Page 4 of Flawed Revenge

This wasn't what she’d been expecting when she came out here.

Still no one spoke, she was just turned around again, five of those weapons still aimed directly at her, while the man who had grabbed her maintained a hold on her arm like he expected her to run away. How exactly he thought she was going to do that she had no idea, but they obviously thought she was a whole heck of a lot more of a threat than she actually was.

“Please,” Kate tried again. “I'm not here to cause trouble. I just need to talk to Leo.”

Was it her imagination, or did one of the men holding a weapon stiffen a little as she said the name?

Since he didn't immediately confirm that he was Leo and didn't give any indication that he recognized her, even though they’d known one another since childhood, she had to assume it was indeed her imagination.

Maybe Leo had turned out to be a scumbag, but he wouldn't keep pointing a gun at her. He would know that she wasn't a threat to anyone, that she’d never even had a traffic ticket, she was about as squeaky clean as it was possible to be. She also wasn't there to cause any trouble. All she needed to know was whether Leo was there. And if he was, she had to ask him if he’d be willing to help her.

“Is Leo here?” she tried again. These men may as well be carved from stone for all the reaction she got from them. They didn't speak, didn't even look at one another, just stared at her, their weapons unwavering, the man beside her maintaining a grip on her arm that was just shy of bruising.

Leo mustn’t be there. It didn't seem like they’d ever even heard of him.

Or maybe they were trying to protect him?

If he was there, she had to know. It was quite literally a matter of life and death.

Fighting through the fear swamping her, ignoring the way her body trembled and her shoulders and wrists ached from being restrained, Kate tried to stand taller, tried to sound confident when she was anything but. She had to do this. Had to find out if they knew Leo. If they didn't, she had no idea why she’d been given this address and told to go there to get the answers she sought.

“If you know him, it’s really important that I speak with him,” she told them. “I mean, life and death important. I'm not here to hurt him or anything.” Although she would have thought that was a given, the number of weapons pointed at her told her it wasn't. “We know each other. Well, we did. When we were younger. It’s imperative that I talk to him. I need his help with something. Well, I'm hoping he’ll agree to help me, although there’s a chance he won't. Anyway, if you could just get him, or call him, or text or something, that would be really helpful. I can just … wait here like this, I suppose, until he comes?”

It sounded silly to offer that, because Kate knew she would remain cuffed until these men decided otherwise, but she was trying her best to be agreeable, remind them that she was no threat, and that they were in charge.

Besides, she couldn’t let herself believe that they were really going to hurt her.

Kill her.

If she thought about that too deeply, she was going to fall apart, and she couldn’t allow that to happen. Not with how high the stakes were.

“Please,” she whispered, a few tears sneaking free despite her attempts to pretend to be strong and confident.

One of the men moved suddenly. Lowering his weapon slightly, he reached up to pull the mask he was wearing off. Then all of a sudden, she was staring into a pair of eyes she could never forget for as long as she lived. Never forget the pain she felt the last time she saw them. The way she’d begged and pleaded only to be ignored.

“Leo,” she whispered.

Chapter

Two

March 13th

1:30 P.M.

How had he not seen it right away?

Now that he was looking for it, it was so obvious that this was his Kate. Of course, she was older now, no longer in her late teens. Her body had filled out a little, her hips curvier, her breasts fuller. Those stunning blue eyes of hers were the same, her blonde locks were longer than when he’d last seen her, and her plump, pink lips were still as kissable as he remembered.

No.

Not his Kate anymore.

He’d lost that right a decade ago when he dumped her.

And not just ended a relationship abruptly, completely out of the blue as far as Kate was concerned but done in the most cruel way he could. Most of what he’d said that day was fuelled by the rage simmering just beneath the surface. His fear was that he wouldn't be able to control himself around the woman he loved and would wind up hurting her.

Killing her.