Scarlett

I awoke in a panic. Someone was holding my nose and preventing me from breathing. I opened my mouth for air and felt something shoved into my mouth.

“Take that, you meddling bitch.” Bridget’s face came into focus, and I clawed at her triumphant grin. She screamed and fell back, allowing me room to move. Visions of Henri’s dead body filled my mind as I struggled into a sitting position and spit the capsule out.

“Why, Bridget?”

“Why? Because you think you’re so much better than me.” She ground her teeth and pointed her finger at me. “I made you what you are today, or have you forgotten? Every dollar you earn, every piece you acquire, is because of me. You owed me, and instead of letting things be, you brought the cops here and spat in my face.” She lunged for me. I rolled away and scrambled to my feet.

“No, I meant, why Henri?”

She snorted and took several steps forward, forcing me back against the wall. “You still loved that cretin, didn’t you? After all he did to you, I would have thought that you’d have loved to see him dead.”

“I would never be so heartless. I’m not like you.” I dodged another attack and hurried behind the sofa, hoping to put as much distance between my former mentor and me as I could.

“I know, dear,” she said as she flexed her fingers and picked up the pill off the floor. “That was why I have to get rid of you.”

“You what?”

Bridget hurried around the sofa, and I ran in the opposite direction. At the last minute, I realized my mistake. Instead of questioning her, I should have run for the door to the hall behind me. Now not only did I have the sofa between me and an escape, but I had Bridget, too.

My former mentor seemed to realize my predicament as well. “When I first took you on, it was with the intent of making you my protégé. I’m getting older, you see, and as a woman without an heir, I sought to find someone who would carry on my work and my name. I knew I had to pick someone young, someone who didn’t know the art world or how cruel it could be. When I met you, I had thought that you were the perfect one to take over after I was gone.”

I glanced at the door, trying to judge the distance between myself and freedom. Bridget was fast, but I was faster. There was a chance I could run around her and reach the exit, but I wasn’t sure if I could make it.

“Don’t think of screaming, my dear. I have my men standing outside this room. They’ll keep everyone away while we conduct our . . . business.”

I ground my teeth and forced my gaze back to her. “How did you get involved in selling stolen art? It’s beneath you, Bridget.”

She widened her eyes. “When you left, you took half of my revenue with you. Money makes one do desperate things, my dear. Desperate things.”

“So you stole art?”

Her smile was positively wicked. “Rocco approached me. He had ties to people in Colombia who had a lot of money and were looking for fine art to decorate their mansions.”

“You mean drug lords.”

“Their occupations are not my concern. What concerned me was that they wanted masterpieces, items they could brag about hanging in their homes. Rocco had a connection that could get these pieces for them.”

“Edgar Cox.”

She nodded. “It’s amazing the people you meet in the escort business. Rocco wanted to sell the paintings to his connections, but he had no idea about their true worth. He didn’t want to get taken for a ride.”

“So he came to you for help.”

She lifted her chin. “I knew how to price them, and for twice my commission, he made the deal impossible to resist.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Did Henri know?”

“Henri didn’t like my plan. That was why he encouraged you to leave me. Then, after you broke up with him, he tried to blackmail me into getting him some of the fine art. He wanted a Rembrandt for free, that bastard.”

“So you killed him instead of parting with your precious art.”

“He wasn’t willing to pay a fair price, my dear, and he threatened to expose my whole operation. He had to go.”

“You bitch!” I fisted my hands and ran for the door. Bridget intercepted me, grabbing my hair and dragging me to the ground. I yelped and clawed at her eyes, trying to get away. We rolled back into the room, knocking over furniture until she was on top of me and we were both struggling for breath. She shoved the pill toward my mouth, but at the last minute I turned my head to the side, refusing to take it.

“Come on, Scarlett, open up.” When it was obvious I wasn’t budging, she sighed and leaned back. “Henri wasn’t this difficult. All I had to do was offer a little skin and tell him that this pill would give him longevity during sex. The man was so gullible.”

I wanted to question her more, but I was afraid to open my mouth. Instead, I turned and bucked, trying to get her off of me. The woman was surprisingly strong, despite her size. She pinned my hands to the ground and leaned down until I could feel her breath on my face.

