Master of the Game (Rush Series Book 3) (19 page)

Devon
shuddered at the thought and sprang to her feet at the harsh sound of a knock
on the door.

“Come
in,” Miguel answered.

From
where she stood, the opened door hid the person coming in from her view.

“Ah,
right on time. I’ve just been explaining the details of our deal with my
darling step-daughter. I do believe she is onboard with it,” Miguel stated to
whom she assumed was
Lex
Vega coming through the
door.

Finally,
she saw the back of him in his standard black pants. Tonight, he wore a silky
red shirt. Disgust coursed through her. She watched as
Lex
glanced about the room, obviously looking for her. Miguel gave a wave of his
hand in her direction.
Lex
turned his head and
grinned when he saw her.

“Excellent,”
he said as he rubbed his hands together as if they were discussing nothing out
of the norm.

Devon
could feel the bile rising in her throat. “I won’t do it,” she said softly. At
first, the two seemed to ignore her. Miguel looked up to meet her eyes firmly.

“Oh,
but you will,” he said with deadly finality.

“No, I
won’t,” she said a little more firmly.

Lex’s
eyes moved back and forth between
Devon and Miguel. Keeping his eyes on Devon,
Lex
said, “Without her, there is no deal. I thought you said she was onboard?”

Miguel
turned simmering eyes to her.
“
Lex
,
why don’t you come back tomorrow?
Things will be settled by then. There
apparently has been some confusion here.
My apologies.”

Lex
turned to look thoughtfully at Miguel.
“One more day.
Do you understand?”

“I do,
indeed. I’ll see you at this same time tomorrow. She’ll be ready to go by then,
I promise.”

“Tomorrow then.”

Lex
paused when he drew up next to Devon
and he lifted a hand to touch her face, but she jerked away from him. His smile
faded and tightened into thin lines. “You will find that disobedience won’t be
tolerated. You might want to keep that in mind,” he said coldly.

Her
breathing was rapid, but otherwise, she didn’t flinch.

Miguel
stood behind his desk, his jaw clenched tight. He didn’t speak until he heard
the outer entrance door close. Menacingly, he walked toward her.
“You stupid little bitch!
Do you think I won’t follow
through on my threats? You will do as you’re told, or you may find yourself
lying next to your stupid father,” he spat, as he continued to move toward her
until he was face to face with her.

Emotions
ran like hot lava through her body. Anguish at how her father had suffered and
died at the hands of this worthless man. Panic at being forced to do, who knew
what, with
Lex
Vega, tried to settle in on her.
Finally, the same overwhelming fury she’d felt earlier won out over all the
emotions. She hated this man who thought he had the right to make decisions
about her life… about her mother’s life. When he lifted his pointer finger and
jabbed it into her chest, she snapped. How dare he touch her! She stepped back
and nearly toppled over and reached out a hand to regain her balance. Her fingers
landed on the cool, hard surface of a crystal ashtray. Working on instinct, she
wrapped her fingers around the edges and slammed it quickly against Miguel’s
head. Hysterical laughter bubbled up inside and spilt from her lips at the
nearly comical expression which flitted across his features. His eyes rolled
back in his head and he fell heavily, catching his head on the corner of the
fireplace hearth. Blood began to pour from the dented area of his head.

The
ashtray slipped from her fingers onto the soft carpeted floor. Oh God! What had
she done? No, no, no! He lay motionless. Her head snapped around when the door
behind her opened hesitantly. Her shoulders began to shake as sobs were ripped
from her chest. Tears blinded her when she saw her mother close the door and
lean against it, a fist raised to her mouth.

“What
happened?” her mother whispered.

“He… I…
he said… he wanted… I couldn’t…“ Devon couldn’t put together any coherent
sentences.

“Is he
dead?” her mother asked dispassionately.

With
her chest heaving, jerkily, Devon nodded her head.

She
watched her mother swallow, straighten her shoulders, then moved swiftly to
Devon. Cupping Devon’s face in her hands, she said calmly. “Devon, everything
is going to be all right. Okay?”

Devon
began to shake her head.

Her
mother leaned forward and pressed her lips against her forehead. Pulling back,
her mother cleared her throat. “Devon, I want you to listen to me. He deserved
to die. You did nothing wrong. I will take care of this, but I need you do
something. Are you listening? This is very important.”

Once
again Devon merely nodded.

“Okay.
I need you to go somewhere and hide for a while. Do you have some place you can
go where you won’t be found?” her mother asked calmly.

“I… I
can’t leave this with you. We need to call the police…” Devon’s voice trailed
off as the implications of what she’d done sank in.

When
she struggled to remove her face from her mother’s hands, her mother patted her
cheek firmly. “No!” her mother said sharply. “I will handle this. But I need to
know you are safe. Miguel’s minions will be looking for you if they find out.
I’ll protect you as best as I can. But I need you to go and hide. Go find
Roman. He’ll be able to help. Go to your rental and get whatever you’ll need to
survive,
then
just go… go anywhere. Call me when you
can. Everything will be fine, I promise. Do you understand?” her mother asked.

Devon’s
mind spun. Could she really leave her mother to clean up her mess? She began to
shake her head.

Her
mother slapped her face lightly. “You listen to
me,
this man has taken everything from me! I will not allow him to take you, too. I
need for you to go and I’ll deal with this. I’ll tell the police the last
person I saw coming into the study was
Lex
Vega.
Things will be fine. Once the dust settles, you can come back and we can be
together. Do you understand?

Devon
stared into her mother’s eyes and blinked back the tears which threatened,
making her eyes burn. Slowly, she nodded her head.

