Page 56 of The Tower

“Oh.” Her breath whispered across his cheek. “If you want to.”

“The least I can do.”

She looked up at him, mischief dancing in her eyes. “After essentially kidnapping me? I guess so.”

“I believe you’re confusing a kidnapping with a rescue. For that matter, it wasn’t either. It was transactional. I help you. I get paid.” He let his hands slide down as he spoke so that he was holding her up by her ass, not her waist. “Everything, Princess. Or have you forgotten?”

“I haven’t.” The voice that had been warm turned cold again. He told himself that was good. He had no intention of falling for Sasha Reed. He’d use her. For sex. As a weapon. Any way necessary to bring Reed down.

Beyond that, she was just cold comfort.

“Good.” He kept his voice flat. Transactional. “Because I’ve barely begun to collect my payment.”

She nodded, seeming to look everywhere except his eyes.

A half block later, she looked up. “You were going to tell me why they aren’t tracking us.”

“They can’t. Not electronically, anyway. And I’ve seen no sign that they have a physical tail. Check my back pocket. See if I have a text.”

She reached around him, then tugged out his phone. She unlocked it by putting it in front of his face, then tapped the screen. “You have a text from LG. He says it’s all clear. Your brother Leo?”

“He was helping me find you.” He drew a breath. “I don’t want you dead, Sasha. Far from it.”

She emitted a strangled little laugh, then nodded. “Good to know since I don’t seem to have much choice at the moment.”

He forced himself not to smile. He did enjoy this woman.

He felt her chest rise and fall as she drew a deep breath, then released it. “How did my father insert a fucking tracker? For that matter, when?”

“I don’t know when. All I know is that it pinged when we were in the elevator in Grimm Tower.”

“Pinged?”

“The elevator scans for weapons and certain devices. It pinged on you the moment we arrived.”

“You’re saying my father just pulls up an app on his phone and he can find me? Like I’m a kitten who got chipped by the vet?”

“Something like that. It emits a signal that someone tuned into the proper frequency can pinpoint. I have a device in my pocket—and another one in the hotel room—that dampens the signal, essentially spreading it over a ten-mile radius with no single point that’s stronger than another.

“So I’m safe now unless my father’s goons actually see me? And I was safe in the hotel up until I left the room?”

She shivered, glancing around the empty street as if the shadows themselves might lunge for her.

He cocked a brow. “I did tell you to stay put.”

“You could have told me why.”

“I shouldn’t have had to. The terms of our agreement don’t require me to explain myself.”

She scowled, and he had to force himself not to smile at her consternation.

“And here we are.” He eased her to the ground as the doorman waved them in. He followed her over the threshold, feeling surprisingly empty without her weight clinging to him.

In the elevator, she pressed her back into a corner. “My father killed your mother. You already told me your goal is to destroy my father. Killing me would cut him pretty deep.”

Her words hit him like a physical blow, and he drew a sharp breath. “I want your father to burn for that. But not you.” He crossed the car in one long stride, standing so close he could feel her stuttering breath on his face. “You’re as much a victim as I am.”

She hugged herself, her eyes bright with unshed tears. When she spoke, her voice was so soft he had to hold his breath to hear. “I’m tired of being a victim.”