Sucker Bet (Vegas Vampires #4)(34)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"I saw them, sir." Williams dropped his head down and rubbed his upper lip. "It was on the street, beyond some construction scaffolding. I was following them, making sure I didn’t lose them, wondering why they were going back there and I saw…" His hands came together again. "Against the wall. Then I just went on the other side of the tarp and waited for them to finish because I knew you wouldn’t want me to watch."

He didn’t want it to happen at all, let alone anyone to watch. Donatelli spoke very, very carefully. "So, you’re telling me my wife had sex with a strange man standing up outside, against a wall?"

"Yes, sir."

Donatelli stood up slowly. Then flipped his dining table over onto its side with a burst of fury. "Kill him."

"Sir?"

"Find out who he is and kill him. The man she was with. I want him dead within seventy-two hours."

No one was going to touch Gwenna. And if she didn’t want him, insisted on maintaining this ridiculous divorce, Donatelli would be damned if he’d let another man have her.

Gwenna had sobered up fairly quickly after the phone call that another body had been found. After Nate had flagged her down a cab, she had returned to her suite and headed right to her computer. It seemed really important to focus on finding the real names for the rest of the e-mail addresses on the slayers’ loop.

It was the least she could do to help Nate and the investigation. She didn’t care about clearing her name, though she knew that she had to actually be on the list of suspects. She had been in both places a body had been found, and she was on the slayers’ loop. Plus she had the horrible suspicion that once this latest victim was identified, they were going to determine that he was on the loop, too.

While she had been drinking like a fish at The Impalers concert and having phenomenal sex with Nate on the sidewalk, the slayers’ loop had exploded with the news of Buzzdrew’s death. Gwenna was following the thread backward, trying to determine who had first posted the news of his death, and deciphering who knew exactly what, when her mobile phone rang.

A glance at it showed it was Roberto. She should just turn off her ringer, but then it would vibrate all night as he left nine hundred voice-mail messages. Better to just get it over with.

"Hello?" she said absently, studying her screen. The news about Buzzdrew didn’t seem to originate from any of the principal players on the loop. It was from a lurker, whose e-mail address was [email protected]. Obviously someone brimming with maturity.

"Gwenna, it’s Roberto. How are you?"

Her ex-husband’s voice was quite polite. No overt and oozing charm. No references to her being his wife or calling her darling, beautiful, gorgeous, or my love.

How odd. "I’m fine, how are you?" No reason to be rude when he was trying so hard.

"I’m quite well, thank you. Just undergoing some last-minute preparations for tomorrow’s swearing-in and the ball. Your brother and I had a meeting this afternoon. Did you have a pleasant evening?"

Gwenna frowned. She and Roberto didn’t do casual chitchat. He was starting to unnerve her. "I’m glad to hear you and Ethan are setting aside your personal differences for the sake of the Nation."

"We are both in agreement that it would make quite a positive statement to that effect if you consented to accompany me to the ball tomorrow night."

Shit. So that’s where this was headed. "Roberto, that’s just not a good idea." And she found it difficult to believe that her brother would applaud her spending a whole night with an arm through Roberto’s, even if it was a smart political maneuver.

"Why not? Carrick and I both feel that it will show unity between us, and we’ll present a strong and solid government to our constituents."

"I think it would just muddy the water with gossip." And be an unbearable and insufferable evening for her. She didn’t want to go and make polite conversation as it was, and she couldn’t fathom being paraded around by Roberto while everyone whispered about them. "Besides, I’m not an asset to you. I never was. I am a horrific hostess, which you know damn well, considering it was a flaw you constantly pointed out in me during our marriage."

"I did no such thing."

She couldn’t prevent a snort from flying out of her mouth. "Oh, come on. Now you’re being utterly absurd. You hated the way I was so shy and lousy at commanding the household staff, and overseeing all your many parties and soirees. I distinctly recall the afternoon when you told me to get my f**king nose out of a book and go slap the housekeeper about, as was befitting a lady of my rank, and your wife."

The words still rankled, all these centuries later. Roberto had married her knowing full well what her temperament and personality were and had chosen to ignore that. He had always assumed she was or could be whatever he wanted, despite the truth irrefutably staring him in the face. While he had wanted a woman capable of ordering and commanding his household with an iron fist, she had been the polar opposite, happiest when reading in the privacy of her salon.

"I don’t remember saying anything like that." His politeness was chipping away, and he was starting to sound irritated. "I can’t believe that you could possibly remember that verbatim either. But then, you were always intent on keeping a list of every misdeed of mine, from saying ‘damn’ at the dinner table to forgetting your birthday. Once. One lousy time I forgot and I was subjected to your tears for two days. All I ever wanted was for you to enjoy our life together… to take a little pride in yourself and your position, and to not let the staff and the other ladies run riot over you."

Gwenna felt the insult of his disapproval all over again. "You wanted me to get a backbone."

"Yes."

"But not with you. And now that I have, it drives you insane, doesn’t it? Well, sorry, Roberto, but after all these years, I’ve finally found my backbone and it’s not going to break anytime soon."

"I don’t consider making a fool out of yourself by jumping onstage at a rock concert to be getting a backbone. That’s just being a fool."

She gasped. The… the… she couldn’t think of a word ugly enough to describe him. "God, I just hate you sometimes, Roberto. You weren’t always such a gigantic bastard, were you? I swear I must have been blind and stupid to imagine we could both live in Vegas and coexist, if not as friends, at least in peace."

"I’m not the one starting an argument. I asked you to go to the ball with me! Doesn’t that tell you I’d love to be friends?"

"Actually, no, it doesn’t. It tells me either that you’re using me to make a statement of power to my brother, that you’re interested in having the attention tomorrow focused on you and not Ethan, that you heard I went to a rock concert tonight and it infuriated you enough to want to keep me by your side tomorrow so I don’t do something you’d consider equally as idiotic, or you’re just plain horny. Perhaps it’s all of those." She pushed her chair back and stood up. "But I’m absolutely certain it’s not because you want to be chums and hang out at the pub together."