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“What did you do?”
He hums and looks out the window. I grab his scarf and throw it on the floor. Childish I know, but it bugs the hell out of him.
“Careful. I’m not afraid of hitting you again.”
My jaw aches from where he clocked me and my scalp burns from where he pulled my hair, but I refuse to let him see my pain. “Go ahead. See if I care.” I’m taunting him and it feels good. It feels good not to be cowered by him.
“I’m afraid one of their houses caught on fire.” He feigns a gasp as he places a hand over his heart. “What a shame.”
I swallow my laugh before I remember I’m done hiding my emotions from this man. I chuckle and shake my head as if I haven’t a care in the world. “And you think they won’t catch on to the fire being a diversion?”
My uncles – the men who invaded a hotel room to save me – would never fall for an obvious trick.
“Oh, they not only fell for it. There may have been some injuries while they were putting out the fire. In fact, I believe one of the old men is in the hospital now.”
The blood in my veins turns to ice. And I thought I couldn’t hate this man anymore than I already do. “Who’s injured? Who’s in the hospital?”
He shrugs. “It’s of no concern.”
Of no concern? “They are human beings, not pawns in your game.”
“Funny. I’m pretty sure they are pawns.”
The man has no problem admitting to arson and injuring people. Pure evil. But no one ever believes me when I tell them about the things he says and does. But hold on. If presented with cold hard evidence, they’d have to believe me. And there’s a simple way for me to collect the evidence. I have a recorder in my bag. The perks of being a PI. I always carry a camera and a recorder with me now.
While I search my bag, I need to keep him distracted, which is easy enough. He loves to brag.
“How did you know I wasn’t dead?”
He chuckles and this time there’s real humor in the sound. “I know better than to believe that bounty hunter person would let you go. He’s obviously fallen under your spell. Although I’m not sure how you managed to fool him into thinking you care for him. You never were good at playacting.”
I do care for Ryker, but he doesn’t need to know the truth. He’ll only use the knowledge to hurt me somehow.
“But there was a death certificate.”
“Without a body?” He shakes his head. “I’m not a fool.”
I grapple for another subject. “What are you going to do with me?”
His grin is wide. “I’m going to take you home and impregnate you.” He makes it sound soooo romantic.
“What if I don’t want to be impregnated?”
“My dear, it’s adorable you think you have a choice.”
“You can’t force me to have sex with you.”
He places his hand over his mouth as he yawns. “If you don’t want to give me what I want, I won’t give you what you need.”
I’m afraid to ask, but I do anyway because I’ve found the recorder and managed to switch it on. “What do you mean?”
He sighs. “Don’t be silly. You know exactly what I mean. I’ll keep you locked up in your room. Only this time there won’t be any food or water. And there certainly won’t be any access to the internet or your phone.”
“But if I have sex with you, you’ll let me eat?” He nods. “That’s rape.”
“Potato, potahto.”
With the recorder running, I want to have him confess to as many illegal deeds as possible. No matter where I end up, I’ll be able to use this tape against him somehow. I refuse to believe this is the end for me. I’ve come too far to return to my gilded cage in California.
“You didn’t have to set fire to one of the uncle’s houses, you know.”
His nose turns down in disgust. “My dear, you know I never do any dirty work myself. Now, I’m done talking. Time for you to take a nap.”
I open my mouth to tell him I have no intention of taking a nap but halt when I notice he’s holding a syringe. I drop the recorder in my bag and lift my hands to fight him off.
I kick out and he grabs my leg. “This is a good a place as any,” he says before injecting me in my calf.
