But my indecision was only brief because I thought about all the times he’d been with her alone. I could only imagine how he treated her, the hell he put her through. I had to stand firm in my decision because the man in front of me wasn’t who I thought he was. He was everything she tried to warn me about.
“This is me choosing.”
I squeezed the trigger.
Chapter Eighteen
Seraphina
“The drugs should wear off in a minute. I’ll call you back.”
I groaned as my eyes peeled open at the voice I didn’t recognize. The first thing I felt was the cold. Cold that settled deep in my bones. I blinked, my eyes trying to adjust.
The ceiling above me was cracked yellow plaster, stained brown from water. A single bulb hung from a frayed cord, swaying, casting shadows around the space. My wrists ached. Then I realized rope was wrapped around my wrists, and when I shifted, I gasped noticing not only were my wrist tied but also my ankles. I tried to sit up, and the old cot I was lying on shifted beneath me. The sheets smelled of damp earth and rotted cloth, and I felt sick to my stomach.
I leaned over the side and vomited as the harsh smell filled the room. Once I finished, I let out a deep breath. My head pounded, my vision blurred, and my throat felt like it had been crushed.
The small windowless room’s wallpaper was peeling off the walls, and in a rusted chair in the corner sat a man I didn’t know with a duffel bag at his feet. He was seated, legs spread, elbows on knees watching me.
It wasn’t Sergio. But thank God, it wasn’t Kai or Dorian either.
“You’re awake.”
His voice was low and sounded like he was bored.
I couldn’t respond because my mouth was so dry it felt like it was filled with cotton.
“Don’t bother screaming,” he added. “No one can hear you.”
“Who are you?” I asked, my voice hoarse.
He smiled. Just barely. “Someone who’s been looking for you, Mrs. Drakos.”
He stood, slowly like he had all the time in the world. He walked to the edge of the cot and looked down at me with no emotion, his eyes vacant like he was a shell of a person.
He stood well over six foot with broad shoulders and thick forearms. His black t-shirt and black cargo pants molded to his muscular frame. His skin was olive-toned and scarred in places. A jagged line across his left bicep, a series of burn marks near one of his wrists and the faded ghost of stitches in a vertical line along the other wrist.
His dark hair was wavy and touched the tops of his shoulders. His face was nothing but angles. High cheekbones, a firm jaw dusted with dark stubble, and a nose that had been broken at least once. But his eyes were the most eye-catching thing. Storm-gray, rimmed in long dark lashes. And they didn’t flicker or scan, they locked onto me and stayed that way, like he was memorizing everything about me.
Fuck, he was scary.
“Your husband paid me a great deal of money to track you down. Who would’ve thought that someone would just give up your location.”
“Who?”
He didn’t sit down again, just stood over me with his arms crossed over his large frame like he was debating on telling me. At this point it didn’t make a difference. While I was sure Sergio would look for me, there’s no telling what kind of story Kai would come up with about what happened.
“Puglisi was careful,” he said. “No cards. No trail. No flight plan. It would have taken months if his friend hadn’t slipped up.And what’s crazy, I think he did it on purpose. It’s funny what jealousy will make people do.”
My throat tightened. “Kai,” I mumbled to myself. “Kai did this?”
The man tilted his head, just a little. “It would seem so. And he doesn’t like you, Mrs. Drakos.”
My breath caught as flashes came back to me. The hatred in Kai’s eyes as he choked me because he loved Sergio and he believed I was in the way of him having a relationship with him. I didn’t know he had feelings for his best friend and I sure as hell didn’t believe Sergio knew either. Then there was a gunshot.
“Did you kill him?”
“No, he’s still breathing. At least he was when I left. He’s lucky the doctor’s aim was shit, and she had already made a call to who I assume was Puglisi when I showed up.”
