“Rich guy?” I snorted at that. “I highly doubt Rob is rich.”
“Uh…I think he is,” Derek said in my ear. “He probably didn’t want you to know that.”
It took everything in me to keep my face straight and not react to that little tidbit of information, but I somehow pulled it off.
“Rob, huh? And who is he?”
We’d been over this. Give as little information as possible, so I deflected, walking over to some insane-looking porcelain object on a table that was supposed to be a decoration.
“Now that I’ve told you who I am, I would appreciate it if you could leave me and my family out of whatever drama you have going on with Alicia. I don’t care about whatever you have in that black box, and I don’t want to know. I just want to live my life and be left alone.”
“About that, how did you know about the black box?”
“Shit,” Derek muttered over comms.
Crap, I wasn’t supposed to focus on that, but my confidence ran full steam ahead and didn’t remember that little piece of information.
“I ran into her.”
He smirked at me, stepping forward with all the confidence in the world. Shit, he was going to murder me.
“You ran into her. I’ve been looking for her for days.”
“Yes, but you found me,” I said, trying to regain my confidence. “You stopped looking for her. I knew it had to be a mistake.”
“And how did you find her when no one else could?”
I started sweating hard. Everything was unravelling. I had no idea if Rob had the information he needed or not, and I couldn’t exactly ask Derek without giving it all away.
My eyes flicked out the window as I subconsciously looked for the sniper on the roof. Bad move. DeLuca followed my gaze and stormed over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out for whatever I saw.
“Close the shades,” he commanded.
My eyes slipped closed in defeat. I had screwed up, and now I was most definitely getting a bullet to the head. And as he said, carpet could be replaced.
I felt him approach, but didn’t dare open my eyes. I was terrified, shaking like a leaf inside and out. But when his fingertips lifted my chin, I had no choice but to look into his terrifying eyes.
Oh yeah. I wasn’t walking out of here alive.
“So, you thought you’d kill me off? You thought?—”
Glass shattered and chaos erupted as DeLuca fell to the ground, holding his shoulder as he screamed to his goon.
“Close the fucking shade!”
I ducked low, covering my head as I scrambled for a good hiding place. There was a large, black piano in the corner, and I dashed toward it, letting out a scream as glass shattered for a second time. Once I was safely hidden behind the piano, I peeked out, taking in the chaos.
The man who had led me up here was now on the ground with a bullet in his head. Blood pooled beneath him, spreading at a rapid rate. I covered my mouth and tried not to hyperventilate. Panicking would get me nowhere fast.
“Derek!” I hissed. “What’s going on?”
But I got no answer. What was I supposed to do? Should I try to escape? Did Rob get the information he needed? I spied the gun laying on the floor beside the dead guy, and thought about making a run for it. I was really good with a gun. Growing up in Montana made sure of that. But did I have the time?
My gaze slid to DeLuca again, and before I had the nerve to back down, I made a mad dash for the gun, only to come up short when his hand shot out and grabbed my ankle. Crying out, I braced for the fall, wincing when pain shot up my right wrist.
Twisting, I kicked out with my other foot, hitting him in the face several times before he finally released me. I scrambled tomy knees and crawled quickly across the floor until the gun was within reach.
“Don’t do it!” DeLuca shouted, stopping me in my tracks when I heard the racking of the gun.