Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 31

The apartment door slammed shut with a bang and Lisa scrambled to her feet, frantically rubbing her eyes that had been closed in a light slumber just a second ago. What was going on? From what she could hear, Jackson was in a hurry, moving things about in the main room.

"Jackson! What on earth -"

"Quiet! Laritt is coming. Listen, I -"

"The cuffs!"

"Damnit, Leese!" A loud knock. "Remember what we talked about, remember that!"

Lisa held her breath. She didn't care at all for the tone in his voice; Jackson Rippner never sounded scared, but whenever he was under a lot of pressure, his words carried a certain edgy quality, almost as if he was angry at the world around him for not moving as fast as he required it to do. She knew that now and it definitely changed some of her memories of that fateful flight from Dallas to Miami.

He went to open up for Laritt, kicking something metal out of the way. It must have been the handcuffs and Lisa slapped her forehead, feeling a sharp pang of guilt about her carelessness. This would make it all a bit more difficult. With a dry throat, she crouched down and waited for what was to come.

Even though the wall kept her from understanding what exactly was being murmured on the other side, it was more than obvious the two were arguing. Jackson seemed to have the upper hand, his sing-song smacking of taunts. Laritt, however, was growing increasingly furious by the sentence.

"Get her out!" He was also growing increasingly loud.

Jackson's reply must have been a whip of a comment as Laritt roared a fake laughter that was fed by pure anger and spite. "Nervous, Rippner?"

The wall opened and Lisa stared up wide-eyed, the hands at her sides digging into the mattress. Feigning it was unnecessary - she was absolutely terrified.

Laritt raised one brow. "What, she's unrestrained?"

"We have made a lot of progress." Jackson smiled, teeth gleaming. "You know progress, Laritt?"

"Jackson Rippner, the king of progress." His sarcasm could have cut through steel. "Well, we'll see how governed your royal subjects really are."

"Give it your best shot, kid." Jackson flicked at an imaginary piece of lint on his sleeve. "Word of advice, though … always, always be honest to yourself. If it's Lisa you want, just admit it and I'll think about what I can arrange for you."

"What makes you believe I want her?"

"Probably the fact that I am being forced to bring her into this - when it's really just between the two of us." He walked towards the desk. "I say I lock her away again and we get this little charade over with."

"I say she stays."

"Your orders don't carry much weight around here."

Laritt tilted his head. "You seem on edge, Rippner."

"Why would I be? So you don't commend me to your employer, big deal. There's always the rest of the business."

"Oh, but you are aware of the fact that I can spoil the rest of the business for you as well, right?"

"You can try." Jackson chuckled. "And good luck with that." So close to the laptop.

"If you shut that door, poor Lisa Reisert will never know about her family."

Lisa's heart stopped dead, only to carry on at breakneck pace a moment later. Ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom. It pumped ice into her veins. Her eyes darted over to Laritt who licked his lips, an unpleasant grin plastered across his face.

"Oh please, don't sell yourself so cheap, Laritt. Reaching for straws, are we?"

"Her family, Rippner." Laritt threw a pack of files at Jackson, who made no move to catch them and cast a bored glance at the pieces of paper loitering his floor. "Don't tell me you didn't know they were in town. That's rather careless of you, don't you think? Not to mention unprofessional."

"Of course I did." Jackson was radiating nonchalance. "The Lux Washington down at Fifth, if I remember correctly … which we both know I am."

"Quite risky to have them running around."

Lisa shivered with apprehension. Something was very wrong here and it took every ounce of strength she had within herself not to crawl forward and cradle the files in her arms. Laritt was baiting Jackson and he was baiting him with her, that much was obvious. Hang in there, don't give yourself away. She swallowed hard.

"Have a little trust in my abilities," Jackson tutted and Lisa understood he meant her rather than Laritt. "What harm could they possibly do to me?"

"They could talk to Keefe."

"And tell him what?"

"They could be a general pain in the ass."

"For you maybe, but I'm quite secure. Thanks anyway for the concern about my safety."

"Concern for your safety", Laritt spat out the words, "has nothing to do with it."

"Pray tell, what then?" When his opponent started to speak, Jackson snapped his fingers right in the other man's face in a move so insolent, it drove the color out of Laritt's cheeks. "But before you enlighten me, how about you're man enough to admit that it's between you and me and that Lisa can go back to sleep for now? She's had a rough couple of hours." Jackson stepped towards the laptop, no doubt to shut out Lisa before she was once again caught in the crossfire.

"Don't." The threat was as clear as a bell. Laritt shifted his attention to Lisa, who silently cursed to herself when she realized there was no getting out of this. "It's funny, ever since I came here today, you've been trying to keep your precious little toy out of it, which I find very, very odd. If you're so secure, why bother? I'm really starting to think there's something else going on altogether."

"It's a fine line between healthy paranoia and plain stupidity, Laritt."

"Hey, all I'm worried about here," Laritt put up his hands and pouted, "is the fact that you may not be on top of things."

"That's honestly touching, but unnecessary. I have my bases covered."

"In fact, Rippner, I like you so much that I have decided to help you ease up the pressure. Lighten your load, et cetera."

Jackson yawned. "I appreciate that, but I am quite apt at carrying my load, let me assure you."

Laritt sneered and the spark in his eyes was positively evil. "I'm actually waiting for a very important phone call."

"You know how much I enjoy being the host, but don't you have an office of your own where you can wait for calls? There's work to do here." This time, Jackson's finger almost touched the keyboard before he was interrupted.

"Cut. The. Crap." Laritt seemed to be losing it. "Cutie on the mattress here is playing a bigger role than you care to admit and frankly, I'm sick of messing around. She stays and you stay and I stay and we talk or else I'm spreading the word."

Jackson walked towards Lisa until his back was to Laritt, eyes locked on hers with an expression she had never seen on him before. What, Jackson, what is it? "Talk then." His voice gave away nothing.

"Finally!" Laritt pulled out his phone and waved it at her. "You see, honey, my associate is at the Lux right now." Lisa froze and a wave of nausea curled in her stomach, almost keeling her over. "Anything you wanna tell me? It might just change your family's destiny."

She sank down on all fours, palms sweaty. Oh my God!