Page 56 of Perfect Vengeance

“I’m concerned about funding for the Center.”

“Won’t they be flush after tonight?”

“Maybe, but not right away.” Again she frowned, creasing her forehead more. “We just found out the city is auditing all nonprofits, and they can’t use any money until after the audit. Everything we take in tonight is essentially frozen. If the Center violates the city’s edict, they could lose their permit and their nonprofit status. They’d have to shut down.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” he agreed.

“Yeah, well.” She made a nondescript sound in the back of her throat as she momentarily averted her gaze. “So tell me more about your brother Kyle. What’s his interest in the Center?”

She was good at changing the subject. He’d let it go. For now.

“Kyle worked for the FBI in Chicago.” Normally he was as tight-lipped about his family as he was about himself. On the other hand, if anyone could help him understand what Kyle was going through, it would be Gina. “When he came back to New York he was different.”

“How so?”

“Something happened in Chicago. I don’t know the details and Kyle refuses to talk about it. I do know it involved a woman.” When his brother returned to New York, barely speaking, Jack made some discrete inquiries through his own contacts. “She was nearly beaten to death by her husband. Kyle risked his life and the undercover op he was working to save her.”

“Did he? Save her, I mean?”

“Yes, but he hasn’t seen or spoken to her since he left her in a Chicago hospital. That was ten years ago.”

“He must have had deep feelings for her.”

“I think he did.”

“Why hasn’t he spoken to her in all this time?”

“A shelter, just like yours, relocated her and got her a new identity. He doesn’t know where she is.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “It sounds as if he was in love with her, so why wouldn’t he track her down? He’s FBI. You guys can find anyone.”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“What’s so complicated about love?”

He couldn’t answer her question because he’d never been in love. At least, he didn’t think so. “Sometimes,” he said after a moment, “even when there’s a deep connection between two people, they’re better off apart. Maybe Kyle thinks she’s better off without him complicating her life.”

Jack didn’t know for sure if he was talking about his brother or himself. The more he wanted Gina, the more he knew he should stay away from her. Their lives could never mesh, and she could never be a one-time thing. After tonight, he’d go back to concentrating on what he’d come here for in the first place.

To nail the bastards who killed Jim Spencer.

Gina smiled, but she wasn’t laughing at him. “You know, I think those are the most words I’ve heard come out of your mouth at one time.”

In her eyes he was beginning to see things he shouldn’t. Like a relationship with her. He deposited his empty glass on a passing waiter’s tray. When he turned back, her jaw was tight. She’d balled her hands, and her body tensed. She looked ready to go ten rounds. “That man has the most unbelievable audacity showing up here.”

He turned to see who’d lit Gina’s fuse, then he tensed.

Targets in sight.

Standing just inside the entrance of the ballroom were the Falzones. Franco and his wife, Carmen. Tino and his wife, Maria. Jack understood the fury coursing through his bones at the sight of Jim Spencer’s killer walking around free. What he didn’t understand was the look of pure, unadulterated fury on Gina’s face.

“Rat bastard,” she growled and took off.

He had a hard time keeping up with her as she stormed through the crowd on her four-inch stilettos. “Gina, wait!” She ignored him and kept right on going like a torpedo shot from a submarine. He didn’t know what was about to go down, but it clearly involved the Falzones.

“Get out!” she shouted at Franco. “You’re not welcome here.” Her body trembled, and her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides.

What the hell?