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“Why?” I stepped away from his warm hands. They clogged my thinking when they were on me. “Why didn’t Dominik just have me killed? I was a witness to a murder he wanted to cover up.”
“Get your shoes on. We’re going for a hike. You’ll get fresh air and feel better.” He pulled me toward him, then gently propelled me toward the bedroom.
“You’re not going to tell me?” I asked.
“You are no threat to the Staszek family,” he said simply. “And you are an innocent. I won’t let harm come to you because of that bloated politician who couldn’t keep his temper over a card game.”
I stared at him for a long moment, unsure exactly what I was seeing in his eyes. Whatever it was, it was gone in the next moment.
“Shoes.” He pointed a finger at me.
“Fine.”
With my shoes on, I stepped back into the kitchen where Dmitri was retying his boots. When he looked up at me, my insides heated. His forehead wrinkled, and for a moment, he looked almost casual. Instead of death-black eyes, they’d softened to a warm caramel, and a thick lock of hair fell over his eyebrow before he wiped it back.
This man kidnapped me not twenty-four hours ago, and there I was, fighting the urge to smile down at him. And what the hell was with the tingly feeling in my stomach?
Maybe my brain needed some rewiring once this was all over with. Maybe once Henry wasn’t an issue anymore, I could actually get back to my old life, get a better job with benefits that would pay for me to lie on someone’s couch, and go over all the fucking trauma of the last two years.
Dmitri pushed up to his feet, swiped his phone from his back pocket, and checked the screen. His frown was instant.
“What’s wrong?” Worry cascaded through me.
He shook his head, typed a message, and put the phone away.
“Nothing that concerns you. Let’s go.” He grabbed a shoulder bag from the table and slung it over his chest. Instinct kicked in, and I took a step back. “Water bottles, that’s all.” He assured me and unzipped the bag, exposing four bottles of water.
“Right.” I shrugged and walked past him to the back door. He stepped out behind me on the porch and pulled the door shut, checking the lock before joining me at the bottom of the steps.
“The gate is at the back of the yard.” He pointed to the corner of the small yard. Opposite the spot he’d had me tied a few hours before.
Once out of the yard, we passed a shed, then another shed, before finally reaching a walking path that led into the thickness of the woods. He stepped ahead of me but waited for me to follow before continuing on.
It didn’t take me long to realize, even if I got away from him, I had no idea where I was or how to get back to civilization. The entire cabin was surrounded by forest. I’d be eaten by some woodland creature before I found a road.
Dmitri stopped a large boulder and put his foot up on it. Slinging his bag over his head, he handed me a bottle. “Drink some.”
I thanked him and gladly tore into it, downing a quarter of the bottle in three swigs.
“Slow down, or you’ll get sick.”
Too late. My stomach swirled, but nothing I couldn’t handle.
“You don’t listen to anyone, do you?” He sipped his own water.
I slid my nail beneath the label on the bottle and ran it along the circumference.
“I’m pretty good on my own.”
“Hm.” He rolled his shoulders. “You’ve been on your own for a long time. I suppose that will do it.”
“Two years isn’t that long.”
“You’ve been on your own for longer than that.” He pinned me with a hard look.
“Did you go digging into my life?”
He nodded. “The best way to hunt your prey is to know your prey.” He screwed the top of his bottle back on. “A lot of your past was sealed, but I know your mother passed away when you were seventeen. You ran away instead of staying with your family.”
