Breaking Her Rules (13 page)

move much because of the chains. She held on tight, clawing into him like daggers piercing his skin, but the cutting pain was nothing compared to what would happen to him if she talked. For all he knew she’d try to cut a deal with Interpol. That was unacceptable. He leaned his weight into his hands and pressed down as hard as he could over her nose and mouth.

Sato thrashed around, her legs flailing as she struggled to fight the inevitable, but in the end she lost. Sweat broke out across his body from the strain of holding the pillow in place. After what

seemed like an eternity, her lean body completely stilled against the starchy sheets. As he lifted the pillow, he made himself look at her face. Blank, dark eyes stared into nothingness. Just to be certain he tested her pulse, but he knew a dead body when he saw one. Moving quickly, he put the pillow

back in the closet and slipped out of the room as quietly as he’d entered. Time was ticking down.

As he reached the elevators and door to the stairs he still didn’t breathe easy. Glancing at his

watch he saw that three minutes had passed. He had maybe two minutes before…nope. Time was up.

Two men in police uniforms hurried down the hall in his direction. Keeping his head down and his

stance as casual as possible considering the circumstances, his insides tensed until they passed. He wouldn’t have much longer until they discovered the body.

The elevators were on lockdown because of the bomb threat so he pushed open the door to the

stairwell and sprinted down the steps. When his hand hit the emergency exit door, an ear-piercing

alarm went off. He quickly stripped off his doctor’s scrubs to reveal the casual jogging shorts and T-shirt he’d worn underneath. After stripping off his gloves, he retrieved his mp3 player from his

pocket, shoved his gloves back in place of them, then put the earbuds in even though he didn’t turn it on. He needed an excuse to be running so as he fled out into the bright sunlight, he just looked like a man out for a run.

One down, one to go. And his next kill would be much harder. Unfortunately he knew there would

be some collateral damage. He’d wanted to avoid that, but he couldn’t get to Wyatt directly so he’d have to find another way. Other people were definitely going to die. A small price to pay for his

revenge.

Chapter 11

He traced the serrated edge of the knife down Mario Vélaz’s ribs and side, careful not to break the skin. Sometimes the threat of pain was worse than the pain itself. So many people didn’t understand that. Especially the thuggish mobsters he owed money to. Torture definitely had a purpose but if done wrong, the information gained was often unreliable. Beneath the blade, his victim shuddered and tried to pull away, but had nowhere to go.

Tied down on the concrete floor of an abandoned warehouse that had gone into foreclosure as so

many other buildings in Miami, Mario was trapped and at his mercy.

“You’ve had weeks to give me something of value and because of your incompetence I lost the

company I want.” He would also lose a lot more than that if he didn’t come up with the money he

owed his financial backers. And he’d been counting on that deal too. If it hadn’t been for Christiansen that hack-proof software would be his and he’d be able to give that instead of money to those fucking mobsters. God, what had he been thinking, borrowing money from them? But he’d been desperate and

the banks had refused him.

“What the hell did you expect of me!” Mario shouted, sweat rolling off his face.

He’d expected
results
. He hadn’t just hired Sato to kill Christiansen. He’d managed to blackmail one of the groundskeepers from the home Christiansen had bought in Miami. Mario had come with the

house and wasn’t part of Christiansen’s long term staff. Those people were untouchable and he didn’t have much money to bribe anyone with anyway. Not after he’d paid Sato. All he’d had to do was

threaten the safety of Mario’s wife and young daughter and the guy had crumbled, agreeing to spy for him.

“I don’t know nothing, man! I never even see the guy. Their security is tight. I’m searched every

time I arrive at work and so is my car.” The dark-haired Cuban tugged against the bindings, but the fishing line cut into his wrists.

“Tell me what you know, and I let you live.” He wouldn’t, but Mario might not realize that yet.

“Liar,” he spat.

Yes, he was. Sighing, he pressed the blade into Mario’s side until he nicked the skin. A small

rivulet of blood trailed down his ribs, splashing softly against the concrete. “One more chance to be honest.”

