From Manhattan With Revenge Boxed Set Read Free Page A

kiss her.   She kissed him back.   She reached up and held his face with
the palm of her hand and he kissed her harder.   She wanted to trust him.   She’d never felt this way for any man.   She felt a wave of anxiety come over her
when they parted and he poured the rest of the sauce just around her head.   When he was finished, he stood, put the
cap back on the bottle and the bottle back in his jacket.   He wiped his hands on the grass.
    “Are you
ready for your close-up?” he asked.
    Every
part of her body screamed that she wasn’t, but when she spoke, she said that
she was ready.
    He
dipped his hand into his pocket, presumably to remove the camera.
    “Make
your dead face,” he said.
    She made
it, twisting her mouth and keeping her eyes open in shock and horror while
looking just to the right of him.   Now, she was at her most vulnerable.   He knew and she knew it.   Her heart was ramming against her chest.
    “I love
you,” he said.
    Why are
you telling me that now?
    And then
quickly--too quickly?--he pulled the object from his pocket, aimed it at her
head and shot her five times.

 
 
 
    CHAPTER FIVE

 
    The
light from the camera blinded her, but she didn’t move.   She kept her dead face on in spite of
the relief and the confusion that now washed over her.   He didn’t shoot her.   He just said he loved her.   Now, what was she going to do?
    When he
finished, he offered her his hand, she took it and stood in front of him.   He removed a handkerchief from his
jacket pocket, wiped her face clean and then dabbed the sauce from her head.  
    “Not the
best perfume you’ve worn,” he said.
    “Are you
kidding?   It’s practically made for
men.”
    He
kissed her on the forehead and then on the lips.   “I meant what I said.   I wasn’t joking.   I love you.”
    She
didn’t know what to say to him.   Carmen never had been in a lasting relationship.   She wasn’t sure whether she’d ever been
in love.   Or if she was even capable
of love.   “Alex--”
    “And I’m
glad that I said it.   I want out of
this life.   It’s time to start
over.   With you.   I think you feel the same.”
    “I have
several jobs I’ve committed to after this one.   I’m sure you have the same.   You know that once we’ve accepted the
upfront money, the deal is sealed.   There’s no getting out of it.   You know the consequences if we even tried to get out of it.”
    “Then we
do the jobs,” he said.   “We finish
what we’ve lined up, then we walk out of this life.   Together.”
    It was
too much.   She hadn’t been expecting
any of this.   She needed time alone
to think and to process it.   Walking
out of anything that yielding her tens of millions of dollars each year when
she was in her prime was something she wasn’t going to do lightly.
    Focus .
    “You’ve
got to send them a photo,” she said.   “It’s past nine.   We’ll talk
about the rest of this later.”  
    His
camera was wireless and had a simple email function that could jettison any
photo he chose to anyone he wished.   They went through the photos and chose the best one.
    “So,
that’s what I’ll look like if someone guns me down?” Carmen said.   “Not my best look.”
    “But
that’s how it will look,” he said.   “Do you want that?   We can
get out of this, Carmen.   We can
live a normal life together.”
    She
ignored him, though she’d be lying if she said the photo didn’t have an effect
on her.   “We need to buy some
time.   Are you able to include any
text with the photo?”
    He
nodded.
    “Write
this,” she said.   “‘She’s dead, but
it didn’t go as planned.   She shot
me in the arm.   I can’t go to a
hospital because when they see why I’m there, they’re required to call the
police.   I need to get to a pharmacy
and then to a hotel room to take out the bullet myself.   I won’t be able to catch the plane, but
I’ll be in touch.   Send an email
when the