Page 115 of Barinov

“Sorry,” I whisper.

“You are the biggest hero I’ve ever met. You’ve rid the world of some of the worst monsters out there. Plus, you given countless numbers of children and young women their lives back. And let’s not forget that you saved one very important person.”

“Who’s that?”

“Me.” Her gaze softens as she squeezes my hand. “You saved me, Zeke.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “You don’t look all that safe right now.”

“No,” she admits with a cocked brow. Her devilish grin slowly starting to grow. “But we’re together. And that alone is one very dangerous combination for the dickbag who’s holding us here.”

She pushes herself upright and reaches her hands out to help me to my feet. “Now, before you dropped that Ditmas Park bomb on me, you said you had an idea. So let’s hear it.”

“Right,” I say, plopping back down on the bed. “In about three days, Cade will have to do his second art project for Luca. I didn’t realize the first time that the videos were live. I thought he was just going to video us well you know… when we—”

“You thought he was what? Just gonna make a porno of us and show my boyfriends later?” she asks, gagging.

“Yeah,” I admit, scrunching my nose. “Anyway, I was wrong. He made them watch it while it was happening, so I’m guessing he’ll do that again.”

“Your point?”

“My point is that it gives us an advantage.”

“Us?” she asks, her voice a high pitched shriek. “You mean he’s gonna make you and me? Eww gross not again.”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“Cade,” I say, shifting my weight on the bed to face her better. “He’s going to force Cade to make a choice. And this time, depending on which one he chooses, I’ll enter the room or Luca will.”

Bella leans back against the headboard, running a hand through her hair. “So you’re saying that if he chooses wrong, Luca’s going to come in and… no.” She shakes her head frantically.

“I don’t know what he plans to do with Cade’s choices,” I admit, flexing my aching hand. “But I don’t think he’ll actually hurt you. He wants you to fall in love with him too much to risk that.”

“Well that’s just great,” she grits. “When do we get to the part of your plan that doesn’t involve me being mounted by my brother or my psycho uncle?”

“Well,” I mutter. “I can’t really promise that one of those things won’t happen.”

She lets out a deep and obnoxious sigh, rubbing her temples like she’s trying to dull a monster of a migraine.

“But,” I continue. “Now that we know he’s live streaming this shit, you can get the guys a message.” I grab her by the hands and get her to focus on my next words.

“You can tell them where we are.”

Chapter 26

CADE

The Pit

34 days since Bella’s kidnapping.

KNOX: How’s it going?

I glance back at the ring.

“This is complete bullshit!” Lex roars while Sabine runs him through some basic shoulder shrugs.