Neither answered.
“Fine.” Rick lifted a gun. “I’ll hire another designer.”
Brody’s heart all but stopped.
Maddie’s eyes flashed. “You’re not going to shoot your own flesh and blood.”
“Try me.”
No one tried him. No one moved.
“Now,” Rick said with far less patience, “will the real Maddie step forward, please.”
Brody didn’t dare look at Maddie and give her away, but he did send her a mental DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.
Again, no one moved. For Brody’s part, he didn’t even breathe.
Rick stepped farther into the room.
Ben was beside Leena. Brody was where Maddie had left him, between the door and the work area, which meant he was closest to Rick.
With a hammer in one hand and a knife in the other.
Giving him a wide berth, Rick passed by, heading toward the sisters. “Come on, Maddie. Be brave. There’s going to be a tragic accident.”
“You’re going to die?” Leena asked hopefully.
“Oh, no.” He smiled, and the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. “It won’t be me. Maddie’s going to drown.”
At that, Brody fingered the knife. Throwing it across the room was a maneuver effective only in the movies, so he needed to get closer.
“Terribly tragic, of course,” Rick lamented. “Leena’ll be so distraught.” He waited for one of the twins to give herself away. “You’ll stay here and work for me, of course. You girls have been so busy fucking with me, I never did get to tell you. I’m expanding our design and spec business.”
“You mean swindling business.” This from Maddie.
Rick acknowledged her words with a little bow of his head. “So you can see why it’s best if our designer is here full time.”
Brody just gripped the handle of the knife and did his best to bide his time. And breathe.
“Maddie will step forward now,” Rick commanded softly, no longer smiling. “Or would you rather I call in Tiny Tim, who’ll figure it out for me.”
There was only one way Brody could think of for Tiny Tim to do that, and that was by stripping down the twins and checking for that birthmark on the back of Maddie’s thigh. Yeah, this was going to get ugly quick, and clearly, Maddie knew it because she stepped forward.
Brody immediately moved to stand next to her, but Rick stepped in his path, blocking him, lifting the gun and pointing it right at his chest. “You, my friend, are expendable. Do not forget that. Now drop that knife.”
Brody turned his head and looked at Maddie, intending to tell her not to do anything stupid after he was gone because it was pretty damn clear that this wasn’t going to end well for him.
“Drop it.” To emphasize the request, Rick cocked the gun in his hand.
Hating this, Brody dropped the knife.
The look on Maddie’s face said she knew she was now faced with a choice-save herself or save him. A few months ago, he’d have bet money on what she’d do. After all, he drove her crazy, and the feeling was mutual.
She’d have killed him herself.
Now she looked at him, the horror and regret heavy in her eyes. Her heart there, too, for the first time, visible to him, all of it.
He knew how she moved, how she thought. He’d been with her naked and not so naked, and he knew in his gut that there was nothing, nothing at all, that she could reveal about herself that would change his mind.
He was in this, heart and soul.
Knowing it, he stepped forward, closer to the barrel of Rick’s gun. “You’re not taking Maddie.”
Ben stepped forward, too, adding his voice to Brody’s. “You’re not taking anyone.”
Rick’s gaze narrowed, wavering on each of the four of them in turn. His gun, however, did not waver, not one bit. “Are you kidding me?”
Maddie put her hand in front of Brody and shoved him back a step.
Then Leena elbowed both Maddie and Brody back. “I told you! My fight.”
Brody was getting damn tired of getting shoved while trying to save his woman, but then Leena grabbed the barrel of the gun herself and put it against her chest. “It’s me you want. Tiny Tim,” she yelled toward the door. “This doesn’t involve you. Just stay back.”
Uncle Rick craned his neck to glance at the door, but there was no one in the doorway. In that split second, Leena grabbed a wickedly sharp chisel from her shelf and swung it at Rick.
Rick, no slouch in the quick mover department, sensed her motion and whipped back, aiming at Brody-except that Maddie threw herself in front of him as a shield, screaming “Nooooo.”
Brody might have yelled, too. He couldn’t tell over the roar of adrenaline in his body as he wrapped Maddie in his arms and tried to pivot to protect her, but the woman was strong and determined, and still screaming in his ear as she shoved with all her might.
The two of them crashed to the floor as the sharp crack of the gun went off. He actually felt the whir of the bullet as it whizzed past his ear.
Holding Maddie down, he lifted his head to see what was happening, just in time to see Leena clock Rick over the head with the chisel.
Rick’s eyes, wide and surprised, locked on Leena as he staggered back a step, still in his shooter’s stance. His mouth went slack as he formed one surprised word.
“Leena.”
And then he hit the floor with a bone-jarring thud.
“That’s bitch to you,” Leena said, dusting off her hands. “Oh, and by the way? I quit.”
Chapter 29
Maddie had never known panic like she knew now. Rick had gotten a shot off, but who had it hit? Beyond reason, nearly hysterical, ears still ringing, she slipped out from beneath Brody. “You okay?” she demanded, slapping her hands down his body.
“Yes.” His hands grabbed hers, his gaze filled with the same panic she felt. “You?”
Heart in her throat, she nodded, her gaze going straight to Leena next, who was now standing over a very unconscious, and if she wasn’t mistaken, drooling Rick.
“Hope you heard that, you SOB!” Leena sounded so cocky she might have been Maddie.
Maddie sagged in unbelievable relief as Brody surged to his feet, grabbing a roll of twine from Leena’s shelf. Ben met him, and together, the two of them hauled Rick to a chair and tied him to it.
None of them had been hit. It was a miracle. And a sign. Or so Maddie hoped. A sign that this was going to go their way.
Moving close to a hog-tied Rick, she held the radio toward his mouth as his eyes slowly opened. “When I push this button,” she instructed, “you’re going to tell your men out there that we need the boat ready for a little ride to Nassau. You tell them that, and-”
“-And we’ll let you live,” Leena finished for her.
Rick snorted.
“We’ll let you live,” Leena repeated. “Unlike Manny.”
Looking only slightly less cocky, he shut his mouth. Uncooperative.
Brody crouched in front of him. “And one other thing. Once we’re out of here, you won’t contact either of the sisters ever again.”
Over Rick’s head, Maddie met Brody’s gaze and felt her heart catch. God. How had she gotten so lucky to have him in her life? She pushed the button on the radio and waited for Rick to talk.