“Good.
Now go,” her mother said firmly as she gathered Devon into her arms for one
last hug. “I love you, little Arabella.”

“I love
you, too,” Devon whispered into her mother’s neck.

Her
mother shoved her away and wiped a hand over her eyes. “Be sure to walk calmly
and drive slowly. You don’t want to draw any attention to yourself. Got it?”

With
one last hug, Devon turned and walked as slowly and naturally as she could. She
didn’t come across anyone and quietly closed the entry door behind her. She
moved a little more swiftly toward her car.

Her
mother was right; she needed to talk to Roman. Roman would know what to do.

She’d
found Roman at
LaFayette’s
, she’d been surprised
she’d even remembered the name of the restaurant he’d mentioned. He’d been
there having dinner with a pretty blonde, who she now knew to be Sara Daniels.
From there, Roman had devised the plan they were now following – that being,
her posing as his wife so she could hide out on the dig with him. They’d both
gathered what they needed from the house and left, knowing the police and/or
Miguel’s men and son would look for her there first. Roman had sent her onto
the hotel in Mexico City, while he’d gone to a friend’s house until he’d been
able to tie up his loose ends. Roman had called
Taggert
Lanier and told him his wife would be joining him on the dig. While Tag hadn’t
been thrilled over the news, he’d accepted it.

Devon
wished now she’d just have stayed and dealt with the problem instead of
agreeing to this… this nomad existence. It scared her to no end that Roman
hadn’t been able to reach her mother… what could have happened? As Devon
drifted off to sleep, she wished it were already morning and she was on her way
to resolving her problems.

Chapter 10

Devon
watched the masculine hand as it glided silkily up her leg. Her body clenched
in anticipation of the moment when it would reach its destination. The hand’s
owner seemed to want to torment her as it slowed the further up her leg it
went. Her breath caught on a groan.

“Close
your eyes,” he whispered.

She
arched her back when the hand reached the soft, fleshy skin of her inner thigh
and she closed her eyes obediently. “I want you,” she whispered. “I need you.”

She
heard him chuckle before feeling the press of his lips along the same path as
his hands. “You are mine,” he whispered against her skin.

When he
wrapped his lips around the rosy tip of her breast, she arched even further off
the bed and tangled her fingers into his hair. She hesitated at the feel of his
long, soft hair between her fingers. This was wrong, his hair was short. Fear
lanced through her and slowly she opened her eyes, wanting to see the icy-green
eyes of her cowboy. But the eyes she saw were black as the night and
terrifying. With a scream she scrambled from beneath him and crab-crawled away
from him. He just threw his head back and let out a laugh.

“Did
you really think I’d let you go?”
Lex
Vega said as he
snaked
out a hand and grabbed her ankle firmly.

She
screamed and thrashed against his hold, trying to get away. “Please let me go.”

Just as
she’d freed her foot from his grasp, firm hands caught her shoulders and held
her down from behind, again she screamed. As terror filled her, she looked up
into the black eyes of her step-father, Miguel Munoz. Blood was flowing from
the wound on his head where’d she hit him with the ashtray. The blood, thick
and dark red, flowed down and ran into her eyes. She lifted hands up to swipe
the blood away that was now burning her eyes like acid. As she struggled to
clear her vision, she felt
Lex
capture her ankles
within his grasp and now she was well and truly caught. Fear, desperation, and
anguish flooded her. Shutting her eyes as tight as she could, she began to hit
out with her hands as Ben had instructed her to do, seeking eyes, nose, or any
other soft tissue she could damage. But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t
seem to be able to find his face with her seeking hands.

Remembering
Ben had her told surprise was her best defense, she twisted suddenly against
both sets of hands and then she was free-falling, hitting the floor with a
jarring thud. She screamed and covered her ears when the report of a gunshot
seemed to explode around her.

Shock
and pain had Devon snapping open her eyes. She was lying on the floor of the
tent, sweat coated her skin, her breathing was rapid, and soft incoherent sobs
were being pulled from her throat. Outside, the wind was whipping rain hard
against the sides of the tent. She jumped once more when lightning zipped
across the sky, and thunder boomed so loud it shook the ground. She lifted a
shaky hand to her lips. It’d been thunder, not a gunshot that she’d heard. She
sat up and groaned at the pain in her arm from where she’d fallen off the cot
onto the hard ground. She glanced around the dark quickly looking for the
ghosts in her dream, but of course, they were not there. In fact, she was all
alone, as Roman had yet to return.

Lifting
her hands to her face, she scrubbed at the tears she found there.
It was a dream… only a dream
, she
repeated to herself over and over.
Oh God
!
Could she really face this? She’d killed a man. How could she survive in
prison? With Miguel’s and Jorge’s contacts, would she even live long enough to
be placed in prison?

On
trembling legs, she lifted herself back up onto her cot. Her chest and throat
burned with the sobs she suppressed. This was the right decision. She couldn’t
allow her mother to take the brunt of what she’d done. Right or wrong, life or
death, she had to stay her course. Rubbing a hand over her face and into the thick
curtain of her hair, she rolled her head on her neck and rose slowly. She
wrapped her arms around her middle and peered outside the tent into the pouring
rain, not that the darkness allowed her much vision. She wondered for the
millionth time what the future had in store for her.

Lost in
thought, she jumped when the flap to her tent was snatched open. She stepped
back when Sara Daniels, drenched from the rain, her blonde hair darkened and
clinging to her scalp, came to a skittering stop just inside the tent. She was
out of breath as if she’d run a long distance.

As she
panted, she laid a wet hand on Devon’s arm.
“Devon, Come
quick!
Roman’s hurt. He’s over by the waterfall, he slipped and fell.”