Chapter 25 A Psycho Jillionaire with Nothing Better to Do #2
Griffin said. Clyde surged forward faster, with Bonnie pacing us.
Layla protested, but her usual playful tone was starkly absent. Talking nonsense soothed her.
The trees whipped by in a blur of trunks and leaves.
she continued. She laughed; the pitch was wrong: too high.
Ordinarily too fast for a parking lot, Griffin traversed the one in front of the admin building in a sweeping arc. He stopped Clyde perpendicular to the lines, stretching across several of them. Brady parked Bonnie parallel to Clyde, right in the middle of the throughway.
There’d be no need to reverse for either car. Get in and race off straightaway.
Not that the getaway was our main concern. If we were having to escape, we’d have already failed, and there’d be nowhere within the boundaries of Ridgemore we could run where Magnum wouldn’t find us.
Other than us, the lot was vacant. Possibly, there was staff parking behind the building that we couldn’t see from here. From looks alone, the place looked empty.
Confident that Griffin was watching my back, I quickly turned to the back seat.
My sweet boy whined in protest but climbed down into the footwell. He curled into a ball, where no one would notice him unless they knew to look.
I cooed as I opened my door and hurried out, leaving the window rolled all the way down for him. Griffin’s was halfway open as well; plus, the day was comfortably cool. Bobo would be fine.
Closing my door, I patted Clyde fondly, then leaned my head into the window and said aloud, “I love you, boy. Be good. I’ll see you soon.”
Fuck, did I ever hope I was telling him the truth.
I was already stalking toward the back of the Mustangs when Bobo spoke through our bond.
A whimper, most unbecoming of the courage I was feigning to feel down to my bones, tumbled free.
Layla drew to my side and sighed, plopping a hand on my shoulder. “He just had to go and say love like a sweet lil’ chubby-cheeked toddler. Too damn cute.” She sniffed.
I pretended not to.
More distant machine-gun fire chopped the noontime air, making me even jumpier while we popped the trunks and all dove for whatever weapons we could carry. I stuffed knives into every pocket of my jeans and tactical belt.
With guns in hand, eyes darting every which way, the five of us half jogged to the admin building’s front entrance. Brady yanked open one of the double doors for us, but Hunt darted away.
Unwilling to lose sight of any of them, I spun to watch him next to a large planter, pillaging a sizable stone from its base.
Wielding the gun and stone, he rushed back to us, placing it on the ground against the mullion.
Griffin said as I realized it was to keep the door from shutting.
Hunt nodded.
Layla said.
Without prearrangement, we aligned roughly into a star shape.
Griffin and I were in the lead, scouting ahead.
Brady and Layla walked behind and to the sides of us, scanning around desks, down halls, and into darkened offices.
Hunt brought up the rear, walking half backward, half sideways, watching our backs.
Much like the last time we were here, the lights were recessed and dim, as if the place were shut down for the night, the barebones lighting left on for the nighttime security and cleaning staff.
When we arrived at the elevator bank, we hesitated, looking at one another.
Did we take the elevator and possibly trap ourselves in there like the proverbial sitting ducks? Or did we hunt for a stairwell we’d never used before and didn’t know where it would lead us?
Brady said into our link. My gut gurgled.
My eyes bulged in realization.
Brady swore, running his free hand along the fade of his hair before rubbing the full top.
Hunt jabbed the call button. Immediately, the elevator doors dinged open. He glanced around before stepping inside, holding open the doors.
His head popped out again, his brows arched.
Layla said, just as I was thinking it.
he said.
Griffin stood so close to me, I could feel his body heat. His eyes flicked in every direction.
Foreboding churned low in my belly. Magnum wouldn’t hesitate to demand the ultimate of sacrifices from us.
From me.
Brady said.
Certain only that there was no easy decision, no guaranteed right one, I strode into the elevator. The others followed, and Hunt pressed the close door button to expedite the process.
My heartbeat thumped while the elevator whisked us upward. In seconds, we arrived.
The doors slid apart with a hushed swoosh. My entire body felt like it was electrified.
Guns clutched in steady double-fisted grips, Hollywood 101 style, Brady and Griffin emerged first. They scoped each direction before waving the rest of us out.
Layla and I exited with Hunt close behind us, once again guarding our backs.
The overhead lights in Magnum’s expansive office were off, but a long window wall bordered one side of it, illuminating plenty. We stalked past his hot tub. With the jets off, it was quiet, heat wafting off the water.
