The Winning Defense by Jamie Bennett

Author:Jamie Bennett [Bennett, Jamie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

I looked at myself in the mirror, the long one in the closet that had previously only shown reflections of me in my Woodsmen-approved work clothes or me in the collection of Ray’s giant sweatshirts that I had appropriated as my own. But tonight, I wore a green dress that clung and showed off everything, the new muscles I had from working out, the swells of my breasts, the curves of my ass. There I was, all of me.

I leaned closer and brushed my fingertip under my eye to clear a smudge. I hadn’t had on this much makeup in months, not since I’d arrived in Michigan, but now my lips shone with gloss, my eyelids shimmered, my eyelashes fanned out darker and thicker. I hadn’t done my hair like this here, either. Until the birthday party when I’d had it loose by mistake, it had always been carefully scraped into a tight ponytail, and I’d straightened it, too. But now my hair fell down my back in waves.

It felt strange. Everything about this night felt strange and wrong, but I told myself that it was exactly right, and my reflection looked ready. “I am,” I said. “I am ready.” My voice shook and so did my hands.

Deacon looked at me and then held up his own hands, gesturing, and I scooped him into my arms and hugged him. I was so damn scared. What was wrong with me? I was tough, I was ruthless, I was actually going on the offensive. I had told myself that tonight was the night, and I was going to do it.

“I’m going to do it,” I said, and the baby squirmed. I was holding him too tightly. “Sorry, buddy. You’re going to have fun hanging out with Uncle Ray, right?” He looked at me with his dark eyes. “I don’t know about this,” I whispered. “I don’t know.”

But I had to. What else could I do? I’d thought through and discarded every other option, and this was obviously the easiest and best plan. I’d already tried to work my way into the family in Florida through Warren Wilde’s daughter Ellie, but there was nothing happening there. I hadn’t managed to find an avenue to get close to her and anyway, Camdyn Riordan was my real target. When I’d moved to Michigan, it had seemed like everything was falling into place: I’d gotten the job with the Woodsmen, in the department that she ran! I had made myself indispensable there, but what difference did that make anymore?

I wasn’t going to be able to hurt her through her job at the team, not if she wasn’t working there. She wouldn’t care that her department was falling apart if she wasn’t running it. And the thought of ruining things for Kaori, and for Jeri, Barbara, and Eloy—but of course, I wasn’t going to worry about anyone else’s feelings. Their problems didn’t matter.

If I wasn’t going to be able to poison Camdyn’s life through her job, then I needed to take a different approach.

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