Jed put his hands around his uncle's neck. Booth's head snapped up and he stared into Jed's eyes. Before he realized what he was doing, Jed tightened his hold. Booth gasped as Jed strangled him. He wanted to kill Booth. God, how he wanted to kill the man.
Suddenly Jed released his uncle, who dropped to his knees, coughing and spluttering.
"You aren't worth killing." No, he wouldn't murder his own uncle. He could wait for legal justice. The FBI was closing in on Booth; his days were numbered. Besides, there wasn't much left of the man Jed had once known. Apparently Booth Fortier had almost succeeded at self-destructing.
The door to the adjoining bedroom flew open and Ronnie Martine barged in, with Charmaine hovering in the doorway behind him.
"Mrs. Fortier heard loud voices and was concerned," Ronnie said. "Are you all right, Mr. Fortier?" Ronnie rushed over and helped Booth to his feet.
Booth cleared his throat, and through bleary eyes, glared at Jed. "If you were anybody else, I'd kill you."
"Don't you mean you'd have me killed, old man? You haven't got what it takes to do the job yourself and we both know it."
Booth clung to Ronnie's huge arm. "Get him out of my house. And issue an order to Aric and the others that Jed Tyree isn't welcome in my home." Booth focused on Jed. "You leave now, boy, while you still can. And if I ever see you again, I'll forget you're my nephew."
Ronnie eased Booth down on the side of the bed. Charmaine came running into the room, hovering about, fussing over Booth. Putting on a damn good show of concern. Ronnie walked over to Jed, grasped his arm and marched him out into the hall.
"Walk straight down the stairs," Ronnie said. "I'm seeing you to your car and making sure you're off Fortier property once and for all."
When they reached the front door, Aric blocked their path. They paused and watched while the big black man unloaded the clip from Jed's Beretta, then tossed the gun to him.
"Why did you throw it all away, man?" Aric asked. "He would have given you everything. Even after all these years, if you'd come back and told him you wanted in, he'd have given you a second chance."
"A second chance to turn out just like him? No thanks!"
"I'm seeing him to his car and making sure he leaves," Ronnie explained to Aric as he shoved Jed out the door.
Once outside, Jed began talking fast, keeping his voice low so that only Ronnie could hear him. He'd burned all his bridges tonight. He wouldn't be coming back here ever again.
"Tell Moran I know the combination to the safe here at the house," Ronnie said. "But most stuff is kept in safety deposit boxes, enough evidence to put Booth and other bigwigs in the syndicate away for life. And to have Governor Lew Miller impeached. Charmaine can and will help us once Booth is arrested and I get her away from here. Tell Moran I want immunity for her and we'll both need to go into the Witness Protection Program when this is all over."
Jed realized just how serious the undercover agent was about Charmaine Fortier. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"
"Yeah. And it's mutual," Ronnie said. "That lady has lived in hell for a long time. All I want is a chance to make her happy. I'd do just about anything to see that happens. Can you understand?"
Jed allowed Ronnie to shove him behind the wheel of his rental car. He looked up at the big, rugged FBI agent and said, "Yeah, I understand. There's a lady I feel the same way about."
"Don't tell me-it's Grace Beaumont?"
Ronnie grinned, then sobered instantly in case anyone was watching them closely. "Hell, Tyree, you're as big a fool as I am." Ronnie slammed the door, crossed his arms over his chest and watched while Jed drove away.
Yeah, Jed thought, he was a fool. A fool in love.
Troy Leone packed all his belongings into black plastic garbage bags, took them out to his pickup and dumped them into the truck bed. Just as he'd thought-once he told Josie he'd quit his job at the warehouse, she'd told him to get lost. Maybe he should have waited and told her after he'd talked to Elsa. After all, he couldn't be a hundred percent sure his sister would let him move back in with her. Not after the way he'd acted, after all the things he'd said. He wouldn't blame her if she'd washed her hands of him for good this time. But when he'd called her, she had agreed to see him tonight. That was a good sign, wasn't it? He checked his watch. Damn, he was running nearly two hours late. Josie had insisted he take all his things tonight. Screwy bitch!
As Troy dumped the last bag in the truck, he started rehearsing his speech, the one he'd give to Elsa. He'd have to be humble and not lose his temper no matter what she said to him. And he'd have to agree to pretty much anything she asked. She had already given him so many second chances that he'd lost count. But he bet she hadn't.
Just tell her you're sorry. Yeah, sure, like she hasn't heard that before. Promise her you'll get your act together for real this time. After all he wasn't doing drugs and that should please her. What the hell would he do if she turned him away? She won't do that, he told himself. She's your sister. She loves you.
Troy opened the door and started to hop up in the cab when a big hand clamped down on his shoulder. He froze, then glanced back to see Curt Poarch grinning at him. Troy 's heartbeat accelerated at an alarming speed.
"Mr. Poarch." Troy 's voice quivered. "What-what are you doing here?"
"I came to see you."
"Me? About what? You know I appreciated the job at the warehouse, but-"
Curt jerked Troy backward and put his arm around his shoulder. "This isn't about the warehouse job. It's about something more important. My boss wants to see you. He thinks you're just the man we need."
"Me? But I'm not. I told you people already that I'm not the right guy for-"
"Why don't you let us be the judge of what you're the right man for."
Oh, God, help me, Troy thought. Who the hell are they going to want me to kill?
Jed drove around for a while before he returned to Belle Foret. He needed some time to cool off, to think about what he'd almost done. He'd come damn close to strangling his uncle tonight and that knowledge scared the hell out of him. Was he, like many of the Fortiers before him, a murdering bastard at heart?
Once he had himself under control, he'd called Moran and Sawyer MacNamara with updates from Jim Kelly. The FBI's main concern was that Booth would find a way to escape before he was arrested. Their second biggest concern was that Booth would find a way to get rid of any evidence against him. But Moran had been pleased to learn that Charmaine Fortier was willing to betray her husband.
"Kelly has promised her immunity from prosecution and a new identity under the Witness Protection Program," Jed had told Moran.
"If the lady can provide enough evidence to put her husband away for the rest of his life, we'll give her anything she wants."
Jed didn't bother telling Moran that Jim Kelly intended to disappear along with Charmaine, once Booth had been prosecuted and found guilty. He'd let Kelly tell his superiors that he'd fallen in love with the Mafia don's wife.
Jed pulled up in front of the gates that separated Belle Foret from the rest of the world. A little kingdom all to itself, once ruled over by a king and his princess, now held for posterity by the new queen. And Grace was a queen. Elegant. Refined. Cultured. All the things he wasn't and never would be. Hell, his mother had been a Fortier. Nothing could ever change that fact. Okay, so she'd been a Fortier, but she hadn't been insane the way Booth was. And he'd never heard anything about either of his grandparents being mentally deranged, despite his grandfather's mob ties. He'd heard the old man had been unscrupulous, devious and mean, but not certifiable. Apparently insanity didn't run in the family as Jed had thought… as he had feared all these years. He had been so afraid that one day he'd snap and go mad the way his mother had done. He'd kept that secret fear locked away inside him, refusing to deal with it, but he had never married, never fathered a child, in great part out of fear he would pass along defective genes.