“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?”
He mock-bowed again. Apparently, that was one of his favorite things to do. “Thank you, Ms. Doctor Princess. Your opinion will remain a light in the darkness for us all. Now. Are you hungry?”
I gritted my teeth and tried not to imagine punching him in that sarcastic mouth in a face too handsome for a hired killer. “No. I’m not hungry.”
Eating was the absolute last thing on my mind. I probably couldn’t keep anything down anyway. I didn’t think I’d ever be hungry again.
He nodded curtly and continued to unload the duffel bag. I froze when I saw him take out duct tape and zip-ties.
He noticed my sudden alarm. “I can’t have you running off and getting into trouble. I need to concentrate.”
“I’ll be good,” I said quickly.
“I want to trust you. But I don’t.”
“Please. I don’t want to be tied up.”
He drew in a deep breath. I stared him in the eye, this time not bothering to hide how exhausted and afraid I felt. For a second, I was certain I saw a flash of sympathy in him.
Then he held up the duct tape and grinned. “Don’t worry, Princess. I’ll cut you free when I’m done.”
“You bastard!”
“You’re right,” he replied with a disgustingly charming smile.
CHAPTER THREE
LEON
Isat in the car in the dark motel parking lot as I made my calls, with the engine running and the heater on.
The motel room had only one door and one window. The door was centered in my rearview mirror. Sofia couldn’t leave without me seeing her, even if she turned out to be some kind of Houdini who could escape from being zip-tied to a chair with her mouth covered by duct tape. I’d also disconnected the motel phone and took it with me. Couldn’t be too careful. At least we didn’t have any neighbors in the closest motel rooms. If she knocked over the chair or made a ruckus, no one was going to hear.
I felt bad binding her up. When I touched her, I could feel her body trembling. Some psychos got off on fear, on having people terrified of them. That wasn’t me. I simply didn’t want people to fuck with my family or with me.
At the same time, I couldn’t afford to be soft on her. I’d already taken a huge, possibly life-ending gamble by not shooting the pretty princess back in her penthouse. I couldn’t babysit Sofia and concentrate on the calls I needed to make. Talking in front of her would put her in danger or me in danger.
Fuck. Why did I give a damn what else she knew? Hell, I’d already told her my name and hadn’t killed her yet. Here I was, protecting her again, and she didn’t even know it.
It was pretty damn funny. Also, extremely stupid. I’d survived this long by not being stupid. An hour with her and I transformed into an imbecile. Telling her my real name had been a new level of dumb for me. But it made me so damn angry that her “daddy,” the bastard paying for her posh princess life, had ordered my brother killed, and she didn’t even know my family’s name. Why should she be insulated from the ugly side of this life that was paying for all the shit she had? Why did I have to see my mother weeping whenever she lit a candle for Cal while Princess got to go to NYU and become a goddamn doctor?
I tapped my fingers on the Audi’s steering wheel, glaring at the ugly motel in my rearview mirror and the nicked-up door but not really seeing either. I wrestled with my anger, kicking its ass until it crawled back into its cave. That little dark-eyed princess I had bound to a chair in there had no idea how torn I was.
I desperately wanted to hurt her father for what he’d done to my family. Payback was a bitch.
Maybe I still would. An eye for an eye.
But that was bullshit. And I knew it.
I didn’t have it in me to murder some woman who hadn’t done anything wrong other than be born with a silver spoon between those pretty lips. I might kill for a living, but I wasn’t a fucking monster. She feared me. That would be enough to keep her in line until I figured out what to do with her.
Right now, I needed a plan. I also needed to find out what the fuck was going on so that any plans I made didn’t immediately go tits up.
Time to make some calls. I pulled out one of my burner cell phones. First, I called a pizza place to have some food delivered. Risky, but I’d meet the driver outside since I was sitting in my car. That way, he wouldn’t notice I had a woman tied up in my room.
People tended to remember that kind of thing.
But Iwashungry, and it was late enough that I’d be lucky to get anything delivered. Sofia had to be starving after all the adrenaline, fear, and stress. Even though she’d haughtily told me she wasn’t hungry and punctuated it with those go-to-Hell eyes, I was going to look out for her anyway. After all, she was my problem now.
