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Before Bryant could answer, another car turned onto the street and whipped in behind James’s SUV. Relief washed over him when the detectives clambered out of the car and strode toward them.
“Mr. Monroe, I told you to stay put,” Rogers said, her usually flat eyes lit with an uncharacteristic fury.
“And I told you I wasn’t just leaving my wife in some maniac’s hands. I’m going in.”
“I’m afraid we can’t allow that, Mr. Monroe.” Michaelson’s sympathy rang as false as ever and James bared his teeth at the detective.
“You’re going to have to shoot me to stop me, Detective.”
As if on cue, a sound like a car backfiring pulled their attention to the house. James felt his head spin a moment before he took off running for the front door. Bryant dove for him, but James had always been faster, and he easily evaded his brother’s grasp.
“Fuck! Get him, Michaelson! I’m going in!”
Something heavy slammed into his side and he hit the ground, the air leaving his lungs in a painfulwhoosh. “Olivia,” he croaked out, struggling beneath the weight of his attacker.
“We’ll help her. I need you to calm down, or I’m going to have to cuff you.”
The sound that escaped him wasn’t entirely human. Above him, Detective Michaelson sighed, and a moment later came the telltalesnickof cuffs opening before the cold metal clamped down around his wrist. Both arms were jerked behind his back and the cuffs were secured around his other wrist. He was dimly aware of Bryant shouting at the detective, threatening him with all manner of lawsuits, but his focus was on the opening Detective Rogers had just disappeared into.
“Liv,” he whispered, his heart threatening to shatter in his chest.
Please, God, let her be alive.
Chapter28
Sitting on a hard dining room chair with her hands bound behind the wooden slats, Olivia studied her captors. MaryAnn, with her sweet, innocent-looking face, which had gone completely white after her friend had tied Olivia to the chair.
Then there was the man. The more she looked at him, the more she was convinced she knew him. He seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out where she’d seen him before.
And she may never get a chance to figure it out, if he kept waving that damn gun around. The idiot was going to kill her before he got a chance to kill her.
“Nate, I don’t know about this. You said you just wanted to talk to her.” Eyeing Olivia with growing uncertainty, MaryAnn twisted her fingers together in front of her.
‘Nate’ smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “I do want to talk to her, baby.” Moving behind MaryAnn, he slid an arm around her waist, all while keeping his eyes locked on Olivia. “I want to talk to her about the way she’s treated you. Swearing at you, berating you for the tiniest little mistakes. Remember that, MaryAnn? Remember how she talked down to you, made you feel like nothing? And then she pretended to be your friend, only to do it all over again?”
Fuck. Olivia felt her chances of survival slipping away when MaryAnn frowned and nodded.
“She did do all of that. But I don’t want to kill her.”
“But don’t you?” Releasing his hold on MaryAnn, Nate sauntered over and raised his gun high, a deranged smile stretched across his face.
The back of his hand connected with Olivia’s cheek, hard enough to snap her head back and have her tasting blood. From across the room, MaryAnn whimpered but didn’t move to intervene.
“Women like her, whores who spread their legs to get ahead, they think they’re better than everyone else.” Using the tip of the pistol, Nate lifted Olivia’s chin up so she was forced to look at him. “You really think you’d be top bitch if you weren’t sucking your broker’s cock on a regular basis, Olivia?”
A laugh, bitter and slightly hysterical, escaped before she could stop it. “That’s what this is about? You’re pissed I’m better at my job than you are?” It hit her, then, where she knew him from. “Wait. You’re that guy James interviewed. The one he said he wouldn’t hire to sell doghouses on the side of the road.”
Sneering, Nate ground the gun into Olivia’s chin, and she swore her life flashed in front of her eyes. “He didn’t hire me because he can’t shove his cock between my legs whenever he wants!”
“If that’s what you have to tell yourself.” Feigning a calm she didn’t remotely feel, Olivia shrugged. “But I’m sure our other agents would be rather surprised to learn of their new job duties. Especially Randall.”
“Shut up!” Even though she saw the next blow coming, she was helpless to stop it. Pain radiated through her skull and her vision darkened at the edges when the butt of the gun connected again with her cheek.
MaryAnn’s shocked gasp distracted Nate and he crossed the room to her, taking her in his arms. “I’m sorry, baby, I didn’t mean to upset you. But she had that coming. You heard the way she talked to me.”
“MaryAnn. Please.” Half blinded by the pain, Olivia fought to focus on the figures across the room. “Let me go. I swear I won’t tell anyone you were involved.”
“I’ve heard enough of your lies. Hold this.” Nate thrust the gun into MaryAnn’s hand and pulled a length of rope from his jacket pocket. He stalked over to the chair Olivia was bound to and dropped the rope around her neck.
