Weak.
The fire in his eyes and the gun he held pointed at her chest told her he was far more dangerous than he appeared.
“I can’t very well leave without my money. You took it, and I want it back.”
“What?” Stunned, she gaped at him, wondering if he’d gone insane.
“Don’t play games with me, bitch. I managed to hide almost seven million. It’s gone.”
“I didn’t take your money.”
“Liar.” He gripped her arm, pressing the gun against her side. “Wes Cramer told me that you knew where I’d hidden it. How did you know?”
Erin blinked, finally understanding Wes’s visit to Desire. “Wes Cramer told you that I knew where you’d hidden the money you stole?”
She hadn’t suspected Wes capable of such treachery, but John Ritten had seldom been wrong.
Wes Cramer was involved up to his eyeballs.
“Seven million dollars. So much money.” He smiled faintly. “I had to buy two of those army surplus duffel bags to hold it.”
His expression hardened. “I dreamed about those duffel bags the entire time I was in prison. I dreamed about digging up those drab green bags and showing them to my wife. We would have left the country with more money than we could ever spend. Live on a beach somewhere and never have to worry about money.”
Nelson Stark pulled her against his side, pulling her with him as he made his way across the asphalt to the shadows behind the small group of trees lining the parking lot. “My wife didn’t believe me and wanted a divorce. Cramer promised to dig it up and give Carol a million dollars of it so she would be secure until I got out. When he went to get it, it was gone. Gone! You fucking bitch! My wife divorced me because of you.”
Suddenly everything made sense.
Her former boss had suspected that Wes took the money Nelson had hidden, and now she knew why Nelson had told him where it was hidden.
He wanted to provide for his family.
Wes’s phone call and unexpected visit were nothing more than his attempts to get her away so Nelson couldn’t find her.
She wondered briefly if Wes had intended to kill her to keep his secret.
Nelson would never have found out that Wes was the one who’d stolen his money because Wes would keep the blame placed on her.
Nelson pressed the gun harder against her side, the pain excruciating. “A friend of mine went into your shop. She’s pretending to browse, but she has a gun with her.”
Erin gasped and tried to pull from his grip, but he tightened his hold and pulled her along to the side street away from the parking lot, pressing the barrel of the gun against her side so hard she gasped in agony. “No!”
His grip tightened, his strength surprising. “She’ll use it on your sister and the brats that are in there unless you come with me and get me my money.”
He jerked her to a halt behind a dumpster and slammed her against the brick wall with enough force to knock the wind out of her. Gripping her jaw, he pressed the back of her head against the brick while poking the barrel of the gun harder against her ribs. “You’re going to get my money for me, and if you hesitate, I’m going to have my friend take that kid of yours until I get all that I have coming to me.”
Hiding a wince when the gun pressed harder against her already sore ribs, Erin blinked back tears of fear for her family. “I’m sure you’re going to get everything that’s coming to you.”
Pulling her away from the wall and back against him, he dragged her toward the side street, heading toward a nondescript mid-sized car. “I know what you’re thinking, and that’s not going to happen. Once I get my money, I’ll disappear. No one will find me.”
“You’re wrong about that.”
The deep baritone commanded attention, and when Nelson swung around with Erin in front of him, she looked down at the gun in Ace Tyler’s hand, which commanded even more.
“Ace!”
Ace nodded once, not taking his eyes from Nelson. “Erin. Looks like you’ve got a friend.”
She knew she had to take a chance and spoke in a rush. “There’s a woman in the shop with a gun. She’s going to take the baby if I don’t—”
“Shut up, bitch!”
Pain exploded at her temple, her knees buckling and stars dancing behind her eyes.
Ace shouted something, the rage in his voice getting through to her even though the words didn’t.
Blinking several times to clear her vision, Erin looked into Ace’s eyes, struck by the powerful combination of fear and fury in them.
Still pointing the gun at Nelson, Ace glanced at her, his jaw clenching. “It’s already been taken care of. Boone and Chase are there. So are the Madisons. Everyone’s safe.”