30DaystoSyn (16 page)

He looked up. The beefy guard standing at
the cell door with his thumbs hooked in his belt was grinning at him. When he
didn’t reply, the grin slowly dissolved to be replaced with a smirk.

“‘Course you could avoid prison
altogether.”

He knew a shakedown when he was thrown one.
“How much?” he asked.

The guard’s grin returned. “They said one
million for all charges to be dropped.”

There was no way he could stop the laugh.

“You think this is funny, asshole?” the
guard demanded.

“You have no idea how funny,” he replied.

Night Twelve

Jacob Tonika had every reason in the world
to be grateful to him and never failed to show it. Jake was Craigie’s cousin
and he’d had his way through law school paid for entirely by McGregor
Industries. No matter what he was doing at the time, if he was needed, he was
there.

“One million dollars,” Jake said. “Justice
doesn’t come cheap, does it?”

“I have no intention of paying that bitch
one red cent,” he told Jake.

“We need to get her on tape making the
offer, then,” Jake said. “How you gonna do that, bro?”

“I thought about it all last night and I
think I know a way,” he said with a merciless grin.

“Anything,” she stated. “Whatever you
need.”

“All right, let’s get started,” Jono said,
glancing at Craig then Jono.

The four of them were sitting in an
internet café in the next town over. Each had come to the café from different
directions on the off-chance one of them was being followed. For a
million-dollar payday, Tatyana Sakova and whoever was in league with her might do
anything.

Then there was the paparazzi who were
having a field day trying to get interviews from anyone at MI.

“Here’s the thing,” Jono said. “Kit
Tomlinson is MI’s chief of security, okay? The camera in the elevator that
night had been disabled, likewise the cameras in the lobby and the one outside
the main entrance. The guard who should have been monitoring those cameras and
was responsible for building security has mysteriously vanished.”

“So we have no proof to back up Synnie’s
statement that the bitch attacked him,” Craig said with disgust.

“Not true,” Jono said. He gave her a toothy
grin. “Sweet thang here went over to the MI office complex and did some looking
around.”

“I needed to do something since I couldn’t
see him.”

Jake frowned. “He didn’t want her involved.
He’s gonna blow a gasket when he finds out we’ve brought her in on this and not
Spike.”

“Good thing she is ‘cause she found out the
building across the street—the one that directly faces the MI entrance—had
security cameras that were up and running. Guess what Kit found out when he
went over to talk to their security chief?”

“Tell me their camera was working and
clicking away,” Craig said.

“It was, mate,” Jono said, “and we have a
great shot of Synnie inside the MI lobby trying to fend off Sakova. There’s
also a really clear shot of him coming out of the building, knocking her hands
away from him only seconds before she shoved his ass down the stairs.”

“And still another of her standing at the
top of the stairs with her hands on her hips as she stares down at him—making
no attempt whatsoever to run.” she added.

“But here’s the kicker,” Jono said. “The
bitch and whoever is working with her ain’t all that bright. Remember how I
told you she says she called 9-1-1 to report the attack?”

“Yeah,” Craig said, brow furrowed.

“Well it was a man who made the call, not
Sakova. Stupid Ukrainian cunt—” He stopped and looked at her. “Sorry, little
beaut.”

“Apology not needed,” she said. “Go on.”

“We got a copy of the 9-1-1 call,” Jake
said. “The voice on the other end had a thick accent. My guess is Ukrainian.”

“So a man reports the so-called sexual
assault,” she said. “Aren’t the police suspicious about that?”

“They are a dense lot,” Jake said. “But to
answer your question, not really. They’re saying it was most likely a concerned
citizen who didn’t want to get involved.”

“Did the call come from inside the building
or from a cell phone outside the main entrance?”

“Smart girl!” Jono said. “It came from a
mobile, all right, but when Kit had his source triangulate the call, he found
out it came from across town. Whoever made the call couldn’t have seen what
happened in front of MI.”

“True,” Jake agreed. “It opens up
reasonable doubt as does the video of what happened in the lobby as well as
outside MI’s entrance.”

“Reasonable doubt is good but you need that
guard on tape saying he was sent to offer the Kiwi a deal,” she said. “His
freedom for a million dollars.”

