making a fool of you by showing everyone that the little action star could die as fantastically as the way you saved everyone else. I laughed at him for that. I really did. It was such a waste of time, such a waste of resources and money. And yet…” He sighed.
“Now I wouldn’t mind something grand to take you out too. ”
James balled his fist.
He didn’t move, though.
He was acutely aware of Rose’s body language.
James hadn’t lied to her the night before. He didn’t want her to stop being Wildcard Rose. He didn’t need that from her or for her. She was who she was.
James didn’t need her to give up anything to make space for him.
He was already at her side, ready.
And he wanted it to always be like that.
Especially in the tough spots.
So James stayed his steps and waited for her move. The second she did was the second before he did too.
“You’re talking like you didn’t have any part in the attacks against me,” she called out. “I find that hard to believe.”
The man didn’t bother even looking their way.
“Why would I take revenge on you?” he asked. “Revenge costs money, patience. Emotional torment. It’s a waste. I don’t even get out of bed unless I’m getting paid to do it and you think I’m going to budget men with guns and car bombs?”
He shook his head.
“Love is nice but money? Money is life.”
He lowered his head.
A breeze swept through. Rose’s hair moved with it. The woman, however, was as still as a statue.
“Then why did you get involved with Damon and Lloyd and Camden Pharmaceuticals?” Rose tried. “If you thought what Damon was doing was ridiculous, why do you need to come here and deal with him at all?”
She was giving out details they hadn’t yet confirmed.
And the man didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Because I thought they understood that money is always the goal. That love doesn’t pay the bills.
It doesn’t fix the broken air conditioner or pay for college.
They understood how expensive the world is…
But that didn’t stop Damon from letting his love for his brother fester into guilt and anger.
That didn’t stop Lloyd from letting his love for his sister become some self-imposed sacrifice.
And that didn’t stop them from deciding to keep you alive when their death and yours would have kept me from killing Miss Harrison as a consequence. ”
He lifted his head again but still didn’t look their way. He coughed before continuing. James saw blood come out. Rose had done more damage than James had thought.
“I don’t understand any of you,” he continued. “Damon spends a fortune trying to kill you, but in the end, he spares you. And now you’re here, trying to get me, someone who never hated you, in some—what?—kind of sympathy for him? For Lloyd?”
Rose didn’t answer. Instead she asked an important question, belatedly.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed one more time.
Rose shifted just a little at the noise.
“Someone who has a question.”
Rose slid one foot back ever so slightly.
James realized she was shoring up her stance.
He waited, tense.
The man didn’t wait for her reply.
He sighed out long. James could see blood from his mouth even in profile.
“Would you let me go if I offered you two money? More than you’ll probably ever make in this lifetime? Would you walk away then?”
James watched as Rose moved her finger from next to the trigger to on top of it.
He reached out and placed a hand on her hip.
“No,” she answered. “I won’t let you get away with what you did to them. To Damon and Lloyd. To their family. Not for any price.”
The man turned, gaze finally landing on hers.
He looked genuinely confused.
“Damon wants you dead and you’re still trying to help him,” he said. “Why?”
Rose answered him coolly. James realized later that she must have known already that it would be the last words she’d say to the man.
Her words were soft yet strong.
“Because it’s what heroes do.”
The man raised his gun, aiming right at them.
James didn’t move a muscle.
Rose did.
The man never got a shot off.
Wildcard Rose had already pulled her trigger.