Page 133 of Intent to Kill
Looking annoyed and put-out, they vacated the table, leaving Dorian and Mercedes alone.
“You can’t kill Paul. He’s my best friend. Please, I’m begging you,” she said as harshly as she could, but some betraying tears coated her cheeks.
“That’s not really up to you, darling.” He took another swig of his drink.
Mercedes gazed down at her feet. It was all a game. To Dorian, everything was a game. A wrestle for power and control. A set of carefully controlled moves that put him in position to be a king.
But Paul’s life was hanging in the balance. She couldn’t handle losing him, not after what she’d already lost. Not at the hands of their half-cocked plan. To her, nothing about any of this was a game.
Paul had known, she realized in that moment, that Dorian would never forgive him. Never give him a chance like he would with the others. Even though they...fucking hell.
That’s why he’d insisted that he be the one to walk away to save Adam’s life.
He’d succeeded, too. Adam was alive and well. On the road to a full recovery. But...Adam left anyway. He decided to take his health and his freedom and his new life and leave them all behind. Leave her behind. To deal with the outfall and destruction alone.
Despite what the others had done, they hadn’t abandoned her. Coming back to Ridge City was a death sentence for Paul. But he’d still come back to her. Adam hadn’t. And that, really, was the only thing she couldn’t forgive.
She only had one thing left to give. The only thing that could save Paul’s life.
“Take me,” she said.
Dorian raised his eyebrows.
“Spare Paul’s life, let him come back, and get the night with me you’ve always wanted.”
Dorian smiled and downed the rest of his glass, getting up from the booth to face her. “Darling, it’s an intriguing offer, but you’re gonna need to do a little better than that.”
Mercedes didn’t look from his cutting stare, her eyes only shuttering as she recognized what she was about to sacrifice—and, interestingly enough, she embraced it full force. It was an easy choice. For Paul’s life—her best friend—she’d do anything.
“Then take me for life. Spare him, and I’m yours, forever, in whatever way you want me.”
Dorian licked his lips and smiled. “Darling, you have yourself a deal.”
* * *
MAY 1991
Adam placed his shades over his eyes to block the blinding sun. He braced his forearms on the wooden railing of the boardwalk, staring out onto the beach. The crowds bustled around him, hot sun drawing most of them to the glittering waters in tiny bathing suits.
“What are we doing at the beach, Adam?” Mercedes’s voice from behind startled him. He looked over his shoulder to gaze at her.
“Hey, baby,” he smiled as she approached. “We’re doing a job.”
Next to him, she braced on the railing, too, more delicately than he had. She wore a mustard yellow crop top under a sheer white sweater and tight black shorts that had his eyes begging to see more. Didn’t matter how much time they’d spent together, she always took his breath away.
“At the beach?”
He took shallow breaths to keep his composure, hoping that she wouldn’t notice. He was surprised to see that she had showed up at all. She’d been avoiding all of them. Though, just like Paul said, there was no anger in her eyes. He wondered if she’d been punishing herself just as badly as he had for what happened to Tia.
He brushed off the sadness, doing his best to pretend everything was normal. “It’s a stakeout,” he said. “Take some incriminating photos for our new friends at City Hall. Little bit of blackmail here and there.”
She pushed back on the railing, only holding onto it with her palm. She didn’t meet his gaze, though his lingered unwaveringly on her.
“I’m surprised you came,” he said.
“You made it sound important,” she said.
He pulled his eyes from her as he spotted the target on the beach. He reached for his camera, tightening the correct lens in anticipation.
