“Oh.”A nod.“That alarmed you.Thatpart.Not the fact that he’d pulled their insides to the outside.Sure.The time frame is the concerning part of the equation.”
She exhaled.“With a first kill, predators can take years to build up to the actual attack.There should have been some sort of cooling off period after he murdered William Lloyd.Three weeks after the first murder—ifit was even the first—that told me that our predator was especially dangerous.Helikedit too much.”She slid across the limo and pressed the button to lower the screen that separated them from the driver.
With barely a hiss of sound, the screen lowered.
“I’m going to need you to make a pitstop,” Lily told the driver right before she rattled off her address.
Atlas was well aware of her address.He should be, after all, considering that he owned the property.A new acquisition.As in, new from a week ago.
“Boss?”From the driver.Carl Hansen had been his driver for the last three years.The man was also a bodyguard, former Delta Force.Quiet.Intense.
“Take us there,” Atlas replied smoothly.Then he was sliding forward.Her finger still pressed to the control for the screen.His covered hers.Pushed down so that the privacy screen slid back into place.He was so close to Lily that he could drink up her vanilla scent.He could practically feel her warmth in the air.
But he could also see the faint shiver that slid over her skin.“Lily.”Atlas liked saying her name.“Are you afraid of me?”
She pulled her hand away from his.Her head turned toward him.Their mouths were inches apart.“Should I be?”
He wanted her mouth.“I try not to hurt innocent things in this world.”
“Don’t make that mistake about me.I’m not innocent.”
An immediate response.One that very much intrigued him all the more.“Oh?”Mild curiosity when he was really consumed by the desire to learn every detail about her.“How many people have you killed?”
She jerked.Hard.
Oh, Lily.Have you done something terrible?Do tell me all about it.
“I think we were talking about the killer currently hunting in Dallas,” she reminded him.
Yes, but he would rather talk about Lily, and not that killer.Still, he’d let her direct the conversation.For now.“You want us going to your rental because all of your files on the perp are there.”Fine.He’d like to see those files.
“The files onallmy research subjects are there.If I’m not staying at the rental?—”
“You won’t be.”They needed to be clear on this.“For the foreseeable future, you will be with me.”Done.He didn’t intend to let her out of his grasp.His mind practically spun as he considered all the ways that he could bind Lily to him.For her protection, of course.
And because of his growing obsession.
“If I’m going to be at your place, then I need my research.It’s too important to me.I can’t lose it.”
“Surely, you have computer backups.In the cloud, yes?”He couldn’t wait to see that research.
“There are things at the rental I need.I will be collecting them.”
So interesting.And a bit mysterious.As for another interesting point… “When I woke up in the basement, you said I was in danger of being disemboweled.You think the man who took me—who tookus—is the predator that you and Benedict were hunting.”
She didn’t speak.
“Why, Lily?”He settled back into his seat.The one right next to her.His thigh brushed against her leg.“What made you think that sadistic prick had turned his attention to me?”His lips pressed together.He choked down his rage at the idea of that sonofabitchtouchingLily.“I don’t remember a bomb being part of his MO.”
“Punishment is his MO.”She shifted a bit on the seat.“Punishment can come in all sorts of forms.”
She was not wrong about that.“How did you decide that this, uh, punishment killerhad come after me?I’m not a drug dealer.I’m not a rapist.In fact, I have no criminal record.”Despite the efforts of one very enterprising cop.
“Benedict warned me about you.”
That would be the enterprising cop in question.Now they were getting to the good stuff.“Did he?”
“He was convinced that you were basically running the underworld here in Dallas.”
