Throat tight with emotion, I burst into tears at the thought of being tied up again. “Why are you doing this to me? I’ve never done anything to you. I need to go home. My uncle will be looking for me.” Even though Lionel wasn’t my uncle, it had always been easier to describe him that way. He’s so much more though.
He shakes his head. “I left a note in your apartment telling him you were too scared to stick around and would text him in a few days.”
“He won’t believe you,” I tell him, conviction ringing in my voice. Lionel would never believe it.
He lifts a broad shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. He won’t find you.” His voice is pleasantly mild, but his eyes burn with a fierceness I’ve only seen once—when he spoke about his mother.
“Why?” I whisper. “Just tell me why you’re doing this to me. I deserve to know.”
“Because your kind killed my mother,” he snarls, fury riding hard on his face.
Is he crazy? “My kind?” What the hell is he talking about?
He cocks back his fist, and I flinch as it comes toward me, but instead of hitting me, it slams into the dirt beside my head. “Don’t lie to me. What is your power? We’ve been watching you, but I haven’t been able to figure it out. Tell me.”
My brow wrinkles. Power? I shake my head vigorously. Has he lost his mind? “Listen. I don’t have any power. I promise. If I did, I’d have used it to escape. Instead, I had to break a glass and saw my way out of those damn ropes. Think about it.” That’s it. Find the logic. Convince him.
A mirthless laugh fills the air. “You do. Maybe you don’t know it yet, but you do. I knew it the first moment I saw that mark on your shoulder. Then I looked up your parents in my dad’s files. Your father had the power to control air,” he informs me, his voice ringing with smug superiority and a hell of a lot of anger. “We know this genetic anomaly is hereditary, passed through the blood. We used to think only Rh-negative people had powers, but we’re discovering they have the ability to pass it on to their children.”
My mind reels with the information he just dumped on me, but one thought keeps reverberating… he’s truly crazy. Lost his mind. I hear the sound of footsteps coming closer. Does he believe this crap he’s spouting, or is he just following orders?
I shake my head. “You’re wrong.” Tears trickle down my face. “If I had power, I would have used it hours ago to get free. Are you telling me I could have snapped my fingers and poof! The ropes would have magically disappeared?” The laugh that comes out is tinged with hysteria, but I don’t care.
His brows crash together. “It’s not magic. You have psychic powers.”
I snort. “Oooh, psychic. Why didn’t you say so? Let me close my eyes and see if I can use my mind to make you disappear.” I shut my eyes and wish with all my heart that I’ll open them and find out this is all a nightmare. I open them. “Damn. You’re still here.”
He gets off me, and a familiar-looking beefy arm jerks me to my feet.
I smirk at the white bandage on his face. “How’s the nose, Tommy? Looks broken to me.”
In retaliation, he slaps the back of my head.
Instant pain. Tears swim in my eyes, but I blink them away.Fuck him.
They tie the rope around my hands and feet and carry me to the truck. They’re holding me so tightly, I can’t even wiggle.
“Where are you taking me?” I force out, terror clogging my throat.Oh God!
“For a swim,” Trent replies sarcastically. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a blindfold and ties it across my eyes. Blackness descends.
“How did your mother die?” The words tumble out of my mouth. I need to know why this is happening. “Please. I thought she committed suicide.”
They lift me, then the cool uneven metal beneath my tied hands tells me I’m in the back of the truck. Someone jumps in beside me. An arm wraps around my shoulders and hauls me backward. The scent of cedar and citrus tells me it’s Trent.
He clears his throat. “She stopped to help a woman sitting on the side of the road who was crying and rocking a baby in her arms. My mother thought there was something wrong with the baby, so she made her driver stop. The bodyguard got out and approached the woman. She incinerated him.”
Appalled, I inhale sharply. “What do you mean, she incinerated him? She set him on fire?”
His low tone fills with hatred. “The woman was a pyrokinetic. My mother and her driver tried to get away, but the vehicle burst into flames with them in it. Then, she turned her powers on herself and the baby. Her inability to control her power cost them their lives.”
I shake my head vigorously, unable to believe what he just told me but also because I want him to believe me. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, but I told you. I don’t have any powers. I swear. On my life.” I start crying. “Please let me go. Please.”
Cruel fingers reach out and grip my chin, turning my head in his direction. “When my father told me what happened, I made a promise to myself and my mother. I would do everything in my power to rid the world of each and every one of you. Nobody should suffer like she did or live without their mother like me.”
I reach out and grab his shirt in my fist, desperate to get his attention. “I don’t care what your reports say. I’ve never had powers. Don’t you think I would have used it to save my mother and father? Instead, they were trapped in the car, and I had to watch them burn, hear their screams, while I lay useless in a pool of water.” My voice is raw, and I feel him freeze. “I would have given anything to save them. To have them here with me today.” I hiccup as the terror of the memory clogs my throat.
His hand grabs mine, and for a long minute, he holds it. “I’m glad you know how I feel.”
