Page 132 of Captivated

She wasn’t making this easy on him.

A man stood behind him dressed in all black—apparently, the guard for her. Should she run, he was going to be the one coming after her.

Or, that’s what Rich explained.

“It’s just water,” Rich snapped, his exasperation clear.

The condensation on the outside of the bottle wet Liliana’s fingers. The water promised reprieve, and relief. For her throat, aching stomach, and maybe even her pounding head.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

Liliana hadn’t forgotten a few tricks about Rich. Like the best way to get the man off one topic was to distract him by making him talk about something else. Even better if that something had to do with him, or something he wanted to do.

It could also calm him down.

Relax him.

“A little place I bought,” he said, smiling again.

That warm smile.

The charming one.

He used it on her the first night they met, and then again right before he almost beat her to death. She hated that fucking smile, and quite frankly, wished someone would cut it off his face, so he couldn’t use it on her or some other poor woman, ever again.

It would be doing the world a favor, really.

Rich leaned closer to where she was sitting with her legs hanging out of the back of the car. The small rest stop and gas station was all but empty save for one or two cars. Nobody was even looking their way.

He reached out, and Liliana forced herself not to move when the tips of his fingers came in contact with her eyebrow. The scar hidden by her eyebrow stung like hell with a phantom pain when he dragged his finger across it, appraising it silently.

“The plastic surgeon did good work, I see,” he noted.

She did tense at that statement.

Rich moved fast—and harsh—when his hand moved from her brow, down to her chin. He grabbed tightly to her face and his fingernails dug into her skin hard enough to either break the skin, or bruise. He forced her to look at him, and that smile of his had been replaced by a thin, grim line.

“Smile, Lilibet.”

Liliana couldn’t.

“Smile,” Rich demanded again, “and stop the sulking. You know I hate it when you fucking sulk like a baby.”

She swallowed hard.

And smiled.

Her best fuck-you-smile.

Rich couldn’t tell the difference. “Well done. Aren’t you curious at all?”

“About what?”

The only thing she really gave a shit about right now was getting the fuck away from him, and then making sure he never came back for her again. She had never wished for someone to die as much as she was willing it for this man in front of her.

“How I found you,” Rich said.

“Not particularly.”