Chapter 16 #3
Chloe looked up at Bastien, but he’d already seen his quarry, and there was absolutely no expression in his dark, unreadable eyes.
She half-expected him to pull out a gun, but then she remembered he didn’t have one on him.
Somewhere in this place, he’d stashed his weapon, and he was going to have to leave her to find it.
Or bring her with him, in which case she’d find some way to stop him.
“Would you like to meet her?” Bastien whispered in her ear.
She looked at him with absolute horror, but he ignored her reaction. “Come along, chérie.” And a moment later, she found herself being presented to LaDonna herself.
She was a middle-aged woman, slightly dumpy in her blue-sequined dress, and she had the kindest eyes that Chloe had ever seen. She stood silent as Bastien made desultory conversation with LaDonna, and a moment later they moved, leaving room for the next couple eager to meet the legend.
“How could you?” she said between her teeth as he steered her away.
“I told you, it’s a job. I have no room for sentimental qualms in my line of work.”
“You’re a monster.”
“Yes,” he said simply. “Come along.”
She balked, pulling back, but it was a waste of time. He simply pulled her into his arms and kissed her, full on the mouth, deep and hungry and brooking no opposition from her.
She loved the taste of him. When he put his mouth on hers, she could forget everything, knowing he was Bastien and he was hers. It didn’t matter that he was simply doing it to distract her, to amuse the other guests. The taste of him made everything all right.
But it wasn’t all right, she thought when he finally released her, and she looked up into his hard eyes with slightly dazed ones. He was still going to kill a modern-day saint, while she stood by and let him.
He didn’t seem in any hurry to get it over with. He took her into the lavish dinner, where she could barely touch a morsel of the rich provisions. To her amazement and disgust, Bastien ate as if he were truly hungry, as if he had nothing better to do than enjoy the evening. She wanted to throw up.
“Smile at me, chérie,” he whispered behind his napkin. “Remember we’re in love.”
Her mouth automatically turned up as she glared at him, but apparently it was good enough. Until she felt his hand on her thigh, hard and painful. He leaned down and kissed her again as his long fingers squeezed her tender flesh. She would have bruises tomorrow. If she lived that long.
Fuck it, she thought, and kissed him back, startling him.
“That’s better,” he murmured against her lips. “It’s time to go.” He rose, throwing down his napkin, and reached for her.
“I’m not ready…” she began, but he’d already hauled her up by her elbow.
“It’s time,” he said, and led her from the room.
She hated the high heels that were hobbling her feet.
After years of living in the country, she wasn’t used to them, and it would serve him right if she tripped and sprained her ankle.
But he was moving determinedly now, heading for the broad stairs that led to the balconies surrounding the ballroom, and she knew where he planned to shoot from.
She tried to pull back, but he caught her arm and moved her, making it look like two lovers in a hurry to be alone, not a killer dragging his reluctant coconspirator to the scene of the crime.
“Where are you taking me?” she questioned, tripping up the broad marble stairs.
“Somewhere you can’t interfere.” They moved ahead, onto the next, narrower flight, and there was no sign of security, no sign of guests as they climbed higher and higher.
They finally reached the top, and she saw the huge pots of greenery lining the balcony.
So that’s what Luc had meant by gardening.
He must have brought the gun in with the extravagant plants.
Before she could realize what he was doing, he’d opened a narrow door, revealing a broom closet, and shoved her inside, closing her into the darkness and locking the door.
She pounded on it in fury, but the sound was swallowed up in the noise coming from the gala, the voices rising to the top floor.
It was pitch-black inside the narrow closet, and if felt like a vertical coffin.
She couldn’t let this happen, and she rattled the door furiously, listening for the sounds of disaster that didn’t come.
He was going to kill LaDonna, and there was nothing she could do to stop him.
Running her hands along the wall, she searched for something that would help her open the door, but the walls were bare of anything but brooms and dusters and bottles of lemon oil, as well as a box of abandoned keycards.
She hadn’t realized this place served as a hotel as well, and she moved on, frustrated, until she finally went back to the box.
For all she knew, the door to the closet had a keypad, but it seemed old-fashioned, and she took one of the key cards and ran it down the crack in the door, shoving it hard.
It splintered in her hand. She took another, cursing under her breath, and sought for the latch, but it was so dark, no light was penetrating from the upper balcony, and she couldn’t see anything.
She tried again, stabbing at the door, dropping the ruined cards on the floor as she reached for another, when finally it caught, and she heard the soft click of the lock beneath the noise of the gala.
Pushing open the door, she stepped out onto the balcony, but there was no sign of Bastien anywhere.
Her high heels clattered on the floor, and she reached down and took them off, breathing a sigh of relief as her bare feet hit the floor.
And then she moved forward, silently, expecting a bullet in her head at any second.
That would be the logical thing to do, if he thought she was interfering in his job, but she had to risk it.
Not only could she not let LaDonna die, but she had to keep Bastien from adding to the list of sins already at his door.
She was moving silently down the corridor, peering behind each huge plant, when a movement caught her eye from the balcony on the other side.
She saw the glint of metal in the shifting light, and knew it was a gun, and she’d never reach him in time and…
It wasn’t Bastien. The man moved differently, with the slightest of limps, and Chloe recognized him in sudden horror. It was Peter Madsen, and he was hunting her husband.
He would kill him before he let Bastien shoot LaDonna, and he wouldn’t even hesitate despite their years of friendship. She wanted to scream, to cry out and warn Bastien, but chances were that might precipitate everything. She lifted her constricting skirts high along her thighs and ran.
Bastien was at the very end of the balcony, his sniper rifle just peeking over the edge of the balustrade as he sighted his target, totally unaware that Peter was stalking him.
In what seemed like a dream, she saw Peter lift his gun and aim, and she flung herself at Bastien, knocking him down, as the silenced bullet slammed into the wall where his head had been.
Down below, the party was going full force, the music and chatter rising up all around them. Up on the balcony, Bastien was looking at her with cold murder in his eyes.
“He’s going to kill you,” she said breathlessly, and to punctuate her words another bullet slammed into the wall, dangerously close to Bastien’s head.
“Who?” he demanded, sounding damnably cool.
“I don’t know,” she lied. “The man had a gun, and he was looking for you, and…” Words failed her. She didn’t want Bastien to kill Peter either—she just had to get him out of there.
“And you decided to save my life?” he said, sounding cynical. “Or are you leading me out to him?”
“I just stopped you from being shot, you stupid idiot,” she snapped. “We need to get out of here. You’ll have to kill her some other time.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t want you to kill her at all. Or anyone else for that matter. Come on—we have to get out of here before that man catches us.” And killed Bastien while she watched.
He rose, towering over her in her bare feet. “You got in my way,” he said in a deadened voice.
“So kill me now!” she cried, frustrated. “Just get the hell out of here.”
He reached out for her, and she knew he was going to snap her neck like he’d promised. It would be quick and painless, and she was too tired to fight him any longer, and she held very still...as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.