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Abby
Abby pressed her ear to the door. The sounds were muffled, but she could hear enough of the conversation to know all hell was about to break loose. Her hell. She realized they didn’t care if she overheard them. They didn’t whisper. They didn’t use code words. The fear shot down her spine. They didn’t care about her at all. When had they?
Abby shook her head in disbelief when she picked up the remnants of the conversation. They mentioned her as if she were some kind of bargaining tool. She listened harder, straining to make out what Cal said.
He had never respected her. Never treated her as an equal in the family, even though they were the same age. Once he became the head of the Mantellis he forgot all the years they had grown up together. He didn’t remember Christmases or birthdays. He forgot their mothers were sisters. None of it mattered to him.
“She needs to be delivered this morning,” he stated. “As soon as possible.”
No. No, he couldn’t do this. How was this happening? Who in the hell did he think he was?
“When will she be ready?” the other man asked her cousin. He had shown up this morning. She’d never seen him before.
“You can take her now,” Cal responded. “The sooner I get this debt paid, the better.”
Abby paused in shock. Did he just say that? Did he actually trade her for money?
“I told her to wait for our meeting to be over. She should be in the hallway.”
Shit. The panic almost paralyzed her. She looked for a place to hide. There wasn’t enough time to make it to her car. The hall closet was her only option.
She whipped open the door and pushed the winter coats aside. She huddled in the back of the closet, stilling her breath. She inhaled the scent of heavy cologne. It had seeped into her cousin’s wool coats. She turned her head toward the wall.
Maybe if she squeezed her eyes tighter the heavy footsteps she heard would keep walking. This was insane. She shouldn’t be hiding in a closet. But Cal had promised her to the brute in his office and she knew logic didn’t apply when it came to the family business. The footsteps grew increasingly louder.
“Where is she?” he barked.
Cal was only feet away from the closet. “I told her to wait here. She’s in the house. The alarm is on, so I know she didn’t leave. I’ll check upstairs.”
“If you back out, Cal my clients are going to fuck you over. Big time.”
“I won’t. She’s here. I’ll find her. You can take her with you. Just calm down.”
Abby’s chest hurt from keeping the air in her lungs. They were burning. God, this was a nightmare. She looked through the crack where the door met the floor. Her view was blocked by a shadow.
Oh shit.
The door flew open. The light hit her between the eyes as a pair of rough hands grabbed her shoulders and yanked her to her feet.
“Hey!” she screamed, trying to wiggle free. The heels on her boots gave her a disadvantage, not to mention this guy was a giant. She teetered on her feet, desperate to get some kind of leverage against him.
“Got her!” the man yelled up the stairs.
“Let me go.” Abby pushed off his chest, but it was like a wall of granite. “Get your hand off me.”
“Not going to happen,” he seethed. “You’re coming with me. I have orders to deliver you.”
“Deliver me where?” She knew what kind of men Cal gambled with. The men who invested in his shady business ventures. Nothing good could come from this.
Cal ran down the stairs. “Come on, Abby. You were hiding? You were never good at the game when we were kids.”
She glared at him. “I heard what you were talking about. I’m not going with him.” She looked at her captor. “You have no right, Cal. You are way overstepping your authority.”
He looked past her at the man who held her. “She’s yours now. You’ll deliver her today?”
He nodded. “I’ll take her immediately.”
“Good.” Her cousin looked satisfied. “I want my debt paid. I don’t need him breathing down my neck.”
“I’m standing right here, Cal. Don’t talk like I’m not in the room. You can’t do this.” She continued to struggle, no matter how useless it was to fight the man responsible for finding her. “I’m not your property. Or his.”
Cal walked to the door that led to the basement. “You can take her out back. Less eyes on you. Especially if she keeps that up,” he explained.
“Good,” he grunted. Abby doubted he had much of a vocabulary.
“There is no way I’m going anywhere with this asshole.” Abby dug her heels against the hardwoods, but it only made it easier for the man to slide her toward the door.
