Open Wounds (Harbour Bay #2)(41)

Anticipation coursed through him as he planned to savour her fear.

You’ll be frightened, won’t you? I’d like to see you frightened. There is nothing more intoxicating…

He turned back to his waiting car, deciding to rectify the problem and make Coleani happy. Otherwise, he’d be the next body to go over the cliff and into the harbour.

He didn’t plan on letting that happen. He’d worked too hard to gain the man’s trust and dependability. He was loyal to his master and owed him everything he was today. He wanted Coleani to announce him as heir to the old man’s empire.

One day, he’d be running Coleani’s enterprise.

But first…he would play a game with his angel. And then…he would kill her.





Chapter 20



Dick Coleani sat in the dark, a glass of two hundred dollar whisky in his hand. He took a sip, savouring it before swallowing, letting the honey-coloured liquid warm his stomach. If he drank enough, it would send him to a blissful place.

He frowned as he thought of all the time and money wasted on Michael Lambert. He had been one of the smarter boys, the one with the highest possibility of return on his investment, and now it was all for nothing. Michael had failed him, just as so many others had, just as Carl Benedict and Kevin Butler had. It was such a waste.

He couldn’t find good help anymore.

He was getting old, but not so old that he could ignore such stupidity and greed. After all, he was the man who wrote the book on it. He couldn’t believe the gall Benedict and Butler had. He couldn’t comprehend how they’d believed they could get away with it.

Surely, they didn’t think he’d simply allow them to poach on his territory. He didn’t get where he was by being soft and forgivable.

He had worked hard, every day kissing the arse of every man higher than him, which in those days was just about everyone. He’d bided his time, taking notes and watching. Waiting for his time to shine.

Kids today—no one respected their elders anymore. Coleani had, though. He’d taken what his mentor had given him and been happy with it—right up until the day he had killed him and taken over the business. It was a move no one had tried with him.

Youngsters today didn’t have the balls to confront him. They didn’t have the courtesy to attempt to knock him off before they tried putting him out of business.

He showed them. No one crossed Dick Coleani and lived to tell the tale.

His thoughts shifted from his boys to an annoying blonde. She should have been taken care of a long time ago. He remembered the days when she had been a thorn in his side.

How she’d walked around his neighbourhood with her nose in the air thinking she was better than everybody else, better than him. He had been petty, though, and had taken his rage out on her mother. Jules Munroe had been so easy to break and use. She had practically begged him to do it. All alone in the world with a daughter to raise. She’d f*cked him the first chance she got for a steady pay cheque.

It hadn’t taken long for the novelty to wear off and the need to punish the teenager again rose within him. Added to her constant interference, he decided it was time to penalise her.

He had sent his best man to do the job. At the time, Wayne had been in his mid-twenties, Coleani’s right hand man since he’d reached adulthood. He’d recognised the man’s inner brutality from his youth, knowing he’d found an heir. A man he could trust. He hadn’t been disappointed, not once in the years since.

Not until now.

But he couldn’t blame Wayne entirely. The situation had been out of his control and it wasn’t as if he hadn’t accomplished the task Coleani had given him. Kellie had been sufficiently taken out of the picture. For the past twelve years, he had been free of her. Until Michael Lambert had inadvertently put Coleani back on her radar.

And if he knew her at all, she wouldn’t be leaving him alone anytime soon. Kellie would be a pain in his arse until he could be rid of her. He knew she’d been investigating him, and practically declared war against him. He was prepared to meet her on the field of battle, but only one of them would walk away.

He tightened his hands into fists. Things were quickly getting out of hand. He was losing control over everything he held dear. All his hard work was being flushed down the drain because of stupidity. It was time to rein in his boys.

They were already making too many decisions on their own, taking stupid risks. Only today a group of his boys took it on themselves to lay siege on the LAC. Morons. Didn’t they have a f*cking brain between them? That was the last thing he needed—Harbour Bay Police parking outside his businesses.

He needed to clean house. He couldn’t allow such free thinking among his people. They all needed to know who was boss and why. He wasn’t about to tolerate insubordination.

He had worked too long and too hard to let everything fall apart now because his boys assumed they could do better than what he was offering.

Years ago, no one would’ve dared defy him. Now he found he was constantly being tested. That fact did not sit well with him.

He picked up the file Wayne had brought him earlier and studied the photos within.

What a waste, he thought as he stared down at the pictures of the boys he’d taken a chance on, given opportunities to.

He wasn’t a man who abided failure or disloyalty and very few got second chances. First they had to prove themselves.