Dante's Angel (22 page)

Damn it, he
should have never turned away!

In the matter
of seconds, the twitchy bodyguard, Fai, grabbed for his gun on the bar top,
lifting it to fire at the other bodyguard when he tried to lunge forward,
dropping him to the floor. He jerked Jin Tao in front of him, using him as a
shield before Dante could get a shot off.

Everyone
inside the bar froze while chaos continued to reign outside.

With his gun
pressed against Jin Tao’s temple, Fai said, “Everybody drop your weapons.”

Chapter Fourteen

“What madness
is this? Fai, what the hell are you doing?”

“Shut the hell
up, old man!” Fai ordered as he cuffed Jai Tao hard on the temple with the butt
of his gun. “I’m so fucking tired of taking orders from you, and for what? Measly
pay while you make billions? Fuck that. Paul pays me much better than you. I
said put your weapons down!”

The men in the
center of the room ducked as glass rained down from one of the skylights
overhead as someone outside shot through the window. Fai pulled Zoe’s father
back into the corner, moving away from the falling glass and protecting his
back against the wall.

Behind the
bar, Zoe reached down and pressed the button on her radio link, sliding the
button forward to keep the line open so everyone could hear. There was a moment
of disorientation as the loud sounds of gunfire and shouts echoed through the
radio link and in real time, but none of the others in the room even blinked.
She saw Dante’s eyes flicker toward her, then he gave an imperceptible nod to
assure her she’d done the right thing.

Slowly, she
pulled the gun out of the holster located at the small of her back and placed
it on the shelf in front of her so it wouldn’t be seen. She saw movement out of
the corner of her eye, and realized that GT had mimicked her, placing her own
gun in front of her further down the bar so they were both ready.

“Why would we
do that?” Dante asked conversationally. He had his gun trained on Fai, but
still didn’t have a shot. Neither did the other men in the room. Still, Dante
would bluster his way through it until he did. “I could shoot you through him.
I’ve thought about shooting him, you know. After all that he did to Zoe when
she was growing up? Yeah, I’ve thought about it a lot.”

Alarm
flickered in both Jai and Fai’s eyes for a moment, but then Fai sneered. “I
wouldn’t do that if I were you. One of our men put a bomb downstairs the other
night. A little insurance to make sure you listen. In fact, we should be
getting a little preview any second now to prove that Mr. Wei is serious.”

“
Fuck
,” Brix breathed in the radio link.
“
I’m heading down to the storage area now
to see if I can disarm it. Can he see down the hallway?
”

“Negative,”
Hammer murmured.

“
I’m staying topside
,” Hunter announced.
“
Moving toward the skylight for a better
position.
”

A few seconds
later, an explosion outside rocked the building. Jessup peeked out back window.
“Christ, Dante. They blew up your motorcycle.”

Fai pressed
the gun harder against Jai Tao’s head. “I told you we were serious. Now, put
your guns down on the ground. Cell phones, too. Everyone but you,” he said to
Dante. “Call your men outside and tell them to back off. Paul just wants to
have a little chat with your bitch. Tell everyone to stop shooting, damn it!”

The shock was
enormous. Dante’s gaze met Zoe’s, and he saw the stark fear on her face. The
first sliver of panic raced down his spine. It never occurred to any of them
that they would put a bomb in the building. This was his place, and his woman
and their friends were inside.

Fuck, he
couldn’t lose them.

Dante lowered
to the floor to place his gun down. He felt helpless. Storm must have heard
what was said over the radio link, but he still pulled out his cell phone and
made the call as the other men put their guns down. A few seconds later, the
shooting outside stopped.

Fai’s gaze
flickered toward GT, but he dismissed her as soon as he saw she was a woman. He
looked away before he saw her expression turn as hard as stone. Pulling out his
own cell phone, he made a call. “They’re disarmed. You can come in now.”

Brix voice
sounded on the radio again. “
Bomb located.
It will do damage, but isn’t very sophisticated. I should be able to disarm in
a few minutes. Buy me some time.
”

“Copy that,”
Dare murmured. Raising his voice, he gestured toward the bodyguard bleeding on
the floor and said, “Can I take a look at his wound? I’m a doctor.”

