Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 65112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
My pulse kicks hard. “Move me where?”
He looks at me like I’m stupid. “I told you,” he answers flatly. “I’m taking you home.”
“I would rather die.”
He smiles without any warmth at all. “That can be arranged.”
I believe him. It isn’t the first time he’s threatened me. It isn’t the first time he’s hurt me. But this time feels different because he doesn’t even bother pretending he wouldn’t. He doesn’t want me back. Not really. He wants to win. And if he can’t win, I’m not sure he cares what happens next.
I keep my face as steady as I can. “Your family doesn’t know you’re here. Do they?”
He goes still. I almost smile. Not because anything about this is funny, but because finally, something makes sense.
“You don’t have any security,” I say, glancing toward the door. “No staff. No driver hovering in the hallway. No working electricity, which feels like a real step down for you. This wasn’t sanctioned.”
His mouth flattens. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, I do.” My voice is too shaky to sound as confident as I want, but I keep going anyway. “Daddy didn’t approve of this trip. He’s probably sick of your obsession with me. He never really thought I was good enough for you, anyway. He’d probably cut you off if he knew what you’re doing.”
“I don’t need his approval.”
“Of course you do. He’s your personal bank.”
He crosses the room before I can move, and this time he shoves me back against the wall. Not hard enough to knock the breath out of me, but close. One hand pins my shoulder, the other braces near my head. I smell stale coffee on his breath. He’s too close. Too warm. Too familiar.
“You always thought you were smarter than me,” he says.
“No,” I say honestly. “I always knew I was.”
His face twists. Then he steps back. Again, he chooses not to hit me. That should comfort me. It doesn’t. It tells me he’s measuring himself. Trying to keep enough control to preserve whatever plan is still rattling around in his head.
If he intends to move me, Sebastian has less time than I thought. Adrian picks up the water bottle from the dresser and tosses it onto the bed.
“Drink. You’re no use to me sick.”
“I’m not much use to you alive either.”
“Don’t test me, Valentina.”
I shut up then, not because I’m out of things to say, but because the look on his face tells me the next one might cost too much.
He walks back to the door.
“Adrian,” I say before I can stop myself.
He turns.
“Sebastian will find me,” I say.
He pauses with one hand on the doorframe. “Then I suppose we’ll see who wants you more.”
He walks out and locks the door behind him.
I stand there for several seconds after he’s gone, staring at the door, trying to make my body move. It doesn’t want to. My legs feel weak. My jaw hurts. My shoulder hurts. My stomach turns again, though I don’t know if that’s the baby or the fear.
Eventually I force myself to pick up the water bottle. The cap is sealed. I check it twice anyway before opening it. I drink slowly because my stomach still isn’t steady, then sit on the edge of the bed and stare at the window bars.
Adrian is alone. He’s desperate. He’s planning to move me. Even knowing all of that, I have to believe Sebastian is going to get here first. He’ll find me. He has to.
I press one hand to my stomach and take another careful breath. “We’re going to be fine,” I whisper.
I have no idea if that’s true.
28
SEBASTIAN
Matteo is already parked off the private road when I arrive, his car tucked beneath a stand of dead eucalyptus. Two of our men wait farther down the shoulder, both watching the house at the top of the hill. Even from here, I can tell the place has no power. No porch lights, no glow from the windows, no generator noise carrying through the trees. Nothing.
I park beside Matteo and get out. He meets me between the cars and hands me a folded printout.
“County records. Mostly useless.”
I glance down. First floor, second floor, a few utility notes, and a detached garage that looks like it’s been abandoned for years.
“Any mention of a basement?”
“None. Which means nothing at all.”
I hand the papers back. “Have you seen any movement?”
“Nothing. No guards outside. No cameras that I can see.”
That should be good news. It isn’t.
“It feels too easy,” I say.
“It probably is.” Matteo looks up at the house, then back at me. “It could be a trap.”
“From what I’ve learned, he doesn’t do anything alone.”
“He might now,” Matteo says. “A desperate man is dangerous. Don’t be so locked in on what you know about him that you miss what’s right in front of you.”