Page 169 of Protecting You
It wasn’t a video game at all. The infrared video on the screen showed beach houses and a deserted coastline.
He was flying a drone.
Watching the island and the water all around.
Her stomach dropped.
There’d be no sneaking up. There’d be no surprise attack.
She swallowed and looked away, catching sight of Benson staring at her from the small kitchen on the other side of the room. He was sipping from a mug. Now that she noticed the scent of coffee, she longed for a cup.
Not that she’d ask.
He caught her eyes and smiled, the smug expression tempered by the black eye Callan must’ve given him.
The hulking guard brought a peanut butter sandwich and a handful of chips on a dinner plate, which he plopped on the sofa beside Alyssa, dropping a bottle of water next to it.
“Let’s have some food, sweetheart.” She tried to shift her to the sofa beside her, but Peri held onto Alyssa’s neck.
“Okay. That’s okay. You can stay on my lap,” Alyssa said. “Just turn to the side so you can eat. Do you like peanut butter?”
Peri still hadn’t spoken, but she ate a few bites and took a few sips of water before curling back up, pressing her face into Alyssa’s chest.
Ghazi emerged from the hallway. In the few minutes he’d been gone, he must’ve learned something that he didn’t like because his dark eyes flashed with fury. “Come. Now.”
She managed to push herself off the cushy sofa with the child in her arms.
“Leave her.”
“She stays with me.”
If anything, the anger in his eyes blazed brighter. “You will do what I say.”
“You have all the control, Charles.” She worked very hard to keep her voice steady. “But if she’s not with me, I’ll spend half my time worrying about her. If you want me to do something for you?—”
“Youwilldo as I say.”
“—then I’ll work faster and more efficiently if I know she’s safe.”
He glared at her, but she didn’t budge.
After a moment, he issued a curt nod.
The bedroom had probably been cute before Ghazi and his band of thugs arrived. Pale blue walls over beadboard wainscoting with a thick rope lining the top of the molding between them. Sailboat lamp, sailboat artwork. Round mirrors like you’d find on the lower deck of a yacht.
A desk held two monitors and a laptop. Beyond it, the one window was boarded up.
“Sit,” Ghazi said.
With Peri in her arms, it was going to be impossible to work.
“Put her on the bed.” Ghazi’s raised voice indicated he was losing his patience.
She swallowed a retort that wouldn’t help at all, gentling her voice. “Sweetheart, you’re going to have to get off my lap so I can work. The faster I work, the sooner Mr. Sanders will let us go. Isn’t that right, Charles?”
“You know who I am. I know who you are. I tire of pretending.”
“She’s afraid enough…Ghazi.”