Fai shot a
look toward his partner, hesitating briefly before he agreed. “Fine.”

Dare hurried
toward the fallen man and started assessing him after casting a quick glance
over at Fai. From their position on the floor near the bar, Fai couldn’t see
them very clearly. Using the injured guard’s body as cover, Dare slipped
another gun from his ankle holster. Dante saw what he was doing and bent down,
acting like he was helping as Dare transferred the gun to him. He shoved it
into the back his jeans and announced, “It doesn’t look good.”

 
“If I can slow the bleeding, he has a chance.”

“Hey!” Fai
yelled. “Step away from them. I mean it. Move over there.”

Dante stood
again as the front door opened and four men walked in. Paul Wei was a handsome
man, whose good looks hid his black soul. He was dressed in a flashy light-gray
suit that had a slight sheen to it, with a pale-pink dress shirt underneath.
The three men with him looked like rejects from a bad mob movie, with black
suits, white shirts and thin black ties, and they all carried weapons in with
them.

Paul strutted
forward, taking his sunglasses off as he looked around the room with smug
satisfaction. He put the designer sunglasses on the top of his head, and when
his gaze met Zoe’s his lips curved up. “Well, hello there, Angelica. Or should
I call you Zoe now?”

Zoe’s blood
froze as Paul looked at her. Seeing him, hearing his voice again made her knees
weak with fear. She flinched as she remembered how his fists felt against her
flesh, how much it hurt when he’d left her there, tied up in bed praying to
die. She saw the quick flash of glee in his dark eyes when he noticed her fear,
and for some reason, it helped her regain a part of herself.

“P-paul.”

His grin
widened as she stuttered out his name. The self-important bastard thought she
was shaking in fear. She was no longer that scared, shy young woman she’d been
when she knew him. He had no power over her anymore, and she could use that to
her advantage. There was no way in hell she was going to let him hurt the
people she loved…not this time.

Paul glanced
over toward Fai and Jai Tao, bowing slightly in a mocking gesture as he held
his gun out. “Mr. Tao, thank you for leading me straight to your daughter. She
has been a little difficult to find these last few months. Naughty, naughty
girl that she is. As soon as Fai told me you were heading here, I came down and
brought a few friends with me.”

He let out a
low chuckle as he swaggered forward a few steps. “Now, we could have done this little
reunion in a more civilized fashion, but you had the cops waiting for us. That
made me angry, Angelica. Very, very angry. So, this is what’s going to happen.
You are going to come with me to collect your violin—”

“She’s not
going anywhere with you,” Dante growled out. He took a step forward, but came
to a halt when Paul shifted his gun and aimed it at him.

“Isn’t that
sweet? She’s going to do what she’s told or I’m going to kill you and all of
your friends. Sorry about your motorcycle, by the way,” he said with a grin. “What
an interesting place you have here. The town itself has its appeal, I suppose.
But this bar? Then again, I would have never thought to look in a place like
this for you.” Furious eyes glared at Zoe. “I could have given you everything,
and this is what you chose?”

“I didn’t love
you,” Zoe said quietly.

“Love?” Paul
scoffed. “What the hell does love have to do with anything? We could have been
a power couple…traveled the world together. But you surprised me again. I never
would have thought you would pick a man like him.” He glanced over at Dante again.
“For trash he does seem…virile, and a little wild.”

The
appreciative gleam in his eyes shocked Zoe. She’d always thought he was
metrosexual, but his interest in Dante physique was appraising on a sexual
level.

“Proletarian
men and women do have their appeal, but not for the long term,” Paul said,
confirming that he was attracted to both genders. “I’m sure he’s good in bed,
but you were meant for more than working in some seedy bar in some nowhere
town.”

Dante glared
at Zoe’s father. “You picked this fuckhead in the pink shirt to marry Zoe?
Seriously?”

“Obviously, it
was a mistake,” Jin Tao said dryly.

“Yeah, a big
one.”

Paul’s dark
eyes glittered with anger. “Say what you want, but I still had her first.”

