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The blade dug in and a spike of pain flared, both at my throat and in my skull, the wounds still fresh. I could tell from my light-headedness that I’d already lost a fair bit of blood. My eyes met the asshole standing beside the bed, and recognition finally hit me.
I saw him standing by the bus station speaking into his phone, then again outside Romero’s office. The way he’d gripped me like he might try to haul me off right then and there had unnerved me before, but now it simply pissed me off. Why hadn’t I realized sooner that there were no coincidences in my world?
There was at least one more person nearby. Whoever had bashed my head twice had to be lurking in the bathroom or would soon return.
“Seriously, do we know each other?” I asked again, hoping to stall for time.
“No,” the man sneered. “But I know your daddy.”
I quirked a brow. “I can assure you my father likely died from a drug overdose many years ago.” Slowly I rolled my wrists, applying pressure to the ropes to stretch them.
Just as I suspected, the bathroom door opened, and a voice drifted out. “Not your real dad, but he’s daddy enough for you, isn’t he?”
Horror washed over me. The voice belonged to someone I thought I’d never see again. Someone who’d made my life a living hell even after he disappeared.
Todd strode out, his hands shoved in his pockets. A cruel smile twisted his lips as he took me in, bound and wounded. His otherwise handsome features were screwed up with the ugliness of what he was. He pulled his phone from his pocket with one hand, glancing down at the screen before meeting my gaze again. He stalked toward the bed, holding the screen out for me to see.
My stomach dropped straight through the mattress. The image on the screen was dark and grainy, but the two forms twisted together on the bed were unmistakable.
Me and Romero the first time we made love.
Todd swiped, showing another image: a kitchen, where Romero’s mouth was on my neck and my head was tilted back in pleasure. I kept my features schooled into a mask of disinterest and shrugged, allowing a tug on my bindings.
“So? Who could you show that would possibly care? I’m eighteen and we’re not related.”
Todd’s smile grew, sending off warning bells in my head. “All of your stepfather’s legal business partners would be very interested to know that their benefactor has been sleeping with his deceased wife’s daughter, I’m sure.”
Shit.
I shrugged again, determined not to show my hand. “We weren’t exactly keeping it a secret. This is the twenty-first century. No one cares who you bang anymore.”
Todd tsked, placing his fists on the bed, one by my hip, the other between my knees. He leaned close and said, “Some of the companies he owns center around learning technology for young children. How will parents feel when they hear the news?” He straightened before I could try to knee him in the face, holding his hands up as though framing an image. “Wholesome CEO caught banging his stepdaughter of just eighteen.”
If it was possible for my stomach to sink any lower, I was certain it did. “What do you want, Todd? And how did you even find me?”
The guy that was holding the knife to my throat answered instead. “We’ve been tailing you since you left California. Our boss knows where that fucker Romero is right now.”
Ice flooded my veins. If they knew where he was, then he was in danger. I had to get to him. My body jerked and the knife sliced the first few layers of skin. I felt blood well on the surface, trickling down gently to pool in the hollow dip above my collarbone.
Todd’s grin widened. “Move, Rodrick. It’s time this skank got what’s due to her.”
The blade spun in the man’s palm, away from my neck, and he stood looking apprehensive. I rolled my hands harder, trying to create enough slack in the knots to slip out of. Time was running out and if I didn’t get out of here, something far worse than being tied to a bed was going to occur.
Todd put a knee on the bed and my mouth opened, a scream tearing out of me just before he smacked my face, hard. My vision blurred and blood coated my tongue. I spat it in Todd’s direction before he could clasp his hand on my mouth.
“Don’t you dare play the victim here. You’re going to spread your legs like the whore you are and you’re going to take what I give you. Then, Rodrick here is going to have a go. Maybe he’ll fuck your ass, just so you can forever remember him.”
I didn’t bother to answer the asshole. Fear wound itself around my heart. Romero had spent two years training me to get out of situations like this, but two against one wasn’t ideal.
Todd looked to his accomplice and said, “Get the duct tape so we can keep her quiet.”
I waited for the split second when neither male had their attention on me to twist as hard as I could. Pain spiked up my wrists as I freed my hands at last.
Todd’s head whipped back to face me just as I threw a punch directly at his throat. He fell back wheezing and coughing. I jumped up and raced toward Rodrick, who spun, his knife poised to strike.
I blocked with my arm to his, my other fist hitting him in the face. Driving his arm back, I kneed him straight to his groin. He bellowed, bending at the waist. Using the momentum, I twisted his arm back toward me and pried the knife from his loosened grip.
With one last swift movement, I sent my knee into his face so hard he went back, face blank. Unconscious.
