The Villa

one of the brains in promotion, feeding her dissatisfaction, her jealousies. When the crisis hits, and you're going to make sure it does, the Giambelli spin is going to be off balance."
    "I had nothing to do with this." Kris grabbed her briefcase, began stuffing papers inside. "I don't know anything about this."
    "Maybe not. Your style's more the backstabbing variety."
    "I'm not interested in what you think or anything you have to say. I'm leaving."
    She bolted to the door, slammed it behind her.
    "Wouldn't count on too much company loyalty in that one," Ty commented. "You underestimated Sophia, DeMorney. Just like you overestimated yourself. You got your crisis, you spilled your blood, but it hasn't been enough for you. You want more, and that's what's going to choke you. Going after Cutter was stupid. Legal had copies of the paperwork, and Don knew it."
    Kris didn't worry him. She could be sacrificed, like any pawn, if necessary. "Obviously Donato panicked. A man who's killed once doesn't scruple to kill again."
    "That's right. Old Don, he doesn't figure he killed anybody. The wine did. And he was too busy running to worry about David. I wonder who clued you in to the meet in Venice, and Don's scramble to get the money out of his private account. The cops'll work on that angle, and they'll start tying you in. You're going to have a lot of questions to answer, and before too much longer you'll have your own public relations nightmare. La Coeur's going to prune you off, pal, just like they would a diseased cane."
    Ty got to his feet. "You figure you've covered yourself, every inch. Nobody ever does. And when Don drowns, he's going to drag you under with him. Personally, I'm going to enjoy seeing you go under for the third time. I didn't care much for Avano. He was a selfish idiot who didn't appreciate what he had. Don falls in the same category, at a slightly higher level. But you, you're a dickless coward who pays people to do the dirty work you haven't got the guts for. Doesn't surprise me your wife went hunting elsewhere for someone with balls."
    He stood where he was, hands at his sides as Jerry lunged. And he took the fist on the jaw without making a move to block it. He even allowed Jerry to knock him back against the door.
    "Did you see that?" Tyler asked Sophia calmly. "He punched me, now he's laying hands on me. I'm going to ask him politely to stop. You hear that, DeMorney? I'm asking you, politely, to stop."
    "Fuck you." Jerry bunched a fist and would have rammed it into Tyler's belly if it hadn't been stopped an inch from its mark. If it hadn't suddenly been crushed and the pain radiating up his arm hadn't dropped him breathless to his knees.
    "You're going to want to have that hand X-rayed," Tyler told him as he gave him a light shove that sent Jerry the rest of the way to the floor in a curl of agony. "I think I heard a bone snap. Ready, Sophie?"
    "Ah… yes." Slightly dazed, she let Tyler draw her out the door, toward the elevator. Inside, she let out the breath she hadn't been aware of holding. "I'd like to point something out."
    "Go ahead." He punched lobby level, leaned back.
    "I didn't interrupt, or ask any questions. I wasn't compelled to flex my muscles," she continued as Tyler's mouth twitched. "Or prove to you I could handle things. I just want to mention all that."
    "Got it. You've got your areas of expertise and I've got mine." He slipped an arm around her shoulders. "Now let's go home."

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
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    "And then …" Sophia dug into the leftover lasagna while the family gathered in the villa's kitchen. "Ty had his hand—I didn't even see it happen. It was like lightning. This big hand covering Jerry's pretty manicured one, which was probably still stinging from rapping against Ty's jaw. Anyway"—she gulped down some wine—"all of a sudden Jerry's gone white and his eyes are rolling back in his head and he's folding like, I don't know, an accordion toward the floor. And the big guy here's not even breaking a sweat. I'm goggling, I know I am, but who wouldn't, and Ty politely suggests that Jerry might want to get his hand X-rayed because he thinks he heard a bone snap."
    "Good lord." Pilar helped herself to some wine. "Really?"
    "Mmm." Sophia swallowed. She was starving. The minute she'd walked in the door, she'd been starving. "I heard this little sound, like when you step on a twig. Rather horrible, really. Then we just left. And I have to say… Here, Eli,