“Time’s up, Eva,” he says darkly. “Or should I sayKennedy?”
Oh, fuck. Suddenly, I realize I’m not here to be gang-raped. And it’s hard to be relieved when I’m facing a beating and probable murder instead. I’ll go down with honor, though, never confessing the truth to them. The first thing I was taught to do in case of captivity is plant doubt in my captor’s head.
“You’ve made a mistake,” I say to Hassan. “I’m not—”
One of Grayson’s security guys comes in and closes the heavy vault door behind him.
“Take her purse, jewelry, and shoes,” Grayson says to him. “Go through everything.”
They’ll find the bug in the lipstick. How will I talk my way out of that?
“You lying whore,” Hassan says, bending down until we’re face-to-face. “Did you think you could outsmart me?”
“It was you who approached me, Hassan. Not the other way around.”
“You knew exactly what you were doing. Or should I say, your employer did. Sending in a hot piece of ass to entrap me.” He runs a hand over his short, dark beard and sighs heavily. “Who sent you here?”
“No one.”
He backhands my face so hard I fall back to the floor from my sitting position. I taste blood.
“I won’t stop until you tell me,” he says in a level tone. “Actually, playing rough with a senator’s daughter sounds rather intriguing. There are so many things I could do with you.”
I sit back up, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth to clear away the blood.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“One of Grayson’s clients recognized you. Asked him what the fuck Stan Preston’s daughter was doing in the club. It’s a good question, don’t you think?”
“And your sister’s married to Jude Titan,” Grayson says, his lips curling into an evil smile as I look at him. “We could fetch a nice price for you, if we were so inclined.” He meets Hassan’s eyes across the room. “We’re not inclined, though, are we, Alex?”
“Traitors deserve slow, painful deaths.”
I shrug and tilt my chin up. “Sounds better than sex with you, asshole.”
These two won’t see me cry. No matter what, I’ll go down in a way I’m proud of. I think of Rae and how badass she’d be right now. My parents, who I hope will know I died fighting the worst of humanity. Uncle Jeff, who had a moment like this himself.
And Nix. I think of Nix, who doesn’t realize I’m never getting out of this room alive.
Or does he? Bile rises up my throat as I wonder if he was the one who gave me up to Grayson. Would he really do that?
Hassan shoves me to the floor and kicks me in the face, the blow leaving me dizzy and disoriented. I crawl away from him, my self-preservation instinct kicking in.
Is there a way I can fight both of them off? I’m willing to die trying.
I drag myself up to my feet and take a deep breath, but when I look at Grayson, he’s pointing a handgun at me.
“Don’t have the balls to fight a girl?” I ask with a satisfied smirk.
His expression twists into a scowl as he sets the gun down, gets up, and walks over to me. He unbuttons his shirt sleeves, and I realize shit’s about to get real.
The vault door opens, and Grayson’s guard walks back in. My stomach sinks when I see he’s holding my lipstick.
“We found a bug in this, sir,” he says.
“Can you trace it?”
“I’ve got Wolf working on it now.”
