Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 by Karen Whiddon (good e books to read txt) 📗

dock platform. The dishwasher confirmed he’s Johnny Blanchard and he looks just like the witness sketches the newspaper printed during Charlie Hamm’s trial and he has the same voice as the man I’ve spoken to in numerous phone calls. I believe it’s him. I identified myself to Blanchard. He has a smoke break coming up and agreed to speak to me then. All that banging and crashing you may have heard—I surprised the heck out of him and he dropped several dishes that he was moving. So far no one’s questioned me as to my identity.” She scanned the surrounding grounds, from the parking area to the rocky beach to the water, but saw no agents or officers. It wasn’t a reason for concern; they were all trained to blend in. Still, it would have been nice to see a familiar face.

And then she did. She spotted Stanton’s unmistakable profile near a grove of trees to the right of the resort. It gave him a perfect line of sight to her. Confidence buoyed her and she turned when she heard the door swing open, ready to get this last crucial interview over. To get what she’d fought for over the last year. Justice for Charlie Hamm.

Johnny Blanchard walked out but wouldn’t make eye contact with her. Her nape hairs rose, and the shudder that racked her body had zero to do with the outside temperature. Following behind Blanchard was a shorter man in a tuxedo. She wanted to believe it was a legit member of the wedding party, but the man’s face was stamped with determination and...satisfaction.

Charlie stepped to one side and the man approached her, closing the distance in three steps. But not before she saw the knife blade in his hand.

“Finally we meet, Dominique de la Vega. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Pablo Jimenez. I believe you’ve been upset with how I conduct my business?” He smiled broadly, his teeth accentuating his dark looks, but the smile wasn’t jovial. It was the leer of imminent death.

Never had Dominique regretted not telling Stanton she still loved him more.

* * *

Stanton knew the figure on the cement platform with Dominique and Blanchard a split second before he spoke, because he matched the physical descriptions of the kingpin. He saw the flash of metal, knew that the bastard had chosen now, this resort so far removed from Grave Gulch, to make his appearance. To prove his point that no one was out of his reach.

“The man identifies himself as Pablo Jimenez, and he is holding a weapon to her midsection, a knife blade approximately six inches long.” As he fed the other agents the information, he fought to stay in the moment, to ignore the existential, psychic pain ripping through him. He’d made a huge mistake by not staying in the corridor, but he’d wanted to be in place as soon as he’d heard she was going outside. If he’d come through the kitchen he would have seen Jimenez and stopped him before he ever stepped on that platform.

“I can’t get a clear shot of him or Blanchard, not without risking hitting Dominique.” Troy’s grim assessment enraged Stanton. “Neither can David.” Troy was working closely with the DEA agent, too.

“Someone has to be able to take them down. This guy’s unstable. He could drive that blade in at any point.”

“If Jimenez wanted her dead, he’d have already stabbed her.” David’s voice was calm, controlled. Because he wasn’t in love with the woman dressed in a bridal gown. “Let it play out. He’s making sure there aren’t any law enforcement agents in the area. He thinks we’ll react right away.”

David was right: Stanton knew it in his bones. But as he watched Dominique, clearly agitated, arguing with Jimenez, he couldn’t help but see everything that ever mattered to him being snatched away.

Dominique.

Why hadn’t he told Dominique that he still loved her, that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer this time? That he’d live with her, they didn’t have to get married, it could be on her terms? Why had he been so obtuse?

Steady is as steady does. He had to rein in his emotions or he’d lose her...forever.

* * *

“If you try to make a move or give me any reason to think that you’re here with anyone but that stupid bodyguard who I see is near that tree over there, I’m going to slice out your heart and hand it to your father. Wrapped in a copy of the Grave Gulch Gazette, of course.”

Dominique stared at the man whose criminal machinations had cost so many lives, and the one she was here to avenge, Charlie Hamm’s. Johnny Blanchard was standing next to her in silence like the spineless, lying jerk that he was. And she knew Blanchard wasn’t her threat. Jimenez held all the power, total control, over whether she lived or died.

“You’re a backstabbing, evil little snake.” She spat at Johnny Blanchard, who remained in place in such a resolute manner she was certain it was to block any attempt at a shot to his or Jimenez’s head.

“You’re like all the rest. You don’t understand who’s running the show.” Blanchard snarled at her, his rotting teeth revealing he wasn’t only a lying witness but probably one of Jimenez’s users. Johnny’s newfound confidence sickened her.

“Do you understand what he’s telling you, Dominique? I have all the power. Whether you live or die. Understand?” Jimenez said her name as if they’d known each other for a lifetime. She hated it, hated all he stood for.

“I do.” Teeth clenched against her shudders, she refused to engage him further.

“You must understand that it’s hard for me to trust people at their word these days. If you are lying, or do anything I don’t tell you to, I’m going to have your bodyguard’s head blown off. I have dozens of my men surrounding this hotel. There’s no way out. You must come with me.”

She mentally heard Stanton’s voice screaming at her