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Then something glinted in those blue depths and I knew she was going to fight. She raised her arm, as though raising her hand in a classroom setting. I knew what she was doing and didn’t give her the chance to bring it down in order to rip my hand off her throat. I slid my hand into her hair and yanked her head to the side, baring her pretty neck. Before she could gather herself to try to escape my hold I injected a drug into her system that would knock her out.
It was how she’d been immobilizing her victims—according to the reports that’d been in the email. I wasn’t going to ask how Sal’s son-in-law had gotten access to police reports, and I wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth. There was a certain poetic justice to using the same means she’d used on the men on that list. The men who weremineto kill.
I picked her up and tossed her unconscious form over my shoulder, then picked up the bag I’d packed with her stuff and the bag she dropped. Juggling them and her, I made my way back downstairs and settled her into my car. I duct taped her hands and feet together and clicked her seatbelt into place. It was late enough that no one was around outside, so I didn’t need to worry about being caught.
Sitting behind the wheel next to her, I took a moment and composed myself. I adjusted my cock and looked over at her, my eyes lingering on her mouth. I’d never sparred with a female before and hadn’t been expecting my reaction to her. My body was tense, ready, and I wanted to wake her up, drag her onto my lap, and fuck her against the steering wheel. Instead, I started the car and pulled out onto the dark, empty streets.
I was just pulling back into the driveway of my estate outside of the city when the change in her breathing alerted me she was waking up. Her head lolled against the seat as she tried to pry her bleary eyes open. Tossing her over my shoulder again, and grabbing the bag that she’d been carrying, I strode into the house.
Luca raised one dark brow when I entered with a half-conscious woman over my shoulder, but otherwise said nothing. No one else was around which was good. I wasn’t in the mood to explain myself and I didn’t need to freak my staff out any more than normal. “Her shit is in the car. Put it in my room.”
I loped up the stairs without waiting for a response from him. I chose the bedroom next to mine to dump her in. She’d dropped back into her drug induced state. I ripped the tape off and sat in a chair across the room from the bed to wait for her to fully regain consciousness.
Thumbing through the email on my phone, I reread everything. I’d only gotten as far as her name and picture before I stormed out of the house, but I’d gone through her full background while waiting inside her apartment. The woman drew me in and I was curious about her. She was thirty-three—three years younger than me—and had grown up in Washington State. My eyes narrowed at the next piece of information. After High School she’d joined a police academy and for seven years had been a cop. She’d spent two years of service doing search and rescue.
I looked over at her peaceful face as she slept.That explained a few things. Like that ball busting move she’d managed to sneak past my defenses and why when I saw her at Chris’s she’d already had fighting skills.I returned my attention back to the email. She’d quit, given up the life she built to marry and move to Texas and start up a small farm.
I skimmed the rest of it until I reached what the kid had dug up about the car bombing. Her husband and parents had been caught in the blast. She was inside the store at the time. I felt something dark stir inside me at the thought of losing this woman in that same incident. I hadn’t even known her then, but chance had brought us together, and now she was stuck with me.
I pulled her bag over to me and rifled around inside of it. She had more knives, a hammer, some other tools, duct tape, and cleaning supplies inside. The strong smell of bleach told me that she’d just come back from crossing another name off our list. My little hellion had been a bad fucking girl and she’d be telling me the truth with those pretty little lips—just as soon as she woke up.
Chapter 16
Havoc
Groaning, I lifted my hand to my throbbing head. The light shining above me thwarted my attempt to open my eyes. I tried to remember what’d happened, but my brain felt foggy and unfocused. The last thing I could remember was standing outside Emilio’s house.
“You killed Santos and Pérez.” The deep, rumbling voice had my brain stuttering to a stop. Then it came rushing back. Killing Emilio, going back home, and stepping back into my apartment to find Nico waiting there.
I bolted upright, then moaned softly as my head swam and my stomach pitched. I sank back onto the soft mattress and tried to force my stomach into compliance. I refused to throw up in front of him. He’d take advantage of any weakness. I opened my eyes when his hand slid against my cheek.
He stared at me with some emotion I couldn’t quite place in his eyes. We were both still, waiting to see what the other would do. Then his eyes sparked in anger and his hand gripped my hair at the back of my head and tugged until I was half sitting up and only a breath away from him. He was sitting on the bed next to me, his glare piercing.
“Didn’t you?”
Shit.His voice was like the low, warning growl of a wolf. It made me not want to answer him, but something told me it would be worse for me if I didn’t. I started to nod until my hair yanked painfully against my scalp. “Yes,” I answered him. I cleared my throat because that word had come out too soft, too submissive. “I did,” I injected as much confidence as I could into that sentence, considering I’d been drugged and taken away from my home in the middle of the night.
“Where were you tonight?”
I swallowed hard. His eyes were more green—more pissed—right now than I’d ever seen them and every instinct in me was screaming at me to run. Instead, I steeled my nerves and answered, “Killing Emilio De León.”
His hand tightened in my hair to the point where I thought he might rip it out. He was breathing hard, jaw clenched, and I wondered if this would be my last night alive. Somewhere deep inside I was surprised to learn that the thought of him killing me made me sad. I wasn’t sure if it was because I didn’t want to die, or if I didn’t wanthimto be the one to end my life.
He let go of my hair and shoved off the bed. His boots made soft rustling sounds on the carpet as he paced like a caged tiger.
I felt the hair on the back of my nape raise. “Are you going to kill me?”
He stopped and turned toward me. His arms were folded over his chest and the thumb of his left hand rubbed back and forth over his full bottom lip. He looked like he was considering my proposal.
Licking my lips, I sucked in a breath. I honestly wasn’t sure if I was more terrified or turned on. My eyes followed his thumb and I knew it was a stupid reaction. How could I be hot for a guy who might slit my throat? I knew he had it in him. If his reputation was anything to go by, he’d take pleasure in watching me drown in my own blood. I swallowed again, his silence stretched between us and made my nerves clamor.
Finally, he dropped his hand. Without another word he grabbed my ‘work’ bag and strode out the door. The breath I hadn’t realized I was holding wooshed out of me as soon as the door slammed shut behind him.
I carefully made my way off the bed and to the door, only to find that it was locked. Whatever he injected me with made my vision blur as I moved around, but I pushed past it. I knew my body would adjust if I kept moving. I looked around the room to see if there was anything of use. It was too bad he hadn’t left my bag. I had a screwdriver in there that I could’ve used to take the pins from the hinges on the door.
Nico wasn’t stupid, though; he’d left me nothing I could use. Looking around, brain running a million miles an hour, my gaze finally landed on the bed. I went over to the window and looked down. I was only on the second story. Biting my lip, I contemplated whether I should wait here for whatever it was Nico had in store for me, or risk falling to my death. As much as I hated heights, I wasn’t about to stick around to find out his plans. If I was going to die, I would do so trying to escape.
Snatching the comforter off the bed and tossing it aside, I quickly ripped the sheets and blankets off and started making knots in them. The fabric felt soft in my hands and I had no doubt they were probably worth more money than most of what I owned. I tied the ends together and eyed my handy work. The knots I’d tied shortened the length, but I would need them for purchase as I climbed down. I just hoped my makeshift rope would be long enough.
