It grew bigger and wider in appearance.
Then there were footsteps.
The outline of a man appeared before me, and as he came closer and held the candle right in front of his face, my heart jumped into my throat.
Victor.
He got me. He caught me.
God. This was it.
As I remembered everything and Millicent’s betrayal, bile rose into my throat. It rose into my throat, and I couldn’t stop myself from vomiting.
“Shit, couldn’t you have warned me you were going to do that?” Victor winced. “This suit is expensive.”
When I threw up again, I realized it couldn’t have been from the realization of what had happened. I was sick.
I was actually sick…
Whatever Millicent had given me had made me sick.
Did she poison me?
“Vomit is so gross.” Victor frowned and stepped back, so he wasn’t near me. At least that was one good thing. Anytime spent where he wasn’t touching me was a good thing. “God, and nasty. Burt, send someone in to clean that up, will ya,” he called over his shoulder.
“What did you give me? What did you people give me?” If it was poison, I could die. Just like that. Mission accomplished.
“It’s an anesthetic, similar to what’s used in hospitals prior to surgery. Major surgery. I should give you a list of the side effects. The only real thing you can do though, I guess, is the throw it all up.”
“Where’s Gigi?”
“Lights.” He held up the candle like some kind of freak, and bright white light snapped on from above, filling the room.
Instantly, my gaze landed on Gigi. She was directly opposite me but about six feet away. Duct tape was covering her mouth, and she was bound just like me, but she was alive. Alive but what appeared to be sleeping or knocked out.
I didn’t know. What I knew was, I could see the slight rise and fall of her chest.
There were bruises all over her face.
Tears ran down my cheeks. Tears of sadness because I couldn’t believe that my poor friend was caught up in this mess, but also tears of relief. I thought the next time I’d see her would be…
Well, I thought she was dead.
“Don’t look so relieved. I have much in store for you, Amelia Rossi,” Victor taunted.
I returned my gaze to him, looking over the madman that stood over me.
“Why? Why are you doing this?” I didn’t care what he was getting paid. This was pure evil. He was pure evil.
“I get a kick out of it. Anything like this is me. Come on, how many times do you think I get to have this kind of fun, Amelia? It’s a hoot and a half. Plus, what can I say? I love my job. Oh, also, maybe there is this.” He snapped open his shirt to reveal his chest. I winced at the sight of the angry-looking burn scars that covered it. “Those scars make it personal for me. Women cringe at the sight of it. The way you’re cringing now. Doesn’t help much in the bedroom.”
I couldn’t imagine what woman in their right mind would be with him, but then maybe they didn’t have a choice. Again, bile rose in my throat when I thought of what he’d done to Henry’s wife. And all he’d done to Henry and his kids, the whole family. Plus, there were more people. I didn’t know Henry and his family or the other people this man had hurt, but that didn’t matter. None of that mattered. This was the man who’d done so much evil. So many people had lost their lives and had their lives ruined because of him.
He cleared his throat and continued talking. “Your boyfriend did this to me. Took me a long while to heal, but like Rasputin, the mad Russian monk, I came back from the dead. I trust he must have told you what happened between us. That little explosion could have killed me if I’d been deeper inside the building. However, it was good for people to think I was dead. It was more dramatic this way, plus it gave me time to get to a hundred percent. Probably better. I lost a lot of clients though while I was down. I blame Lucian for that.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Newsflash, people kind of know that, as do I, my love.” His eyes went wide with excitement.
