“Where’s Tarin?”
“She said she was just running to the bathroom. We have guys everywhere, right?”
“Yeah but we’re talking about Geoff.”
“Dammit!” Graham ran for the door and yanked it open. “Johnson, where’s Tarin?”
“She went in there.” He pointed to the women’s bathroom.
Graham burst past him, pissed enough to punch him. He raced through the empty bathroom and into a second hallway.
“Where’s Cooper?”
The young man turned tomato red. “Ms, Roth asked him to buy her a feminine product.”
Graham was about to yell when he saw the staff elevator at the far end of the hall open. A glimpse of a sparkling blue dress was all he needed to see to know it was Tarin. He wasn’t sure who the black suit next to her belonged to, but no doubt it wouldn’t be good.
Geoff. Shit!
He shoved Johnson, despite his protest, back into the women’s bathroom and waited several seconds until he heard her pass by and then eased open the door. Then he hustled across the bathroom and out the other side. There was no way he could make it into the ballroom without being seen. But it didn’t matter, Geoff had already made his grand entrance.
“Hello, Bailey.”
The noise in the room vanished faster than the speed of light. Graham could only imagine what was happening. Tarin was standing slightly in front of Geoff.
Graham sneaked back through the restroom and into the hallway, leaving Johnson at the other door. If he came at Geoff from behind, he had a chance that he wouldn’t see him until it was too late.
“Bring me the boy.”
“Geoff. What are you doing?”
“Uhhhh, Dorothea. I see I still haven’t succeeded in making you die. Natural causes would have been so much more... dignified for you. I tried so hard to make that happen. But I see you still won’t, you know, die. So that option is now out. But you won’t have to worry about it much longer.”
“Why, Geoff? What the hell are you doing?”
“You mean besides destroying Caspian Winery?”
“You were behind all the sabotage. The vinegar—”
“Oh my, that was brilliant, wasn’t it? You know Tom was really easy to convince that if he helped me, I’d put him in charge. Like that would ever happen. And you all thought it might be Oliver. It was such a good plan. Tom hasn’t wanted to be disloyal but money will buy anything.”
Graham wanted to punch him for the angry, hurt flush that filled Dorothea’s face.
“The hijacked trucks?”
“I orchestrated that. Brilliant, wasn’t it? The vinegar wine, oh, I wish I could have seen your face, dear sister, when they brought you that news. I guess it wasn’t quite as devastating as I’d hoped because I was really planning for your ultimate demise.” He looked at her oxygen tank. “I guess not all was a loss, I managed to at least start your downhill spiral.”
“Oh, Geoffrey.”
The tears in her voice and the weakness alarmed Graham more than anything else. Geoff just might succeed in killing her without lifting a finger.
“Don’t move, Guy. Bailey. Your henchmen. Not only can I take out one of you but I can take out Tarin too. Maybe her young son? Back up. Send the child to his mother. He’s mine.”
“What have you done, Geoffrey?”
“I started my family, Dorothea. I know how important that is to you. Well, now I have mine—several girls and another boy—all are pretty much useless. This child is the only one I want. He’s my heir. I will train him to be so brilliant and so powerful.”
“No!” Tarin jerked her arm out of his grasp, only to grunt in pain as he jammed the gun into her back before she could even take a step.
Graham knew he was running out of time but he also couldn’t run the risk of alerting Geoff to his presence. Just then, he caught sight of Johnson, who’d made it across the other hallway and was standing right outside the doorway. Graham motioned for him to wait until he gave the order.
Geoff was continuing, “Oh, Dorothea, you always tried to be the mother I never had. Always tried to make up for the humiliations. Well actually, your real mother, my step-mom, and dear old dad, who couldn’t keep his zipper zipped, just stood by. We had so much fun, didn’t we? The whippings, the beatings, all the things that let a boy know he just wasn’t good enough.”
Dorothea was openly sobbing. A woman Graham hadn’t noticed earlier stepped in front of Dorothea.
“Ah, Laura-Jane. Nice to see you again.”
“You.”
“Get out of the way, Dorothea gets to be first. Don’t worry; you’re going to get yours as well, for not doing as I asked.”
“You’re a sick man. I won’t be part of your depraved world.”
“And you won’t be and once I’ve done away with you, your child will be next.”
“Nooooo.”
“Enough, Geoff.”
“Shut up, Bailey. You’re still on my list too. And I don’t mean Christmas list, either.”
“You tried to blow us up!” Tarin cried.
“Slight miscalculation; you weren’t supposed to be there. Thankfully, you were able to get out. But to be fair, I don’t care about you but my son, that would have been unforgiveable. That man who made that mistake is no longer in my employment.”
“Meaning he’s dead,” Guy stated.
He shrugged and turned to Dorothea. “This will be the last breath you take.”
His hand came up fast as Graham leapt forward at the precise moment as Tarin grabbed Geoff’s arm. The gun fired; the roar deafening. Then everything seemed to morph into slow motion. One of the officers had also jumped onto Geoff and was already taking him down with Graham. They all collapsed in a pile on the floor. Graham was dazed and winded but he scrambled up to find blood splattered everywhere. His eyes scanned the others: Bailey, Guy, Dorothea—Tarin wasn’t moving.