Blood and Roses

“Jesus Christ, you strung-out sonofabitch. You fucking shot your brother. What the hell did you expect was going to happen?”



Rick slammed his palms into Frankie’s shoulders, sending him stumbling back “What did you do? What did you do? I shot him up just enough to make him look innocent. And now he’s dead? Dead?”



“Read the damn papers, man. Or watch the news. One of your bullets opened a vein. He nearly bled out. Never recovered. He had a heart attack.”



Ana stepped away from the wall, taking advantage of the opportunity to intervene between Rick and her mom. She inched toward the open motel room door, her eyes never leaving Rick’s back.



She was ready when he spun with a scream and faced her.



“Cop bitch!” he yelled, before charging toward her.



Ana fired low, hitting him in the shin, and watched as he fell to his knee. He reached behind him. She barely ducked the flung blade that stabbed through the stucco wall behind her. Rick lunged past her crouched position and through the open room doorway, tucking and rolling across the threshold, then kicking the door shut.



Turning, she fired at the ancient doorknob and kicked out with her foot. The door held. She fired again just as Rick began to scream inside.



“Where is she? Where is she?”



She stopped, holding out her arm when Frankie rushed the door. “Wait. I think Jake’s got her.”



The rental sedan pulled into the parking lot to their left. Jake was at the wheel. Both Tilly and Eric were in the car with him.



“Oh god,” Frank choked out. “Mom.”



Ana kept her eye on the room door and the curtained window. “Get in the car and go.”



“What about you?”



Rick continued to yell, followed by the firing of a gun and the shattering of glass. “Nooooo! No! No!” More shots rang out, and more wailing. Then it fell eerily quiet.



“Take care of Mom,” she told him, pulling her phone out to call nine-one-one. “Leave this to me.”



Jake paid the street vendor for his coffee, then turned to face the Crossfire Building again. Foot traffic on the sidewalk swarmed around him, congesting the pavement the same way the cars clogged the street at his back. Car horns blared over the din at regular intervals, yet the residents of Manhattan seemed unaffected by the near frantic pulse of their city.



Tilting his head back, he let his gaze travel up the length of the sapphire-hued spire of glass that pierced the sky along with the hundreds of other towering buildings in the city. The theft of the Crown of Roses was finally coming to a close, and his life with Ana was about to begin. With both of the Parker brothers dead, there was no one who knew the identity of the other two accomplices in the crime, and with all of the items recovered and returned, the cops on both sides of the Hudson River were likely to call the case closed.



The gun Rick had used to end his own life had been a ballistics match to the bullet found in Terence’s shoulder, putting that aspect of the crime to rest as well. There was one last thing to do...



Ana came twirling out of the revolving doors of the Crossfire and her searching gaze found him on the corner. Dressed once again in head to toe black, she looked sleek and very sexy. Her mouth curved slightly as she approached him and deftly took the coffee from his hand.



She took a drink and her nose wrinkled. “Ugh. Black. I like a little cream and sugar.”



He tapped her on the end of her nose with his fingertip. “I’m sure you like it hot, too, so I waited for you to come out before I ordered you one. How did it go?”



“Good. Gideon Cross agreed to give the reward to the Parker family. That’s where it should go.”



“He didn’t question why you’d give away a half million dollars like you would a five dollar bill?” Not to mention the two million dollar finder’s fee for the return of the diamonds...



“No.” She smiled. “I’m sure he thoroughly researched my portfolio before I ever stepped foot into his very impressive office.”



Jake’s brows rose. “How rich are you?”



“Let’s just say I’m very good at my job.” Her smile turned into a grin.



“Damn. Got me a sugar mama. How’d I get so lucky?”



Ana licked her lower lip. “Wanna get luckier?”



“Hell, yeah.” He caught her hand in his and they set off.