“And I’ll make
you pay for that. That’s a promise,” Dante said, his voice low and deadly.

“I don’t think
so. I’m the one with the gun in my hand. And once I have the violin, I’ll
become a ghost. No one will find me.”

“You came for
my violin?”

Paul rolled
his eyes. “You really are stupid. Although you’ve made it impossible for me to
continue business as usual, I’ll be taking your instrument with me when I
leave. I do have a buyer interested in that particular item, but that isn’t the
main factor. You were always my insurance, Angelica. I have fifty million
dollars worth of diamonds hidden in the lining of your case. You protected that
thing like a child. I knew you’d keep it safe for me until I needed it.”

That floored
Zoe. It had never even occurred to her that Paul has stashed away anything in
her violin case. “I don’t have it. It’s in a bank vault.”

Paul sighed.
“That’s unfortunate, but I figured you might have put it there. Well, you’ll
just have to go fetch it for me tomorrow when the bank opens. Until then, I’m
be taking your father with me to ensure you bring it back.”

“
Bomb disarmed,
” Brix announced through
the radio link. “
Moving up to the hallway
to get into position.
”

Zoe wanted to
take Paul’s attention away from Dante and give Brix a chance to move into the
hallway without being noticed so she said, “Why would I bring you the violin? You’d
just kill us after I do. Plus, what’s to stop you from activating the bomb as
soon as we leave?”

Paul let out
an evil laugh. “You’re right. There is no guarantee. However, I’m a wanted man
now, and I don’t really want the death of all these people hanging over me. It
would only make the cops search for me harder. And I have no reason to kill
daddy dearest. I’ll be having him transfer some of his money over to one of my
offshore accounts, but then I’ll let him go. Of course, with him, I don’t
really need your violin or the diamonds, but I want what’s mine.”

Zoe noticed
right away that he’d said nothing about letting her go, but that wasn’t
important at this point. She knew—without a single doubt—that Dante would never
let her leave with Paul. He’d kill Paul first, even if he had to do it with his
bare hands. She was about to speak again when her father said one word that
changed everything.

“No.”

Jin Tao might
have messed up with his daughter, but he still loved her. He wasn’t about to
let anything happen to her, and he could sense that Paul Wei had no intention
of letting her live. Jin felt a deep sense of regret that he’d lost so much
time with his daughter. She was obviously well loved by the people around her,
and—even though he wouldn’t have been the man Jin would have chosen for
her—Dante seemed to love her deeply.

Loyalty came
with a high price, and the lesson had been reinforced tonight by one of his own
guards that had worked for him for years. Jin was a ruthless man when it came
to business, and he’d do whatever it took to tip the scales in his favor. Observing
the three men standing with Paul, Jin could tell that they were nothing but
hired help. They’d probably been offered a fee for participating in this little
venture with Paul, but Jin was about to change that.

Paul turned.
“What did you say?”

“I said, no. I
won’t be transferring any funds to you. What I will do is offer any of the men
standing with you ten million dollars to shoot you in the head, though.”

Paul gaped at
him, and the three men standing with him looked at one another in shock and
excitement at the offer. Paul reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell
phone. “If anything happens to me, I can blow this damn place up and take
everyone with me.”

“
In position,
” Brix said over the radio.
“
I have a bead on the asshole with the
spiky hair.
”

“Glasses,”
Hammer said softly, claiming the man wearing wire-rimmed glasses.

“
I’ve got the fucker holding Zoe’s dad, but
he’s got his finger on the trigger. I need a distraction in play for him to
move that gun away from Jin Tao’s head, then I’ll take the guard out,
”
Hunter said as he stared down through the broken skylight from his position on
the roof.

“
Try to leave them alive,
” Storm growled
through the radio. “
Wei brought ten men
with him. Three are dead and the others are in custody, but we want Wei still
breathing.
”

“Got it. Get
ready,” GT whispered. She picked up her gun, moving carefully. From where she
stood she’d didn’t have a shot, but she didn’t need it. Pointing her gun at a
bottle, she fired. Everyone in the room turned toward the sound, and Fai moved
just enough to give Hunter the room he needed.