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And whatever she had felt for Ferdy—even before she knew about his behavior—was nowhere close to those feelings.
Some relationships worked out and others didn’t. But going in with the best intention—and the assumption your significant other wasn’t a violent criminal—were the sort of stakes it was worth gambling on.
Nikolas Slater was a good man. He’d shown her nothing but care and concern and bone-deep compassion since the day she’d walked into his office.
Why had she questioned a single second of it?
“Good. You’re up. Took you long enough.” Ferdy spoke through the open front driver’s side window. He looked different than the last time she’d seen him. He’d traded a dark silk suit and black dress shirt for outdoor gear. It was an odd look on him and gave her the same sort of creeps as looking at that billboard of Micheline Anderson.
It didn’t fit.
Just like he didn’t fit here. Nor did he fit into her life.
She had no idea how long she was out but if she went by her bladder it had to be nearly an hour if not longer. “I’m up and I need to pee. Terribly.”
He laughed at that, his eyes dark with menace. “You’re not going to live long enough to care.”
Nova had no idea how to play this. There simply was no charted territory called “negotiation with psycho ex.” So she did her best to breeze through it and keep as much of an upper
hand as she was able to, stuck on her side with her hands tied.
“I assume you want answers?”
“You bet your damn ass I do.”
“Then you’re going to need to let me up to go to the bathroom. Otherwise I’m going to make a mess of your car.”
He seemed unfazed by the ask but shrugged and came around to get her out. He was rough as he dragged her inert form from the back seat but did relent and take the duct tape off her wrists. She breathed through her nose at the immediate sting but said nothing. She was going to do her level best to get out of this, but if for some reason it all went sideways, she’d be damned if she’d come this far in her life to end as a simpering fool.
“There’s a bush over there.” He gestured with his gun. “Stay where I can see you.”
She said nothing, just marched over to the small wooded area he’d pointed to. It wasn’t easy, but she found a way to position herself and hold onto the bush for support and found a way to take care of business. It also gave her time to think. Outrunning him wasn’t an option. On a good day in her top fighting weight she’d have been hard-pressed to outrun him. He had at least eight inches in height and wasn’t wearing the slick shoes he normally wore.
And she wasn’t in top fighting weight. She was a seven-and-a-half-months-pregnant woman with a lower center of gravity and fat ankles.
“So bargaining it is,” she muttered, pulled up her panties beneath her flowy maternity dress, tap-dancing as to what she might use to stall him and get him out of the woods.
She hadn’t covered every inch of Mustang Valley, but based on the position of the mountains she sensed that she was on the east end of town. An area well used by hikers, if some of her local reading was accurate. She was torn between alerting someone for help and hoping no one came anywhere near their path.
She had no doubt Ferdy would shoot to kill anyone who got in his way.
She’d done as he’d asked and remained in his line of sight. As she tromped back toward him, she took in the sight of his large form, broad shoulders and bull-like physique.
Her only chance was to use brains against his brawn.
And hope like hell he fell for it.
* * *
Nikolas screamed on the inside as he did everything he could to move the process along. Nova’s real screams still echoed in his mind and even though it had been less than an hour, all he could think of was the face of the madman who had her in his grip.
How had he been so stupid?
He knew Ferdy was after her. How had he let the man get so close? Close enough to strike at Nova and set a bomb?
“It’s simple but effective.” Marlowe’s twin brother, Callum, lay beside the desk chair on his back, suited up in the same protective gear they’d had Nikolas put on, a flashlight in one hand as he went over the bomb. “Pressure set, so the moment you sat down it activated.”
“And I let him lead me right to it.”
