Their plan was to fight it for as long as they could, then have her confined in some posh minimum security Federal prison for anywhere from six to fifteen years. That was their plan, but Nina had her own. She had no intention of spending one day behind bars. Besides, her immediate concern was not to get her head blown off.
Nina always had something up her sleeve. Killing Gina was still on the table. For obvious reasons, Nina was more desperate now than ever. Gina had been right when she’d said she should have assumed her identity. That would have solved all of her problems.
It wasn’t too hard to make her crimes disappear in China. She only had the US to worry about. Here, Nina was facing charges of identity fraud, money laundering, and a few other white collar crimes.
She was going to fight it with every dime she had just in case her plan failed. Every dime that hadn’t been frozen. While the US and China had a large chunk of her assets, there were still a few in overseas accounts that no one knew about.
Timing was everything. Things were too hot right now to make a move against Gina. However, closer to the trial, which was more than a year away, Nina and Jonah planned to do what they had to do.
Nina stepped out of the elevator and into the parking garage alone not exactly alone. She kept her revolver locked and loaded. The gun range had become her home away from home.
While Jonah stuck to her like glue, especially now that they were dating, even he couldn’t be with her one hundred percent of the time. Like now, he’d left something in the apartment and had to go back to get it. Luckily, the car was parked close to the doors, and her building was secured. Nina had told him she would pull the vehicle around to the front of the apartment building. It would just save time. Otherwise, they would be late for their dinner reservation.
Jonah was determined to get Nina out of the house and celebrate their two-month anniversary. Lately, celebrations had been too few. Nina agreed it would be as good a time as any to celebrate. Like clockwork, when she pulled the car around, he was standing out front waiting.
*****
Dinner had been great. It was nice for them to get out, enjoy themselves, and not worry about all the crap that had been hovering over her. When the valet brought their car around, Jonah got in on the driver’s side, and Nina entered on the passenger’s side. They pulled off and away from the curb.
Nina leaned back in her seat and kicked off her heels. “Thank you for convincing me to get out. This was a nice respite.”
Jonah’s crooked smile was so sexy. “I enjoyed myself too. We need to do this more often.”
“You don’t mind all the people staring at us?”
“I’d stare too. You’re beautiful.”
“Good answer, but sometimes people are staring at the infamous Jules Ming-Sherman or Nina Lee-Xiou-Manchetti, whichever name you want to use, it gets on my last nerve.”
“It’ll die down after a little while. It already has from when we first came back.”
“True.”
“Do you mind if I stop and get wine? It’ll only take a minute. I’ll run in and out.”
She was hesitant. “Sure. Why not. Get several bottles. We’re celebrating.”
“I’ll make sure to do that. I’m going to pull up over here.”
Nina watched intently as he got out of the car and locked the doors. It wasn’t ten minutes later that Jonah came out of the store with several bottles of wine.
The ride back to the apartment building was smooth, uneventful. They laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. Nina couldn’t explain the relief she felt when they arrived back to the parking garage. Jonah parked the car in her designated spot.
“I hate the anxiety that I feel every time I leave the apartment. I . . .” Nina blinked a few times. Were her eyes deceiving her? Jonah’s hands were on the steering wheel, but a bullet had just gone through his head and out the front windshield. It was interesting. The hole was small, and the glass didn’t shatter.
It happened so fast Nina wasn’t sure if he’d known he’d been shot. She wasn’t even certain he’d been shot until his body slumped over onto the steering wheel.
An arm reached out from the backseat of the car and snatched Nina’s purse before she had a chance to grab her gun. She knew that smell, the perfume. How had she missed it earlier? Gina.
*****
Gina Lee-Xiou
The cold hard barrel of my gun bumped directly up against the back of Nina’s skull. “Did you honestly think I was going to let you get away with everything you’ve done scot-free?”
Her voice trembled. “This isn’t China, Gina. You won’t get away with this here.”
“Actually, I will. Your list of enemies is so long that even IF someone suspected me, a first-year law student could get me off.”
Nina slow clapped. “You are Chang’s daughter. I’ve got to give it to you. I wasn’t expecting you to be the one.”
“As are you. However, I should have been the first person to come to mind.”
“How’d you get in the car?”
“It wasn’t too hard. Technology is great, isn’t it? After I disabled the security footage at the restaurant, I didn’t even need a key to get in. When the valet parked your car in the garage, I just used a digital decoder