The man turned his head away in defiance. He gritted his teeth, hating how tedious this business

was. With the flick of his wrist, he sliced through Mario’s Chino’s, completely exposing him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Mario’s dark eyes widened when he pressed the back of the knife

to his ball sac.

“I don’t have time to play games. People talk, even security personnel. You must have heard

something.”

Mario’s eyes widened in terror but his body was completely still as he tried to control his

breathing. “I don’t…the woman, the security woman!” The words poured from him in desperation.

He pressed the back of the weapon harder against Mario’s skin, causing him to violently jerk.

“What about her?”

“What are you doing? I’m telling you!”

“Get to the point faster.”

“She’s the rich man’s wife.”

He blinked at the statement, not sure if Mario was relaying the correct information.

“The tall, dark-haired woman is Wyatt Christiansen’s
wife
? The woman on his security team?” The bitch who’d seen Sato poisoning him.

“Yes! I heard two of the guards patrolling the grounds talking about how they couldn’t believe

she’d married the rich man. How they couldn’t believe she’d married
anybody
.” Mario’s breathing was erratic now, his eyes wild as he looked down at the knife.

“When did you hear this?”

“Yesterday.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes! Now move that fucking knife away from my nuts. Please!” Mario struggled violently against

the restraints. “I swear on my mother’s life, I don’t know any more than that! I didn’t remember ’til just now!”

He stilled his hand and nodded once. “This is good.” Then he cut one of the wires from around

Mario’s ankles, freeing his left leg.

“You’re letting me go?” Mario’s words were high pitched and uneven.

“I told you I would. Next time I come to ask you questions, don’t run.” There wouldn’t be a next

time, but Mario didn’t know that.

“I won’t. I swear it!” The relief rolling off Mario was so palpable it made him smile inside.

He cut through the next foot restraint, but instead of freeing Mario’s wrists, he slammed his knife into the middle of the man’s chest. He never gave him the chance to struggle or fight. The surprise and horror on Mario’s face made something dark inside of him smile. He didn’t like the messiness of

killing, but sometimes he took a little pleasure in ending a man’s life. He liked to make someone feel secure, relieved—then to snatch it from them in one final blow. Watching the awareness fade from

Mario’s eyes, he could barely contain his joy at learning Wyatt Christiansen was fucking married.

Married.

It seemed too good to be true, but now he had the perfect way to get his revenge.

* * * * *

Iris stared at Wyatt’s walk-in closet and realized that if she was going to commit, she needed to do this full on. He’d left half the giant closet empty.

For her stuff.

She hadn’t even realized what he’d done until she’d brought her few belongings from the guest

room into his room—their room. That was another thing she’d have to get used to. The truth was,

she’d probably never get used to living in such lavish surroundings and there was no way she’d

actually ever fill up this closet that was the size of her master bathroom at home. But, she could bring over some of her things. To put in the effort to actually move in with Wyatt.

It might be weird considering her coworkers were guarding him, but she wouldn’t let it get that

way. In a week or so she’d go back to work and things would be normal. She wouldn’t be here during

the day. Until then, she was moving in and helping Red Stone’s team research Keibler and Thorton

Enterprises. She might not be guarding Wyatt directly anymore, but after what Harrison had told her about Red Stone tearing apart Thorton’s financials, she planned to read and research every scrap of information they came up with.

She’d been worried that Harrison wouldn’t let her, but he’d been surprisingly acquiescent when

she’d broached the subject. Probably because he knew she’d go insane if she wasn’t being proactive.

Even the
thought
of sitting around and doing nothing was enough to stress her out. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Iris’s heart jumped to see a text from Lizzy Caldwell, a computer genius who worked

for Red Stone.

Just sent you two emails full of data. Should take all day to read. Call if you find anything

relevant. I’ll do the same.

Lizzy had texted Iris earlier to let her know that she was portioning out pieces of information to

five other individuals within the company so Lizzy and Iris made a total of seven researchers.

