Mine to Crave (Mine #4)(21)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“No,” the word was a stark whisper from her as horror flashed across her face. “He hasn’t taken anything yet. You have to get your men out of there! Close the casino!”

He glared at her. “You know what he’s doing.” A set up. She’s still playing me.

“He’s pissed. If he went in…or if he sent someone else inside…anyone in that casino could be in danger.”

“What will he do, Jasmine?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know…I just…I don’t want anyone hurt.”

Liar. He’d warned her about telling lies.

“Please, be safe.” She was begging again, but not because of passion. “Get the people out of there!”

He brought the phone back to his lips. “Get a sweep going—now. Close the whole place down.” Because even without Jasmine’s words, his gut was clenching with an instinct that couldn’t be denied.

“Yes, sir,” Chad told him instantly.

Jasmine’s breath whispered out as Drake ended the call. She backed away from him. Still naked. Still staring up at him with secrets in her eyes.

But he was figuring out those secrets. And maybe I really did just get f**ked. “You’re the distraction.”

“Wh-what?”

“You keep me busy, while what…he goes after my money?” She’d been the one to tell him that he had to head down to New Orleans. A ruse, to get him away from the Arrow so her boss could attack.

He grabbed her, yanking her up on her toes. He’d been lost in her, driven to the edge by his lust, when some of her cronies had been trying to rob him. “What’s he got planned?”

“I-I don’t—”

“What?” Rage erupted inside of him. “Dammit, I have friends in that casino. Innocent people in the club. Don’t you try to cover—”

Her chin slipped up a notch. “I don’t know anything about another attack on the Arrow! I thought he was trying to come after your property down here, not up there in Vegas.”

“You’re lying to me.” He’d warned her before. There were no more warnings.

“No.”

“People could die, Jasmine. Stop screwing around and tell me what you know! You wanted my security guards to do a sweep. You knew that something could be happening.”

She was silent.

“Tell me.”

Her lashes lowered as she seemed to go limp in his arms. “I’m a dead woman now.”

What?

“Like you, Maxwell Case was ex-military.”

Maxwell Case. She’d just confirmed the SOB’s identity. And she was still talking.

“Demolitions were his specialty,” her voice was muted. “He liked to—liked to make things explode. That’s what he told me.” When her lashes lifted, her eyes shone with tears. “When I was in his office, I…accessed his computer. Found blueprints for the Arrow. Information on the vault. That’s how I knew where to put my smoke bombs. I used the plans I found on his computer. The placement was so obvious…I…it was just smoke for me, but I’m afraid it won’t be for him.”

He pushed her away and called his head of security. “Chad?” The man answered right away. “Get the bomb squad in there.”

“Boss?”

“Use your connections. Get them there now, and make sure everyone else is out.”

Because he would not have anyone dying on his watch.

Maxwell, you bastard…now I’ll be coming after you.

“I can tell you where to search,” Jasmine whispered. “I can tell you everything I saw on his computer…”

***

The Arrow should’ve blown. A controlled explosion that would’ve given him access to all the cash in that casino.

Not that Maxwell Case needed cash.

He wanted to make a f**king point.

But the bomb squad came. The place didn’t blow. They found all of his devices. In record time.

As if they knew just where to look…as if they knew exactly what he’d planned.

Jasmine.

That little bitch. She had always seen and understood far more than most people realized. It was that deceptively delicate appearance. When you looked that fragile, people expected you to be weak.

Jasmine was the smartest woman he’d ever met.

She was also a dead woman.

You told him, Jasmine.

She’d figured out his game. Figured out how much Maxwell liked the fire. Ah, now that was a shame. He’d had such grand plans for Jasmine.

But she’d gone and wrecked everything.

He slid into the back of the limo that waited for him. One that had been parked blocks away from the Arrow.

“Home, sir?” his driver asked.

“Yeah.” Because there would be no fireworks that night. He pulled out his phone. Pressed the number for the hunter who was proving to be nothing but useless. “Hardin, where the hell is she?”

Silence. Then, voice breaking a bit, the hunter confessed, “She flew away with him…to New Orleans.”

Maxwell nearly smashed the phone. Jasmine wasn’t supposed to leave town. She should’ve returned to him.

“I-I’m boarding a flight now,” Hardin stammered out. “I’ll be right on her tail.”

So will I.

Jasmine…beautiful bitch. She’d switched allegiances. Told Archer about the bombs. Even when she shouldn’t have known about them.

And now…now she’d suffer.

He had a special way of paying back those who betrayed him.

Jasmine, baby, you’re going to burn.

Chapter Six

“They found three explosives.”

Jasmine’s eyes squeezed closed at this news. She was out on Drake’s balcony, clad now in jeans and a t-shirt. The rain had stopped, but she knew the storm was far from over.

“They were all right in the exact spots you said.” His hand closed around her shoulder as he turned her to face him.

She forced herself to hold his furious stare.

“You knew what he was doing.”

The rage on his face terrified her. “I didn’t!”

“You knew every spot—”

“N-no one was hurt?”

Grimly, he shook his head and she was finally able to draw in a deep breath. “Thank God.” She’d been terrified that someone would get hurt before the bombs could be deactivated.

“You’re working for a sadistic ass**le who plants bombs.” His hold was almost painful. “So you’ve done this before…just stood by while innocent people suffered. While they were hurt, you—”