“That guard has gone the way of the
security guard,” Jono said. “They’re probably vacationing together.”

“So where do I come in?” she asked. “What
do you need me to do?”

“He wants her prosecuted for extortion,”
Jake said, “so we need to get her on tape admitting she set him up.”

“That’s where you come in, Melina,” Jono
said.

“Just tell me what you have in mind,
Jonny,” she said.

“All right, here’s the deal,” he said. “We
can’t take a chance of sending anyone from MI to meet this woman. Spike would
have done it in a heartbeat but this Tatyana bitch knows her. Synnie didn’t
think about that when he came up with the plan. We need someone the bitch
doesn’t know, has never seen.” He leaned across the table toward her and
lowered his voice. “What we want you to do is go to her, tell her that you used
to work at MI and that you got fired for coming on to Synnie. Tell her for—oh,
let’s say ten grand—you’ll go to the cops and testify that he raped you a
couple of years ago but you never reported it because you were afraid of him.
Tell her you hate his guts and you want to get even with him.”

“Really sell it,” Jake said. “Can you do
that?”

“For him?” she asked. “Yes, I can do it.
Just tell me where she is and I’m there.”

“Kit will need to wire you up,” Jono said.

“What if she’s not alone?” she asked. “What
if the man from the 9-1-1 call is with her? Don’t you think he’ll check me for
a wire?”

“Good point. I know I would,” Craig said,
playing devil’s advocate.

She looked around them then back at Jake.
“What if I meet her somewhere public? Like a restaurant.”

“Wouldn’t they still frisk you?” Craig
asked then blushed when Jono rolled his eyes. “Well, they could!”

“We could put a bug under the table,” she
said. “I’d be there ahead of them and sit at that table. The bug would be out
of sight but you guys would be in the back listening. The place I’m thinking
about has cameras so that’s an added bonus.”

“Where are you talking about?” Craig
inquired.

“Drecker’s,” she said.

“I told you I didn’t want her involved!” he
snarled through the phone. If he could have reached through the glass partition
between them he would have wrapped his fingers around Jono’s neck.

“She’s our best chance, bro,” Jono said.
“We don’t have time to go looking for a PI to play the part and think about it.
You’re a fucking rich man, Synnie. The more people involved, people who know
about this, and you leave yourself open to another round of extortion. Lina
loves you and—”

“What?” he asked, his hand tightening on
the receiver.

“Don’t act like you don’t know,” Jono
snapped. “Would she be willing to risk her…?” He stopped, his eyes wide.

“Go on,” he insisted. “Say it! Risk her
life to do this!” He shook his head. “No, Jono. No! You are not to let her—”

“It’s your only shot, bro,” Jono told him.

“Then I’ll take my chances with a trial,”
he said.

“Isn’t it bad enough the judge denied bail
because she thought you were a flight risk?” Jono threw at him.

“My fucking luck I got a female judge who
hates men,” he grumbled. “Doesn’t matter. I don’t want Lina caught up in this.”

“You wanna chance sitting your bloody
reamed ass in jail for the rest of your life?” Jono asked.

“I want my woman kept safe!” he shouted.

“You want everyone in here to know
something is being planned?” Jono growled into the phone. “Lower your fucking
voice, bro!”

“Keep her out of this, Jono,” he insisted.
“I mean it!”

That said, he slammed the phone into the
cradle on the wall and shot to his feet. Jono was staring up at him with his
face tight with anger. He turned his back on his friend.

“Take me back to my cell,” he told the
guard.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His warm palm cupped her breast. His thumb
eased over the hard little peak and she writhed beside him. He was kissing her
neck—his teeth grazing over the sensitive flesh—and his right leg was over hers
to pin her to the sand.

She ached for him. She wanted to know what
it would be like to have the strong, sure fingers that were kneading her breast
inside her. What it would be like to have him inside her.

That she was dreaming of the Kiwi and could
actually feel the weight of his leg atop her own made her sigh with
contentment. She longed to know how it felt—the wondrous, intoxicating feeling
of being taken—and it had been almost within her reach.

She came partially awake with the prod of
her subconscious anger at Tatyana Sakova needling her but settled down with a
sob of frustration.

Her dream of him continued but in a
different location and on a different note.

