Mine to Crave (Mine #4)(62)

“You don’t know a thing about her—”

Jasmine laughed and proceeded to BS her way straight ahead. “I’m a hacker, remember? As soon as I found out about Anna Jean, I dug up every piece of intel on her that I could.” If she’d actually had access to a computer, Jasmine would have done exactly that job. Since she hadn’t… “You two were working together for years, weren’t you? Drake and the others—they thought she was on their side, but she was always betraying them.”

He gave a sly nod. “I met Anna Jean right after my enlistment. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.”

Wonderful. Fantastic. “Was her psychotic nature part of the appeal?”

He leaned toward her. “She had an edge.”

Right. An edge of insanity. “Like to like,” Jasmine mumbled.

Maxwell frowned at her. Well, at least he wasn’t punching her. For the moment. “When she started turning on Drake and his team, you were the one helping her, right?”

“It paid to play both sides,” he said, shrugging. “I didn’t join the military for the glory.”

No, she suspected he’d done it because he wanted power. Violence.

“The paydays were big, and it should have lasted forever.” His jaw hardened. “Then they ruined everything.”

“You mean Anna Jean did, when she tried to kill Drake—”

“He left her for dead! He and York and Weston—they left her bleeding out in the snow. Hell, even I thought she was dead. All that time. Until she walked into my place in Vegas.” His eyes flickered as he seemed to remember. “She looked different, but when I touched her, I saw right beneath the mask.”

“Did you?” She wasn’t so sure.

“She told me what they’d done to her, and I gave her everything she needed. I knew she wanted to go after Trace and—”

He stopped, but she wasn’t about to let that go. “You were all for taking him down, right? Bet you thought a slice of that Weston fortune would be coming your way.”

“I was backing the right player in that game.”

Anna Jean.

He shrugged. “And more than just a slice should have been coming to me. I should have gotten it all.”

Her hands twisted against the ropes. Saxon could’ve given her a little wiggle room. “Instead, Anna Jean died.”

“And I got nothing.”

“Maybe you should’ve cut your losses.”

“No.” He caught her chin between his fingers as he glared into her eyes. “Anna Jean made me the man I am.”

Um, that was a good thing?

“She gave me the money I needed. She set up the contacts. I owed her.” He gave a grim nod. “And I pay my debts.”

“Even to the dead? Because I don’t think they’re so concerned with collecting.”

“I loved her,” he said flatly and…she believed him. Anna Jean might have been jerking this guy around just like she did all the others in her life, but Maxwell had cared for her—in his twisted, warped way. “And those who took her…they will suffer.”

Right. “Is that why you bombed Noah York’s plane?”

His lips curled. “Seemed an easy enough way to get rid of him and Weston.”

He was confessing all to her. Because he planned to kill me. She tried to clear her throat. “S-sorry I got in the middle of your war. I didn’t realize what was at stake.”

“Now you do.”

Love for a woman long dead.

***

When Drake grabbed Victor, the crutches hit the floor with a hard clatter. “You know where she is? And we’re just standing here with our thumbs up our asses?”

Trace didn’t try to pull him away this time. Taggert did. She put her hand on Drake’s arm, sighed, and said, “Do you think we don’t have a rescue plan?”

Victor’s eyelids flickered slightly.

“If you do, then we need to get moving.” Drake’s hands had fisted in the guy’s shirt. “Now.” Or did the jerk like knowing that Jasmine was in pain?

I don’t. It’s tearing me apart.

“My team will handle her rescue,” Victor said. “I’ve got agents in position now.”

Taggert tapped Drake’s arm. He still didn’t release the FBI agent.

“Tell those agents to act!” Drake nearly roared.

“I will,” the agent snapped back. “As soon as we have Maxwell Case’s confession on record. My man has a wire on in there—this is the chance we’ve been waiting for. We can nail him for so many crimes—”

Drake slammed the guy into the nearest wall. “He’s kidnapped Jasmine! Nail him on that shit! And stop playing with her life!”

Victor’s breath heaved out. “You’re not the only one who cares about Jazz.” His voice was low, pitched to only reach Drake’s ears.

“Jasmine,” he forced out. “Her name is Jasmine, and you’re going to tell me where she is. Right now. I’m not waiting on your team. I’m not waiting on a confession. I’m going to get her out of there.”

A knock sounded at the door. Seconds later, a woman poked her head inside. Her blonde hair was pulled away from her face, and her eyes glinted behind the frames of her glasses. “We got him, sir. The confession was recorded.”