“When you do what I do, there’s always collateral damage, you see. It’s just the nature of the business.” She tightened her grip, sending shooting pains up my arms. I ground my teeth, refusing to open my mouth. “There was no way I was going to let you, a little nothing, come and take this sweet deal away from me.”

I lifted my hips in the air, tossing her up. Surprise lit her features as I rolled, pinning her underneath me.

“Why did you kill the others?” I asked.

“The others?”

“The escorts.”I widened my eyes as realization dawned. “Those were Edgar’s connections, weren’t they? They were the ones stealing the paintings.”

Bridget nodded. “Business was growing, and they wanted more than their fair share. We had to send a message that we couldn’t be pushed around. Edgar had handled everything and never bored me with the details. Then that cop started snooping around, and it became clear that Edgar could no longer do his job without getting caught. That was when I took over.”

“Damn.” I loosened my grip in shock and Bridget took advantage, rolling out from under me and scrambling away.

“I can’t be pushed around, Scarlett. Not by you. Not by anyone.” She picked up a vase from a side table.

“Wait!” I ducked, but not soon enough. The vase hit my arm as I raised it to shield my face. Pain blossomed out over my skin, and I tasted blood in my mouth. I had to get away from this woman, and fast.

I stumbled to my feet and rushed to the door. Once again Bridget pulled my hair, drawing me back into the room.

“Oh no, you don’t.”

I screamed, and she once again tried to shove the pill in my mouth. I batted her hand away, sending the capsule flying across the room and under the couch.

“Damn you.” She slapped me and dragged me back to the couch, grabbing a piece of broken vase along the way. “There’s more than one way to kill a pest.” She threw me onto the sofa and fell on top, preventing me from getting back up.

“No.” I grabbed her wrist, stopping her from swiping the sharp edge of the vase at my face. I ground my teeth as I fought her, both of our hands shaking with the effort.

“Stop!”

“It’s too late, Scarlett. Give it up.”

“No!”

“Poor thing. Your precious boyfriend can’t save you now.” She pushed harder, and the edge pushed against my cheek. I closed my eyes as tears streamed down my face. I was losing energy fast. If something didn’t happen soon, I was going to be cut to shreds by this crazy woman.

“Get away from me!” I pushed with all of my strength, but it was not enough. Bridget’s wide grin filled my vision as she realized she had me.

“Good-bye, Scarlett. You will be the only one I will truly miss.”

“I don’t think so.” A large arm swiped down in between us and pulled Bridget off of my body. I gasped for air as a lot of commotion swirled around me.

“Ferreira!” I recognized the voice. It sounded like Gabe’s friend from the precinct, Sal.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up on the sofa.

“Go after Cox and Morales before they get away,” Gabe said.

I blinked and stared at Gabe, now on the floor with Bridget between his legs. She was facedown on the carpet, and her hands were cuffed behind her back.

“You found me,” I said.

Gabe glanced up and flashed me an encouraging smile. “You didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?”

Several officers came into the room. Gabe got off Bridget and moved over to sit beside me.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded. “Gabe, Bridget was working with Rocco and Edgar—”

“Shh, I know.” He pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me. “Haussler got one of the staff to talk to him and got enough information to get a warrant. I’m just thankful he managed to get here in time.”

“Haussler?”

“Jake Haussler, the cop assigned to investigate Henri’s murder.”

“A friend of yours.”

“Professional acquaintance. He wasn’t too happy to learn that the department had me working on the case as well, but we managed to put aside our differences long enough to figure out a way to put Bridget and her friends behind bars.” He tightened his grip around me. “That was why I had to leave you. I had to convince both him and Sal that we had enough evidence for them to make a move now, and that waiting wasn’t an option.”

“I’m glad you convinced them.”

“Me, too.”

I sank into his warm embrace and blinked back the tears in my eyes. “It’s finally over then,” I whispered. “You caught the killers.”

“No, we caught the killers.” He leaned back and wiped a stray tear from my cheek. “I never could have done this if it weren’t for you.”