My eyes form into slits, my pupils burning with fire. “You will make sure I regret it?” A bitter laugh escapes me. “Next time, I’ll make sure not to just hit you across your head. Next time, I’ll kill you so you can’t come after me.”
Quickly, he ducks through the cramped space, getting down to my level, his hands to my shoulders, his gaze intense as he scrutinizes every detail of my face. The room falls so silent I hear the crack of his neck.
I swallow the lump formed in my throat and glare daggers at him, trying not to show how scared I am by his intensity.
He reaches out his fingers, gripping my chin tightly, his touch warm as he tips my face up to meet his inquisitive stare. His eyes are so dark they’re almost black, just like Romeo’s. It’s like staring right at him, they are that identical. My heart aches. How could I have thought Romeo would abduct me? I should have known it wasn’t him. Right now, he, Onyx, and Reef will be losing their minds trying to find me.
His finger brushes over my lips softly, thoughtfully. “You won’t kill me. I’m the only thing keeping you alive.”
I flinch away from him, not sure what he means by him being the one keeping me alive, but not wanting his touch on me either.
Annoyed at my rejection, he stalks away, looking almost disgusted with himself for touching me. “You will see soon enough, I’m not the man you think I am,” he mutters almost to himself.
Trying to avoid his gaze, I stare at the dusty floor under me, my shaky hands working on my bindings, trying to loosen them. Even with the woolen blanket cradling me, I’m chilled to the bone from the ice-cold water. My body starts to ache with a bitter chill I know will be hard to shake even when I’m warm again. But I want out, and I know I can’t stop fighting until I’m free. Girls who stop end up dead, and I won’t be one of those.
The boat slows, the engine more of a murmur. My panicked eyes whip to Orlando, and I don’t miss the gleam in his eyes as he glances out the window.
“Where are we?” I bite out.
“Home.” He smiles back at me, and it’s warm and charming like his brother would, a calmness coming over him that makes no sense to me.
Peering out the window behind where he stands, I see nothing but a heavy, oppressive darkness of the night. Where the fuck is home?
Chapter 2
Orlandoclosesthegapbetween us and drops down to my feet, considering me for a second before he unties the rope holding my legs in place. Then he binds them to each other tightly. My wrists are next.
Seeing what he’s doing, I fight him, pulling away, but he holds on tight, making it a difficult struggle. As he fights against me, the chair I’m sitting on crashes to the ground. The air knocked from my lungs, leaving me gasping for breath. A searing pain shoots through my frozen muscles, and I cry out, a pained sound choked with agony and fear.
“Stop fighting me.” He pins me beneath his large frame, his weight pressing down, and binds my wrists together tightly with his strong hands.
“Never,” I seethe. Fuck him for thinking I will go easily.
He keeps wrestling with me, and when he’s satisfied I’m securely contained, he grunts with effort as he scoops me up and throws me over his shoulder like I’m a sack of potatoes.
Impeccably dressed in dark suits, two men stand at the side of the boat with guns visible in their holsters. They give him a tightnod of acknowledgment, and one of them says a subtle “Boss” as Orlando strides past him with me over his shoulder like this is normal. They don’t even blink twice at me. I’m just the thing he’s brought home. That thought is even more scary because how many girls just like me has he done this to.
“Do you know who I am? When my brothers find out you have helped him, you’re as good as dead,” I hiss at the guards.
I hear one of them chuckle, and I try to reach for him as I’m carried past.
“Fiery.” He smirks at me, knowing there is nothing I can do when I’m restrained. But he better watch it because I’ll get out of these bindings, and then it’s on. Every damn fucker who wronged me will pay.
“Why must you try and fight everyone,” Orlando huffs as we pass them, his stride confident as he carries me across the swaying gangway and onto the sturdy jetty. The salt air whips against my wet body as waves lap at the wood beneath his feet, the bitter cold stinging my frozen skin and making me shiver uncontrollably.
He doesn’t stop when we touch foot on land, leading us up a steep, rocky path of stone stairs, to a structure that resembles a modern lighthouse of sorts, with what looks like a home attached. It’s like it’s no effort at all for him to carry me.
From my position over his shoulder, I try my best to take in every damn detail of the place that we are fast approaching. It’s perched on the side of a cliff, all glass windows and steel. Luxurious-looking and stylish. This place isn’t like anything I have ever seen before and the last thing I expected. Hishome. “I’m not going inside that place with you.”
“If you don’t, you will freeze to death out here,” he mutters back. When he gets to the stoop, he fiddles with a security system, pressing a thumb to the pad, and I know he wasn’t ever going to give me the choice anyway. The front door clicks open,and he steps inside. The air temperature immediately whooshes over me with warmth that cocoons me and takes away the bitter chill. A small amount of relief fills me knowing he’s right. I’m already frozen to the core; I wouldn’t have survived much longer out there.
With a deafening slam that echoes in my ears, the front door closes behind him, trapping us inside together. I think he will put me down, but he keeps moving, taking me further into the place. He walks up a set of stairs and through a massive living room, then up another set of stairs. He uses his thumb pressed into a keypad again to let us into a room. He dumps me in the center of a king-sized bed before moving back over to the door to lock us both inside, like he thinks I’m going to be able to make a run for it with these bindings on.
For a moment he just stares at me, sucking in ragged breaths, his nostrils flaring like a raging bull.
The hammering of my heart is the only thing keeping me going, its constant thump against my ribcage edging me to keep fighting. While he watches me, I keep working on the bindings, my fingertips digging into the rough fibers, trying desperately to get them off and my hands free. My wrists sting under the friction, and I feel the trickle of blood running down to my palms from where they are so scratched up. I don’t know what the fuck he has planned for me; all I know is I’m going to fight him until the very end, no matter the damage it causes.
Then as if he’s had enough of watching me struggle, he stalks back toward me, each step deliberate. I try to scramble away from him as my pulse quickens, but with my legs and arms bound together, it’s almost impossible. He pins me beneath his large frame, his arm pressing into my chest.
