“For the reasoning I just provided you.”
“Telling me who you work for is something I’d kill you for?” I wasn’t following.
“Telling you anything would be grounds for retribution of some kind. You hold all the power here, and I’m not going to give you anything to use against me to worsen that imbalance.”
I shrugged, deciding it was time to just call Simon and have him get me her background already.
I could wait her out, but we’d need to relocate. We were running out of food. We were overheated. Knowing who she belonged to and what she was working on could modify where I wanted to relocate her.
The next night, when I heard her calling out and asking for more water, I lingered to sit with her just to be near her. Maybe my presence could unnerve her. It didn’t. All night long, we talked more. About everything and nothing in particular.
Like this, she posed more of a threat against me. Watching her get used to me was a reward. It forced me to realize that for the first time in many years, someone was looking at me with understanding, not fear. She was acclimating to my being here and in power while not giving up her hope that she’d reclaim her independence. And because of this exchange, I let her see through me in small ways, wondering if she’d get a glimpse of the man I was beneath the persona of the monster I was supposed to always be.
After I gave up and texted Simon to seek information about her, unsure if the text worked with the spotty reception here, I tried to limit my exposure to Sadie.
Every time we talked or even sat together in the heat, I grew more addicted to the fire in her eyes.
While it was freeing to connect with her like this in a twisted way, I hated how much she was getting to me. Getting under my skin.
I sat up from our agreement to disagree, a recurring theme any time we tried to get answers from each other.
“I’ll be back,” I said, standing.
I winced, my back to her.
I don’t owe her an explanation for what I’m doing.
She didn’t reply.
Needing space from the longing I was experiencing for her to really let me in, to trust me with her intel, I went out to clear my head for a while.
Yeah, like breathing in this humidity out here is any better than in there.
I stood and sighed, shoving my hands in my pockets as I scanned the lush greenery of the jungle.
And like any other occasion when I stepped out of her room, I seriously debated who had captured the captive here.
According to all I’d ever learned and been told, a kidnapper was not supposed to befriend their hostage.
I’m not supposed to lust after them either.
10
SADIE
According to my smartwatch, which was about to run out of battery, I had been captive under Emil’s command for almost two weeks now.
Due to the reception and losing my phone, probably from when I resisted Emil when he grabbed me at the airport, I couldn’t use the watch to contact anyone.
Obviously, that would’ve been my first action when my hands were freed.
I was still without any means of calling for help. Without a way to get out of this hot house. I tried the doorknob to find it locked, but that hardly shocked me. Emil knew what he was doing, and he was skilled at it.
“I’ll be back.”
Emil had paused after he’d said that before exiting the room earlier.
I’d paused—mentally—as well. That was the first time he’d told me any kind of “plan” or part of an agenda. As far as planningwent, he wasn’t really sharing much. It was implied that he’d be back because he was intent on keeping me here until I broke and spilled some secrets he thought I had.
