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“Back,” he orders. I do as I’m told and take a step back. He opens the door again. There stands who I’m guessing is the Mama with two more kittens in tow.
I grin. “This is the best day ever.”
3
BUTCHER
Bianca is on her knees petting the kittens as they crawl over each other to get to her. Her light brown hair falls into her face, and one of them takes a swipe at it.
She giggles and scoops it up. “You’re sassy. You remind me of my sister.” She kisses it on the nose, then hands it over to the mother cat. Then she looks up at me with her doe eyes. “We can keep them, right?”
We? I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. It becomes more painfully apparent with each second I spend in her presence. I never should’ve stolen her. What was I thinking? I guess that’s the thing–I wasn’t.
“Right?” she asks again.
“I …” I wave a hand at her.
She takes that as a yes, because she squeals in excitement and snuggles one of the kittens.
They must’ve come from the old barn on the property. I don’t use it much, only when I need an especially secluded spot to do my dirty work. But these days, I do all that at Antonio’s place or at our warehouse. I haven’t been back to the barn in over a year. I look around at the house, an old farmhouse that I revamped into a modern home with all the technology to keep it secure.
“They’ll need food and litter and toys.” She smiles up at me. “Lotsof toys.”
It’s not as if I can magic those things out of thin air. I’ll have to drive somewhere closer to the city and find a pet supply store, but that would mean leaving Bianca here by herself. Just thinking it makes something twist in my chest.
“What is it?” she asks.
“What?”
“You have a funny look on your face.”
“Nothing.”
She puts the kitten down next to its mother and gets to her feet. “Let’s go to a pet store. We can get all the things we need.”
I gawk at her. “You can’t leave.”
“Why not?” She puts her hands on her hips.
“Because you’re … Because I …” I’ve always been a man of few words, but this is becoming fucking ridiculous. I can’t seem to form a complete sentence when she’s staring up at me with those innocent eyes.
“Because you kidnapped me and don’t want to risk your ransom?” She rolls her eyes. “You’ll still get it even if you take me out to do a little shopping. It’s the last thing my father would expect, anyway. He’ll never look for me at PetSmart. So don’t worry about getting your payday.”
I want to tell her that she’s got me all wrong, but then I’d have to tell her who I really am. The Butcher. I’d also have to try to come up with a reasonable explanation for why I kidnapped her out of the fucking blue without a plan or an endgame. Hell, I don’t even know why I did it, so there’s no way I’m going to be able to explain that to her.
I take a deep breath and weigh the options.
“Let’s go.” She bounces on the balls of her feet.
I guess I don’t need to weigh them after all. This little slip of a woman won’t take no for an answer. She’s more like her sister than she realizes.
“Fine. But you stay by my side. You don’t wander off. You speak to no one. You don’t leave my sight. If you yell for help or–”
She makes an incredulous snort. “I’m not going to yell for help. I’m not an idiot.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“Good.” She nods. “Because I’m not. I mean, I’m not as smart as Angelica, but I–”