Hopefully with this many people they’d be able to find a lead. If anything, they’d be knocking out a week’s worth of research in a day or two with this many people on it. It was a start.

Though she wanted to whip out her laptop right then, she had one thing to do first. Wyatt had moved to freaking Miami for her. Yeah, he had the money, but she also knew it wasn’t just for show. If she asked him to, he’d move here permanently, but she wasn’t sure she wanted that. She knew how much

he enjoyed living out west and she didn’t want to take that away from him. That was a decision for

another day, but right now she could at least show him she was serious too. He’d been right earlier; actions spoke louder than words.

Iris shot off a quick text to Lizzy telling her that she’d start reading everything within an hour, then she headed out of the room. Her boots were silent along the marble stairs. The house was tomblike

quiet today, probably because Wyatt was taking meetings in the back west side of the house. He’d

been on conference calls all morning. As she reached the bottom, she turned ready to go in search of Jay when she found him in the nook where the staircase looped around. The Baby Grand piano

gleamed beautifully under the sparkling chandelier.

Iris blinked at the sight of Jay pressing Ellie up against the wall in a very sexual manner. Both his arms caged the petite blonde woman in against the wall, his tattoos flexing as his muscles tensed.

Ellie had her hand pressed against his chest and was murmuring something Iris couldn’t hear. Didn’t
want
to hear. They were almost perfectly hidden and clearly wanted privacy. Feeling bad about almost disturbing them, she started to back up but her shoe made a soft squeaking sound. The second it did, Jay turned and immediately blocked Ellie’s body.

When he saw Iris, however, he relaxed. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah…I just, never mind.” Iris decided to grab someone else to come with her.

“I’m on break right now.” Ellie slid out from Jay’s embrace and put some distance between them

as she hurried toward Iris, her four-inch Dior’s clicking loudly. “This isn’t what it looks like. We were just talking and it’s Jay’s day off anyway.” Pink-faced, the woman spoke in a hurried rush.

Iris frowned. “O…kay.” She didn’t give a crap what they did in their spare time. She already knew

Jay was off. It was why she’d been searching him out.

“Iris doesn’t give a shit what we’re doing, Ellie,” Jay muttered as he came up to stand behind her.

He reached out to touch her shoulder but Ellie just danced away from him and skirted past Iris,

heading toward one of the west wing hallways. “My lunch break’s about over so I’ll speak to you

later about that…issue, Mr. Wentworth.” Then she was gone, her heels making a huge racket as she

practically sprinted down the closest hallway. Four-inch heels or not, the woman could move.

Iris couldn’t contain her laughter. “
Mr. Wentworth
?”

Jay rubbed a hand over his face. “You’re Wyatt’s wife so I think she’s worried you’d think she

was slacking off on the job or something…fuck, I don’t know what’s going on in Ellie’s head. I never do. She’s driving me insane, Iris. I don’t know what to do with her.” He said the last part as if he thought Iris had some magical answer.

She snorted softly. “If you’re looking for relationship advice, I’m definitely the wrong person to

come to.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Hey!” It might be true but she hadn’t expected him to agree.

Jay smiled then, his grin so boyish that it transformed his face. “I’m just messing with you. What’s up? Were you looking for me?”

“Actually, yes. I knew it was your day off so I thought I’d maybe beg for a little moving help.”

His eyebrows raised a fraction. “Moving?”

“Well, just bringing my clothes over here. As in my whole closet. And a few other necessities.”

She could do it all by herself but it would be a hassle and she wasn’t above asking for help if she could get it all done in one trip. “I need to do a lot of research this afternoon so I wanted to get everything in one trip if possible. We could load up two SUVs and—”

He held up a hand. “If it gets you living permanently under the same roof as Wyatt, I’ll do any damn thing you want.”

Surprised by his statement, she just said, “Thanks. I’m ready now if you are.” She tilted her head

toward the front door and he nodded. There should be two guards standing directly outside. If they