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"Thank you" The young woiving her a bright s with us the full length of the reservation?"

Sounahere she had stayed

Piper shook her head as she slid a tip to the girl "I’ in about an hour to take e?"

She should never have gone shopping that s of additional materials in her roole extra duffel bag she’d packed rather than purchasing another, as she’d planned

"I’ll make certain of it" Brittany’s smile was too cheerful

Piper quickly turned and headed for the elevators as she tucked her card back into the planner’s clear zippered pocket

As she did so, a phone nuht her eye

Jed Booker The number was scrawled under his na he used

She should have invited hihed wearily to herself Eldon Vessante would have never tried anything so stupid if Jed had been with her She had a feeling Mr Vessante would have been far less likely to stuff that sock in his pants, or to eous deed his mind the first chance he had, which would have suited her fine

Stepping into the elevator, she told herself it didn’t matter If it was meant to be, it would be; it was that sih, until she snapped the planner closed She didn’t push it back into her purse, however She held on to it even though she’d already both raht Jed, she had no doubt the night would have been far less disappointing andwas certain: Jed so did not stuff his crotch with anything but what God had given hienerous

Rudy Genoa stared at the disgusting, bloodied face of the car rental agency er with bitter fury

He was tied, in a rather clichéd style, to an old-fashioned wooden office chair, because he was too damned cheap to buy the nice, if inexpensive, computer chairs that were so easy to find

It had worked to restrain hih

Duct tape secured his wrists to the ars His face ollen and pale beneath the blood thathead was splattered with his blood, calling attention to the fact that perhaps he’d lost more hair since the last tio

Chester’s head lolled to the side a bit, while small, bloody bubbles filled and deflated at his nostrils with each breath

He really was a distressing sight, but it couldn’t be helped Rudy was furious The loss of the delivery had the potential to do far more than just e so for him The type of men one preferred not to piss off Even one with Rudy’s power

He couldn’t believe the stupidity

This hat you got for trying to trust faht

"Did you think I would just let this go, Chester?" Rudy asked as he straddled the chair he’d pulled over to the balding, overweight little bastard

"Rudy, please" Sloppy, bleeding, one eye swollen shut, his lips split by the heavy fist that had pounded into them, Chester wept pitifully "I did like you said; I swear It was that new girl She rented the car out"

"And now the delivery that ca," Rudy stated softly "We checked it thoroughly"

"Please" Chester choked "You owe et thereed with his cousin for a change

A six-year stint in prison for a crime he had been nowhere near had earned Chester a hell of a boon But this

Rudy shook his head as he propped his ar Six years in prison for the rape of Rudy’s rival’s mistress came nowhere close to the millions of dollars in diahtest awareness of another presence behind hi patiently, the fa

"I checked the security tapes She arrived about ten minutes before we did, messed around in the backseat, looks like she knocked over a bag onto the back floorboard We found a receipt pushed beneath one of the seats for a craft seller for colored crystals and stones There’s a chance the woman doesn’t knohat she has" There was no opinion either way in the boy’s voice

Well, perhaps Andre wasn’t a boy anymore, but as his mother would say, he would always be Rudy’s boy

"And her name?" Rudy asked

At his son’s lack of an answer, Rudy turned to stare back at him with a frown Rarely had Rudy seen this expression on Andre’s face

That look of concern