Caught in the Frame (Ponderosa Pines Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) by ReGina Welling (novel24 .TXT) 📕

“You’re crazy, you know that? I offer you everything you could ever want, and you come at me with some trumped up conspiracy theory.” He curled his lip, but his sarcasm fell flat.

“I’m sorry, you’re probably right. Frankly, I don’t think you’re smart enough to go to such elaborate lengths.” She smiled brightly and pushed him over the brink. “But I do think you’re petty enough to ruin someone else’s life just to make yourself feel better. Or wait, maybe you were just your grandfather’s little puppet. Did it hurt when he pulled your strings?”

“You bitch,” he leaned toward her, venom practically dripping from his tongue. “You have no idea what I’m capable of.” His hand closed over her arm with a painfully tight grip.

Here it comes, just like in books and movies, the stupid criminal monologue.

“Grandfather knew, though. He trusted me to make it right. To rip that town apart the same way my family was torn apart. Everything I tried failed, until I met Evan Plunkett at a hotel in Atlantic City. He was supposed to be in Boston attending an investing seminar. Instead, he was drunk, and into the house for more money than he made in a year.”

None of that surprised EV, or anyone else from Ponderosa Pines listening to the conversation.

“When he started bawling about how he could get the money if they’d just let him go back to Ponderosa Pines for it. He swore he was a big shot with access to town funds, and I knew this was my one chance to have someone on the inside. I paid his tab, took him back to his room, sobered him up, and let him tell me all about his little town.”

Tiny droplets of saliva splashed over her face, his was so close. She did not flinch.

“It took me a month or so to put together a good enough cover to keep him from figuring out who I was, and then I played the angles. Let him loose on your beloved elders while I posed as someone else and established contact with an elected official in Gilmore.”

EV let all the scorn she could muster infuse her voice, “Worked out real well for you, didn’t it? Ponderosa Pines is intact, stronger than ever. Your cover wasn’t so solid, either. Tomas Delarosa is Javier’s half brother.”

His eyebrows shot toward his hairline.

“Looks like you didn’t do your homework, Remy. And now, you’re busted.”

“Hell I am,” the hand not clutching her arm reached into his pocket to pull out a SIM card. “I’ve already destroyed the documents and now, here’s your evidence.” The card hit the floor and Remy ground it to pieces under his heel. “You’ll never prove a thing.”

Dark vengeance painted itself across her face as she wrenched her arm free. Turning, she pulled up her shirt so he could see the wire. “Really? I think I will.”

Furious at being beaten by the one woman he was sure he could control, Remy did exactly what Dalton had sworn he would never allow; lifted arm and backhanded EV with all his strength. Where his hand landed, her cheek stung and burned; a bruise already forming. He only had a second to lean over her, sneering, before Dalton flew from EV’s bedroom where he had been watching.

“What did I tell you?” Dalton grabbed Remy’s shoulder and spun him around to face the consequences; Dalton’s meaty fists being consequence one and consequence two. At this point, EV faced another hard choice. Remy had taken her by surprise, or he would never have landed the blow; now the desire to get up and practice her kickboxing skills on him was about as strong as any she’d ever known. But, there stood Dalton; fists raised, fight face on, and ready to defend her honor. With an internal grin, she decided to let him.

Remy had just enough time to open his mouth, but not enough to get out whatever taunt trembled on the tip of his tongue before Dalton landed a solid right punch, and EV had to scramble out of the way to avoid Remy’s falling body. When Dalton reached down to help her up, Nate burst through the connecting door with two members of the Garda right behind.

The white cat stalked out the door of EV’s bedroom where he had hidden yet again, took one look at Remy, and hissed. The sound brought a smirk to EV’s face.

Leaving Remy to their less-than-tender mercies, Dalton slung an arm around EV’s waist, and guided her into Lila’s suite without a backward glance.

Chapter 19

With Remy locked up and Baylee safe, Chloe and EV decided to take a page from Lila’s book and put together a fabulous bachelorette party. When they checked with Antoine to see if he could help with preparations, his response overwhelmed. Chloe gave him a few ideas that would put Lila where she was happiest—in the spotlight. Within minutes, he had marshaled his forces and had a group of staff minions ready to do his bidding.

Spurred by a series of increasingly insistent calls from Lila, Chloe was forced to leave everything in Antoine and EV’s capable hands, and go join her mother and Javier in greeting new arrivals.

Wedding guests and participants had begun trickling in early that morning, which meant the guest list for the bachelorette party grew by the hour. Cousin Faith and her husband arrived right on time; closely followed by several carloads of Javier’s family, flown in first-class from their home near Madrid.

“Chloe, this is Javier’s mother, Concetta; his sisters, Della and Karmen, and their husbands, Luis and Sal; and cousins Victor, Iliana, and Edita.” Lila pointed at each in turn, then, noticing the look on Chloe’s face whispered, “You don’t have to remember them all right now; don’t worry.”

After being showered with more cheek kisses than she could count, and having been squeezed practically to death by a bevy of delighted, soft-skinned Spaniards, Chloe began to understand how