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Who was watching her house? “Help!” Alina cried.
A hard hand caught the back of her head and slammed her into the door. Her forehead hit, brutally hard, stunning her, and as she swayed, someone caught her wrists and jerked them behind her body. Something sharp and plastic—zip ties, I think those are zip ties—bound her wrists. She tried to scream, but what felt like a long, twisting scarf was shoved between her lips. Her attacker tied it behind her head. She could feel the knot pulling at her hair.
She spun and kicked at him because at least her legs were still free.
He drove his fist toward her jaw.
No one had ever hit her like that before. The shock and pain left her weaving. But she didn’t fall. Her attacker caught her and tossed her over his shoulder. Nausea rose in her throat, and she tried to choke it down. If she vomited, with the gag between her lips, would she just choke? Tears stung her eyes.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.” The voice belonged to the second intruder. Not the one who’d hit her. “The last thing I want is to tangle with that big bruiser outside.”
***
Midas jerked upright in the driver’s seat. Had a light just flashed on in Alina’s bedroom? His eyes were gritty, his mind a little too slow, dammit, but he’d been sure that he saw illumination fill that third window.
Only for the room to plunge right back into darkness.
Could be nothing. Maybe Alina turned on a light for a moment to check her clock. Maybe she turned the light off and went back to sleep.
But…
But his heart pounded, and he found himself shoving open the door to his SUV. He stepped out into the night. Quiet. Still. His gaze shifted to the left. To the right. No sign of any new cars on the street. There’d been no sign of any of her neighbors. He hadn’t been chased off by worried people who wanted to know what the hell he was doing stalking Alina.
Alina.
If he rushed to her front door and pounded and she appeared and nothing was wrong, he’d have one hell of a time explaining himself.
That’s why you should never accept a stupid undercover job.
The light was off. Off.
And yet he was running toward her front door. Screw the cover. There had been two attacks already on day one. Day freaking one. If everything was okay, he’d come up with some excuse for pounding on her door in the middle of the night. Hell, maybe he’d just say that he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head.
Truth.
That he wanted more of her.
Another truth.
That leaving her and playing the gentleman had been a dumbass mistake.
Absolute total truth.
He pounded on the door.
Nothing.
The tension in the base of his neck grew. He pounded again, driving his fist into the wood. No lights turned on. No footsteps rushed toward the door.
Was Alina just the heaviest sleeper in the world?
I fucking doubt it. Okay, he was probably going to scare the hell out of her but—
He broke down her front door. A hard kick against the lock and the door flew inward. The first thing he noticed? No alarm blared.
The second thing? There was no terrified cry from Alina. There was no sound at all in the house. He ran to her bedroom. Hit the light switch near the door.
Empty bed.
