AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She saved you.” Mr. Vincent slides the knife through the plastic zip ties and frees my hands. I jerk them to my chest and rub my sore wrists. Tommy snags the bag off the ground and takes it over to the man who’s still holding the saw. He grumbles as he puts the torture tool down, clearly crestfallen he didn’t get to use it.
Mr. Vincent points at Scott. “This is how this is going to work. Laura comes with me.”
“Hell no!” Scott again tries to get free.
“Knock it off.” If my choice right now is between Fat Tommy and Mr. Vincent, I’ll take Mr. Vincent. Or maybe I should be worried that Tommy is scared of him.
“She’s collateral. When you come up with the twenty grand I paid for her, you can come and get her.”
“No deal!” Scott shouts.
“Dirk,” Mr. Vincent says, though he keeps his eyes on mine.
Dirk grins, and the saw comes back to life.
“Deal. It’s a deal!” I shout. “Please turn it off. I can’t take it.” I drop my head, tears sliding down my face.
The saw stops, and I can feel Dirk’s disappointment even if I can’t see it.
“Laura, don’t do this.”
I shake my head. “There’s no choice.”
“There is! I can get us out of this.”
“Yeah, by losing a limb. I’m not letting that happen.” I lift my head to look at him. “You’re all I have.”
“Shit, Laura.”
Mr. Vincent holds his hand out for me. I stare at the roughness of his palm that doesn't go with his fancy suits. I hate that my hand shakes as I put it into his.
“Laura, I’m sorry.” Scott sounds defeated. Then he gets back on his usual bullshit. “If you hurt her, I don’t care who you are, I’ll burn you down!”
Mr. Vincent pulls me to my feet. My legs are weak and not ready to stand. I fall into his chest. He wraps an arm around me, pulling me even closer. Why does he have to smell so good?
“Did Tommy scare you?” He asks it so gently, nothing like the tone he’s used so far.
I nod. How could I have not been scared?
“Do you want me to kill him?” That same gentle tone.
“Mr. Vincent!” Fat Tommy squawks. “Man. All I did—”
“Shut up.” Mr. Vincent’s demeanor turns lethal and makes my skin break out in goosebumps. “Now, tell me, do you want me to ki—”
“No. I don’t want anyone to die.”
“But he should pay?”
I want to say yes. I don’t. What kind of game is he playing?
“You want me to scare him like he scared you?”
I find myself nodding.
He smirks. Then his mouth is on mine in a hard kiss that’s over as quickly as it started. “Pay attention, precious. So you can see what happens when someone else touches something that belongs to me.”
This time I don’t close my eyes.
