AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He takes out his phone and swipes the screen. “Fuck’s sake,” he growls. “No more internet allowance. You lucky bitch. Where’s your phone?”
“I left it in the room,” I tell him honestly. And then I add a lie. “With my medication.”
He looks closely at me. “You know I could do anything I wanted to you right now. There’s a little room around the corner, a nice private room, and I could use you in any way I wanted. I could kill you right now. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”
Fear slithers through me at his words but all I can do is clench my hands and stab my fingernails into my palms. “Yes, I know.”
“If you try anything…”
“I won’t. I’m not that stupid. I just thought you should know about my condition. That’s all.”
He looks at me again, eyes narrowed to slits. For a second I think he’s going to dart forward and press the duct tape to my lips anyway, but then he steps away with a shake of his head.
“If you scream, I’ll choke you to death. I’ll fucking end you.”
I lower my gaze, letting out a tiny sigh of relief. Without the duct tape pressing down on my lips, maybe I can stay calm, maybe I can wait until Ryker arrives.
But what if Ryker can’t rescue me? What if Zane ambushes him and kills us both?
Zane looks at his phone, shaking his head slowly.
“Your lover boy has twenty minutes. Fucking internet allowance. You know, I was richer than God once. I had more money than I knew what to do with. I’d go to restaurants and send champagne to the other tables, the most expensive bottles they had, just for the hell of it.”
I resist the urge to point out how he got that money – by scamming Ryker, by sabotaging his business.
“I tried to get Ryker in on the action, when he came snooping,” Zane goes on. “I offered him a very nice deal. And do you know what he said?”
Zane laughs bitterly, looking at me like he’s channeling all his rage at Ryker toward me.
“I asked you a question,” he snaps.
“What did he say?” I ask quickly, somehow repressing my terror from bleeding into my voice, the terror which twists through my belly, the terror that threatens to make me scream and crumble.
But I fight it, doing my best because I can’t afford to make this man angry.
“He said he’d rather be broke than a criminal. He looked me right in the eye and said that, the holier-than-thou prick. I mean, who the fuck does he think he is? Who even says stuff like that? When it really comes down to it, there’s no one alive who’d rather be broke than bend a few rules to get what they want.”
I say nothing, staring down at the dirty stone floor, as the shadows shift with the passage of pedestrians’ legs. Nobody is going to stop and peer into this random basement, but it still feels like a sick joke.
They’re so close, right there, and yet they might as well be a million miles away.
“What about you?” he says. “Would you rather be broke or a criminal?”
Broke, I scream silently. Ryker and I are the same. We want the same things. We have the same values.
“I think it’s admirable,” I say quickly. “You wanted a different life for yourself, so you did what was necessary to get it. I don’t think you need to be ashamed.”
He stalks over to the old TV and picks up the knife, tossing it from hand to hand as he walks over to me with an air of violence. He reeks of cigarettes and stale sweat, and his eyes flare with rage as he stares down at me.
“Are you mocking me, slut?”
“No,” I say quickly, shaking my head fervently. “I’m not. I promise I’m not.”
He kneels, resting his elbows on his knees, casually holding the knife. “Because I don’t like being made fun of.”
“I promise I wasn’t.”
“Hmm.” Finally, he stands and takes a couple of steps backward. “You’re a curious thing, you know that? I’ve never seen Ryker with a lady, not in all the time I knew him. I’m sure he had little flings here and there, fine, but you… I mean, hell, what does he see in you?”
My cheeks burn and my fists clench again as I fight the urge to scream at him, to call him a monster for belittling me.
And he could do even more.
“He sounded so angry on the phone. And when he took you to that restaurant last night, the way he smiled down at you as you walked across the parking lot. I’ve never seen him like that before.”
My belly twists, acid burning in my gut. I hate the thought of him following us at our most tender, most intimate moments.