He was chasing her and she was running as
fast as she could down a long, dark corridor in an attempt to escape him. She
kept whipping her head around to see how close he was. Even in the dim light
the cruel intent on his face was clear. He meant to bring her to ground and she
knew he would. It was only a matter of time before her legs gave out and she
succumbed to the inevitability of being captured.

She felt a flare of hope as she neared a
turn in the corridor. Reaching out, she grasped the edge of the wall and flung
herself around it. She stumbled to a stop and groaned as she realized it was a
dead end with no way out. The sound of his pounding footsteps came to a halt
and she slowly turned to face him.

He was standing there blocking her escape
with the light behind his powerful body. She could see nothing save his dark
outline—arms curved menacing at his side, legs planted apart as though he
expected her to throw herself at him.

“Please,” she whispered.

He took a step forward and she backed up.

“Come here,” he ordered, his voice thick
and deep and pitched low.

She shook her head. “No, you’ll hurt me.”

“I’ll hurt you if you don’t,” he warned. He
advanced another step.

She moved farther down the dead end until
her back was pressed to the wall. She had nowhere to go, no way out. If she
attempted to run past him, she knew he would throw out an arm to snag her
around the waist. She moaned with hopelessness and gave in to the inevitable, her
shoulders slumping.

He came slowly toward her like a panther
stalking its prey. His hands were loose at his side. All she could see of him
was his ebon shadow and that made her heart race with fear and her body clench
with anticipation.

“You don’t learn, do you, wench?” he asked
in that low, threatening voice.

He was only two feet away. She knew there
was no way to stop him and when he lifted his hand, she turned her head away,
squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for his slap.

But it wasn’t a slap that he placed against
her cheek but the heat of his rough palm. He fanned his thumb along her
cheekbone. Once. Twice, then lowered his fingertips to her mouth.

“I’ve plans for these sweet lips,” he said.

Her knees felt week and she pressed her
hands against the wall to either side of her hips to keep standing. She was
trembling for he was so close to her she could feel his warm breath on her
face.

“Why do you run from me, Melina?” he
whispered as he touched his lips to her forehead. “Why do you deny us both what
we desire?”

He moved again and this time he pushed his
body tight to hers and insinuated his knee between her legs.

“Would you like to ride this?” he asked. “Or…”

He reached for her left hand, turned it and
laid it against the thick bulge between his thighs.

“This,” he finished. He rubbed her palm
against him.

“Please,” she whimpered.

He moved his lips to her ear and his words
were only a breath. “Please what?”

“Don’t do this,” she pleaded.

“Don’t take you?” he asked. “Don’t show you
what it is to be wanted so badly by a man he would risk everything, pay any
amount of money to have you?”

“You could have any woman,” she protested
and thought she would sink to the floor as he flicked his tongue into her ear
then swirled it along the arch and down to the lobe.

“I want you,” he whispered. “I need you.”

He released her hand and turned his, placed
it to the juncture of her thighs and cupped her.

“I want this.”

She’d never had a man’s hand on her as
intimately as she did his. In her dreams, in real life. Peripherally she was
aware she was dreaming for she knew he wasn’t there. She knew where he was and
the thought of him in that place made her moan.

“You want me,” he said. His whispers were
barely audible. She heard them with her soul rather than her ears. “I know you
want me. You know you want me. I want you. Why do you resist?”

He tugged the hem of her gown up inch by
inch as he held her there against the wall with his mouth to her ear. She could
feel a cool draught of air sliding over her bare leg as the fabric was elevated.
The backs of his fingers were touching her flesh as he worked the hem upward.

“Don’t deny me, wench,” he said in a husky,
demonic warning. “Never deny me. I can be a bastard when I’m denied what I
want.”

She groaned as his fingertips grazed the crease
of her thigh.

“Never defy me. Give yourself to me. Don’t
make me overpower you. I would rather you came to me as a gift and not a trophy
of this war between us.”

She felt her resolve weakening. She wanted
to throw her arms around him, climb up his body and have his hard shaft impale
her. She wanted to feel him inside her. She wanted to know him as a partner.

She wanted…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The phone jarred her awake with a start.
Heart thudding, she reached for it, brought it to her ear with a trembling
hand.