I clutched my gun and studied the door through which a masseuse had once exited. Pulled shut. No one behind the large, elegant desk either. I glanced down the empty wide hallway beyond the single exit door.
A click snicked behind me. I whirled toward it. Saw nothing. Stalked forward a few steps until I spotted an alcove over my right shoulder, farthest from the window wall, that was decorated as a reading nook.
From a free-standing lamp, shaded by a translucent wool shade, warm light pooled in a downward circle.
Magnum sat beneath it in a sexy black leather Eames chair that I instantly wanted, architectural design tramp that I was.
In the back corner of the vast room, the chair was partially obscured by a frond tree.
Magnum was relaxed, lounging, in tan pants with crisp, iron creases and a light, perfectly draping sweater with the sleeves pushed up. The ankle of one leg hooked over the knee of the other. A foot sheathed in a tan loafer casually tapped the air.
A psycho bajillionaire with nothing better to do than wait around for us to arrive.
My skin tingled in apprehension.
This was no ordinary psycho …
“Just the one of you today?” Griffin asked him.
Magnum smiled affably, like we were happy friends.
My whole body flushed, maybe with adrenaline, maybe with a sensation too akin to fear.
Magnum rapped the fingers of one hand sequentially along his upraised knee. Truuuum. Truuuum. Truuuum. Truuuum.
Beneath the glow of the lamp, he appeared handsome, perhaps a little bit wholesome, even.
Did appearances ever count for a whole lotta nothing …
His friendly smile widened. “It’s just me for now.” He chuckled as if to himself. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“I’d say you are,” Brady said.
Truuuum, truuuum, truuuum went his smooth, manicured fingers.
I wanted to snap them off, one by fucking one, before feeding them to him until he gagged.
He chuckled again. “Does that mean you remember walking in on me having a little fun with myself?”
“We saw everything,” Layla said, her eyes glittering.
“Oh, I very much doubt that. You walked in on me when I was just getting started.”
“Fuck. Then you’re a total perv,” Layla said, but she sounded morbidly curious, like she was wishing we’d stuck around to see the rest of the show.
“How many of you are there?” I asked.
A faraway explosion percussed against the wall of glass like thunder. I glanced outside but didn’t see its source. Several moments later, the floor shook beneath us.
Magnum continued as if nothing were amiss. “That depends on my mood.”
My smile was spiteful and mean to cover up its slight quaver. “Like if you’re in the mood to rape me?”
I sensed my friends stiffening around me.
Magnum, however, continued perfectly at ease.
The more relaxed he was, the more I felt like I was moments away from jumping out of my skin.
“Awww, it wasn’t rape, Joss. It was a little bit of fun.”
“Fun?” I fumed. “Fun!”
Magnum tsked, frowned. “Now, let’s not get distracted here. We have more pressing matters to attend to.”
“Such as?” I seethed. “’Cause ripping your head off and stuffing it down your bleeding, open throat is top of my list.”
“Then I’ll pee on him,” Layla added.
Magnum glanced at her, not with disgust, but abject intrigue.
“Total perv,” she grumbled under her breath.
Sleek as a cat, Magnum unfolded himself and rose.
The five of us huddled closer together.
“Put those guns away, won’t you?” he said. “I’ve always found them a bit … uncouth. Besides, they won’t hurt me.”
“I killed one of you,” I said.
His head jerked toward me before his composure settled back into place. “Did you, now? I was wondering why he hadn’t returned.”
“So you can be killed,” I insisted. It had to be true.
He looked me up and down, dragged his gaze across me, like insects slithering along my skin. Griffin growled.
“You really are special, aren’t you?”
Without notice, Magnum’s body began to vibrate.
At first I wondered if it was another explosion, another shudder of the earth. But no, I didn’t feel any shaking.
His body began to expand, its edges stretching. The lines of his body vacillated, faster and faster and faster.
A faint pop, pop … and then three Magnums, identically dressed, stood where five seconds ago there’d only been one.
Then those three Magnums all began to oscillate in an identical way.
Layla asked into our private thread.
He had to be lying about our guns not hurting him. I’d killed him before, hadn’t I?
I didn’t bother answering Layla.
I racked the slide, gripped the gun in both hands, aimed at the center of his chest, exhaled steadily … and began shooting.