Lethal Vows：Married to My Rival novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Back in the Pit

He didn't speak the whole way down the hill.

Doyle drove. Valentin sat beside me with his left hand pressed flat to his thigh, and I stared at the side of his face.

"What did the doctor tell you in November?" I said.

"Not here."

"Valentin."

"Tonight I close Pier Nine," he said, without looking at me. "It's Saturday. Every buyer in Port Calder will be in the stands, and Calvin will be on the balcony. After that I'll answer everything you ask. I swear it."

"You don't owe me..."

"I owe you the truth. I'm asking for three hours."

I should have pushed.

Instead I looked at his shaking hand and wanted, badly, to cover it with mine.

I didn't. Not yet.

Pier Nine at midnight was packed.

The bleachers were full to the rail. Furs and diamond cufflinks filled the front row, and men with pale unmoving faces sat higher up.

Valentin walked into the tunnel in his black coat, with forty Creighton men at his back, and the crowd parted for him.

I walked at his side.

I wore the borrowed green sweater, black jeans and the Beretta in the back of my waistband.

"You're my fiancée," he murmured. "You're not a hostage tonight. Walk like you own the place."

"I'm walking."

"You're walking like you want to shoot someone."

"That too."

Calvin sat on the balcony above the sand in a white dinner jacket, a drink in his hand.

When he saw us come out, he stood.

He didn't look afraid. He looked like a man who was getting to watch a good scene.

The announcer in the red jacket caught Valentin's eye and swallowed.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he began.

Valentin took the microphone out of his hand.

"Pier Nine belongs to the Creighton family," he said, in a voice that traveled to the back row without effort. "The lease ends tonight. Everyone in the stands has ten minutes to leave."

A roar went up. Boos, laughter, a bottle thrown.

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