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I follow the driver to a locked door. He opens it with a combination.
35742.
I learned a long time ago to memorize numbers quickly.
Even so, I know it won’t matter. I won’t be able to access the lock from inside the room. Still, I keep the numbers in my head. You never know when they might come in handy.
He shoves me through the door. “Wait here.”
“For what?”
“That’s all I know. I do as I’m told. Just like you do.” The driver closes the door and clicks it locked.
As I suspected, there’s no way to unlock it from the inside. Such a fire hazard. Of course that doesn’t matter to King.
Oddly, there is a window well. No bars.
An escape route. One I won’t use.
King knows this. He knows I won’t go anywhere because he knows that I know he has Katelyn.
He’s dangling these carrots in front of me, daring me.
I’m not that stupid—something he also knows.
In the room is a bed, a door leading to a toilet and sink, but no shower. Also a chair and a desk. Even a pen. Yup. He knows I won’t try anything.
Or he’s betting I might, and the first thing he’ll check when he comes to get me is whether the pen is still sitting there.
So I don’t touch the pen. I go into the bathroom, and to my surprise—or to my non-surprise—I find a nail file and a razor blade sitting right on the rim of the sink.
He’s given me a means to try something on him or even to off myself with the blade.
As long as he has Katelyn, I won’t do anything. Both he and I know this.
I’m not even slightly tempted.
But then I realize he’s done something else as well. He’s given me these means as a way to test me. He’s going to test how loyal I am to Katelyn. How strong my feelings are for her.
I’m betting he thinks I’ll choose myself in the end.
He thinks wrong.
Nothing to do now except wait. Though I do check the inside of the toilet tank. There’s another tablet, this one even more dissolved than the first.
Makes me wonder if the tablets are there for a reason other than disinfecting toilets. Does he know I’ll try to use it as a weapon?
Or are there tablets in every toilet, just as there are in my own home?
Could go either way, but I’m betting on the latter. I have to. I have to stick my faith in something. I have to believe I have some way of helping Katelyn.
I’m toast. No way will I get out of this alive. But I have to get her out before they harm her.
And they will harm her.
It’s part of the way he plans to torture me.
A big part of me even believes I deserve the torture.
I’ll take whatever he has to give.
But before I do that, I have to get Katelyn out of here.
She’s here in this house. Somewhere.
And she’s scared. She’s so very scared.
I will get her out of here. Doesn’t matter what happens to me at this point. I’ve accepted my fate.
But I have not yet accepted hers.
44
KATELYN
“He’s a monster.”
Buck’s words cut through me like a dull knife. No, this isn’t a clean cut. It’s jagged and raw, leaving my insides open and sore.
He’s a monster.
The words echo in my head in Buck’s deep voice.
His tone is serious and his facial muscles tense. Buck truly believes what he’s saying about Luke.
I know better, of course. Luke is everything to me. A beautiful and gentle soul. A man who waited for me. He waited until I was ready to make love after what I’ve been through. A man who feeds stray dogs outside his restaurant.
A man.
A good man.
Buck continues talking. “He’s a drug lord. And he uses people. He hurts people, Katelyn. He hurts people.”
I don’t reply. Not yet. Instead I take a good look at Antonio Moreno. He believes what he’s saying. No doubt about that.
“It’s still possible that Luke and Lucifer Raven are two different people,” I say.
Do I believe my words? I’m not sure. But I do believe one thing—that Luke is a good man. No matter what he did in the past, today—here, now—he’s a good man.
“He’s lying to you,” Buck continues. “Lucifer is not capable of love. He thought he loved my sister, and he mistreated her badly.”
“Do you believe a person can change?” I ask.
“I do, actually. I’ve seen a lot of shit in my life. I’ve been on missions for the SEALS that would make your blood run cold. And I’ve seen a man change. Both for the good and for the bad. So yeah, a person can change. But Lucifer? He was just too far gone, sweetheart. Just too fucking far gone.”
“You think you know him better than I do?”
“Maybe I don’t. But my sister does. They lived together. They were a couple for over a year, and she thought the same thing you do. She thought he was amazing at first. He showered her with luxuries and—”
