All or Nothing (bad boy romantic suspense) Read Online Free PDF Page B

nothing.
    But Billy... Billy owed her big time.
    Her cell phone was dead, but it came to life when she plugged it in to charge.
    There was a number on that letter. Three years old now, but it was all she had.
    She keyed that number now, then pressed ‘Call’.
    §
    He picked up on two, his voice unmistakable even after all these years.
    “Yeah?” he said. “Who’s this?”
    Nice.
    “Cassandra.” Play it cool, keep things simple, keep on top of all the emotions, all the anger and resentment and desperation .
    Silence. Then: “Cassandra? That really you? You called me. I–”
    “I need your help.”
    Another pause. She wondered what was in his head. Hopes raised when he realized she’d called, thinking he’d won her over; then dashed, or at least put on hold, as he detected the tightness in her voice, the abruptness of her tone.
    “You got it,” he said. “What do you need? What’s the matter?”
    “Call Brady Lowe off,” she said. “He’s taken Denny and I don’t know what he’s going to do, but you have to make him stop. You...” She forced herself to slow down. Those first words had been like water bursting from a fault in a dam. She couldn’t let it all out. Not right now.
    “Cassandra,” he said. “What do you want me to do? Brady’s a lunatic. What kind of sway do you think I have over a madman like Brady?”
    “You used him,” she said. “You used him to get to me. You turned him against Denny. You have to do something.”
    “But what can I do?”
    “That’s not Billy Ray Dane talking,” she said. “Billy Ray Dane would never ask what he could do. he could always do something. He could dance circles round anyone he wanted to. He was never afraid of a fight.”
    “You say he has Denny McGowan? I never did like Denny. I think I told him that.”
    “I never did like you or the way you were,” said Cassie, “but we have to move on from that, okay? I’m a grown woman. I make my choices. Denny’s in danger and we need to help him. You think this is easy for me?”
    “Can we meet, sometime?”
    “Are you really trying to extract a price from me?”
    “No,” he said. “It’s just... This is the first time we’ve spoken in close to ten years. I have a lot of ground to make up. I’d like to meet you. I’d like to get to know you, Cassandra.”
    “That’s not part of this conversation,” she said, her words tight. They had to stay focused. This was about Denny, not her and Billy.
    “I know. I’m sorry.”
    “You going to do something?”
    “I know where Brady will have him,” he said. “Place called Little Maldon, up past Portland on the coast. Brady has a family place up there. It’s the only asset he has left, although he’ll be losing that soon, too. You leave it to me, you hear? I’ll take care of it.”
    “I’m on my way already.” And she was. Outside again, the cabin door left swinging, and then she was in the Lexus and firing it up.
    “Don’t do anything stupid, Cassandra. Brady’s a madman and the guys he’s with–”
    “Al and Luis?”
    Another slight pause, then: “Yeah. Al and Luis. They’re old school. They’re hired guns and they don’t mess around.”
    “I’ll be careful.”
    “I’m on my way,” he said. “I’ll deal with this, you hear me?”
6
    S he found the road to Little Maldon, following the signs down a single-track trail as darkness was falling, and wondering just how in Hell she was going to find Brady’s place. And what if Billy had been wrong? Brady could have Denny just about anywhere.
    If Denny was still alive at all.
    She shut that thought out. Remembered Marshall’s logic: if they’d wanted Denny dead then there was nothing anyone could do. All she could do was operate on the chance he was still alive somewhere. She couldn’t allow herself to think any other way.
    For once, luck was running her way. Little Maldon lived up to its name, a small settlement of maybe half a dozen houses lined up around a small bay.