“Glad we agree on something.” She’s silent for a long, rather unnerving moment. The woman is intimidation personified. Dark hair and features, and only a few inches shorter than my six foot three inches. All of those attributes serve to make her one of the most beautiful and transfixing women I’ve ever met. An absolute work of art. She could make any man lose his mind. Good thing I’m no average American Joe. But I also need to play nice.
“Fine.” I pull a bag from under the coffee table and hand it to her. “Here you are.”
She snatches it out of my hand, instantly opening it and looking through the contents. When she’s satisfied she looks up. “Tomorrow. We will meet the Winthrops tomorrow. Then I take you in, and I’ll go back home.”
“Way ahead of you, darling.” Way ahead. “The Winthrops live not forty minutes from here. This will be over before you know it.”
She nods, but she seems more tense than before. She reminds me of the version of her I kissed in that bar a month ago. I could tell she was stressed, that losing control worried her, but that’s what I do. I push people to their very edge and convince them to give up first. Because that’s when they’re malleable. But there’s also something different about this version of Serena. Almost like she’s… scared. No. Surely not.
She clears her throat. “My gun and phone now, please?”
Her phone.That’s what I forgot to grab.
“Don’t press your luck, sweetheart.”
She purses her lips, seeming to realize that’s as far as I’m willing to budge. Her eyes scan the kitchen, searching for where I might have hidden her other valuables. But I don’t hide all my ducks in one place now. Or whatever that American saying is.
I pick up the blade portion of the broken knife and carry it to the couch, lying down like I plan to go back to sleep. But I won’t be sleeping as long as the certain obstinate federal agent I kidnapped is in my possession. “Go back to bed, darling.”
“No.” Her eyes flick to the front door. I really hope she doesn’t make a run for it. She’s bloody fast, and I’m beat from our flight. Plus, carting a coffin around with a live human inside it? Surprisingly harder than it looks. Though, it’s amazing what people are willing to overlook for the right price. Thankfully, Rico was there to meet me at the airport and is discarding of the coffin as we speak.
“Are you scared of the dark?” I ask, dropping my voice to a seductive whisper. “I could join you.”
“I do not want you anywhere near me.”
“Do you always play hard to get? Is that why your love life is in shambles?” It’s a guess, but an accurate one based on the lasers shooting out of her eyes. “You know, if you aren’t going to sleep, perhaps you’d like to turn this little rendezvous into a slumber party and spill all your dirty little secrets.”
“On second thought, I will get some sleep.” She turns on her heel.
“Oh, by the way, the window is welded shut. Sweet dreams.”
“Ugh.” She grunts out an adorable scream and stomps into the room.
She’s quite headstrong and dramatic. In some ways, she reminds me of Scarlett. I used to describe Scarlett asaggressively passionate. Though we didn’t always agree, we had that much in common. We saw what we wanted and took it. Until she died.
Four years later, a pang still hits me in the center of the chest. I cared deeply for her. I’ll be the first to admit we were terrible together. Maybe that’s why I can’t get over what happened. I should have been more mature. Maybe if I hadn’t been upset with her that night, she wouldn’t have fallen prey to Vincent Sawyer. I came up to apologize, but it was too late. Sawyer was leaning over her dead body. The jewelry box and ring were on the floor behind him as he wiped his prints from Scarlett’s body. It was the first time in my life I’d been truly afraid. I tended to take things and knew that between me and the head of Scarlett’s security team, the cops would believe him. I panicked, took the box and the ring before Sawyer saw me, and ran.
Then swiftly lost both when I ran into Amelia Quinn’s parents, and our bags were mistakenly switched. Before I could get it from them, they passed away ina car accident and the box was lost for four years… until Amelia found it last month.
If I had been a better man, I would have stayed the night Scarlett died. I would have come clean. Maybe they would have believed me.
Instead, I isolated myself on an island as a penance for the way I failed Scarlett. But now there’s a chance to make things right. Ihaveto do this, and I need Serena’s help. If I can keep Serena with me, the Winthrops will call off the bounty for my capture; they will think I’m in federal custody. Of course, I’ll never be, but I’ll save that plan for later.
Chapter 5
Serena
The window is infact welded shut, and I curse Liam for the hundredth time.
I’m not going to sleep. I don’t trust the man on the other side of the door. So instead, I’ll do what I’m good at: investigate. I search every one of the drawers, under the bed, ceiling vent, loose floorboards, cracks in the wall, everything.
There’s nothing. Nothing personal, nothing incriminating. Because this isn’t his actual home. He brought me to a neutral safe house.
I know for a fact he isn’t sleeping out there, either. It’s like he’s mimicking my movements. When I’m at one end of the room, he’s at the same end of the living room. I open a drawer in the dresser, and he opens a drawer in the TV stand directly on the other side of the wall. It’s infuriating.
I don’t know what game we have engaged in, but Iwillwin.
Finally, I shut myself in the bathroom, searching through the mostly bare cabinets for items to use as a weapon should he try to drug me again. I lift the lid of the toilet. This is where I keep a 9mm at my apartment, and it looks like Liam did, too… until recently. I catch sight of a shaving razor hidden mostly behind the trash can, like Liam tossed it and missed. I pocket it, then return to the bed, staring out my welded window.
