Emil wiggled his eyebrows at me as he typed in a number and held it to his ear, waiting. “Mathias?” he said when someone answered the call.
I hated only being able to hear one side of the conversation, but I had to be patient. Emil wasn’t easily amused. He was a violent psychopath, and I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of his next bullet.
“Yes, I have her,” he was saying into the phone when I tuned back in. “She’s a fine piece of meat. If you don’t pick her up, I’ll have to kill her after I’ve had some fun. Or, wait”—he winked at me—”I could get a fine price for a white girl like her down in the Bahamas.” I heard frantic talking on the other end and then laughter from the asshole in front of me. “Trust me, you can have her. She’s mouthy. All I want is the information you have about the rest of my goods.”
He wasn’t going to sell me or let me go. He was going to kill me because I knew who he was. Milas must have suspected that his brother was going off the deep end if he’d lied on the boat that day. If he hadn’t, he would have told Emil the truth.
I was listening as Emil filled Mathias in on the information he wanted, and I understood how much Mathias was seriously regretting his life choices right now. Emil held the phone out to me but refused to let me take it.
“Honey?” Mattie asked when I cried his name.
“It’s me. I’m fine,” I promised, hearing his sharp intake of breath. “I’m fine, Mattie, but I won’t stay that way if you don’t remember what happened on that boat.”
“I’ll remember. Just hang on. I’ll figure out a way, I promise. I love you,” he whispered, his voice desperate. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone behind your back. I promise I’m going to find you.”
“I love you too. Always have, always will,” I promised, my voice unsteady as I built up the courage to defy the man and his gun in front of me. “You didn’t go behind my back. We just got our wires crossed. I’m a survivor, you’ve learned that over the years we’ve been together. I hope the Lady of the Lake gives us both some luck tonight, and you remember what the devil Milas told you on the yacht.”
“Me, too, honeybee,” he said, pausing for a second. “I’ll find you. Wait for me.”
Emil pulled the phone back to his ear. “Now that you know she’s alive, I’ll call back in one hour. Have the information for me, and we’ll make the trade.”
He hung up the phone and sat in the chair opposite me.
“Now what?” I asked, swallowing nervously.
“Now, we wait.”
♥
I sat staring at the guy in front of me. I didn’t know how much time had passed since he’d hung up with Mathias, but every minute felt like an hour. We had to be close. He was starting to check the phone more frequently and tapping his foot on the floor with impatience. I could see in his eyes he wasn’t going to let me live, even if Mathias came up with the answers he wanted. He wasn’t going to let Mathias live either. Even though he hadn’t identified himself on the phone, he hadn’t needed to. I was positive Mathias had recognized his voice.
I wiggled in my chair and moaned a little. “I have to go to the bathroom.” I added a slight whine to my voice.
“You can wait.”
“I really can’t, unless you don’t care that I make a puddle on the floor. I won’t try to run. I couldn’t anyway. I can’t swim.”
I could, but if I let him think I couldn’t, he’d have false confidence about letting me loose. Not only would he let me go to the bathroom, but he wouldn’t think twice about throwing me overboard, hopefully without putting a bullet in me first.
He stood and untied my feet slowly with one hand around my neck so I didn’t try to strike out and kick him. I had no intention of doing that. I had other intentions. Once I was untied, he stood, his hand still around my neck. A thud from behind him made him turn his head, and I took my chance. I grabbed the gun from his waistband, intending to jump up, but he was too quick.
“I don’t think so, bitch!” He yelled and grabbed the gun. We fought over it, both of us tugging on different parts of it until it went off. He flew back a couple of feet, grasping his chest where red had started to bloom over his shirt.
The gun shook in my hand, and then the room filled with men in black vests. “Drop the gun!” one of them yelled.
I wanted to drop the gun. It was shaking in my hand where I sat in the chair.
“She can’t.” The voice made the pounding in my heart slow again. “She can’t. She’s having a seizure. Let me help her.”
His lips rested by my ear, and he spoke calmly to me. “I got you, baby, just relax. I’m going to take the gun before your hand starts tweaking and it goes off accidentally.”
He removed it from my hand and passed it off to someone, but it was too late. It had already gone off accidentally, and it was my fault.
He pulled me into his arms and rocked me as he knelt in front of me. “I got you. I got you,” he whispered.
EMTs were working on Emil while Mattie checked me over, wiping the tears that fell from my eyes. I was trapped inside myself again when all I wanted to do was scream his name. He stroked my hair and pulled his hand back to see the blood. Then he was laying me down on the floor and yelling for an EMT.
I gasped and sucked in the fetid air on a deep inhale. “Mattie,” I moaned, my hand tweaking at my side and my head pounding.
