I see my old battered backpack pass hands, and Logan snorts as if it’s the funniest thing he’s ever seen. I close my eyes, humiliated. How odd to be on the brink of death and to feel embarrassed by my belongings.
But that shame merely goads me on. If I had a knife, I’d kill them all. I know what awaits me, otherwise. They didn’t take me because I shoplifted at their store. They wouldn’t have drugged me or threatened me with a gun if that had been the case.
It’s more likely these are rich perverts who’ve spotted in me a lonely girl no one cares about. And I know what happens to girls no one cares about. Girls no one would miss.
I don’t feel all that much surprise thinking the CEOs of Devil would kidnap a girl. After all, they probably think they’re untouchable. I’ve read rumors about what the most powerful people in thecountry do for fun. I guess, in this case, it’s true.
I’m ripped from my thoughts by the sound of Logan’s belly laugh. He’s just pulled out my sparkly pink dress.
“What are you, ten?”
I grit my teeth. I hope he’s the one who’ll try to stop me. I’d just love to sink the stapler right into his pretty face.
Then he dips a hand into my backpack again and pulls out the heart necklace. He chuckles as he tosses it next to the dress.
“I wonder what you see in her, Damien,” he comments. “You really chose the weirdest girl to obsess over.”
I’m too perplexed to notice Damien’s glare. Obsessed? He’s obsessed? What the hell?
Then Logan pulls out the perfume.
“Ah, here we are,” he says. He casts aside the bottle and instead examines the box, but he doesn’t find whatever he’s been looking for.
I frown, more confused than ever.
“I guess it must be on her,” he says, looking up uncertainly at Damien. “We should strip her.”
Panic seizes me, and I glue my eyes to the stapler. It’s now or never.
“Absolutely not,” growls Damien, and I relax for a beat. Then he adds, “I’ll take care of it.”
He takes a step toward me. I take a deep breath, count to three, and lunge toward the desk. I was right, it does take him by surprise. It probably takes them all by surprise, but his expression is the only one I notice before my hands wrap themselves around the stapler.
I whirl around, facing the door, but he’s already blocking me. My body humming with adrenaline, I drive the stapler into his arm without a second’s hesitation. I press it down on him, and I hearhim inhale sharply.
“What the…”
But I don’t wait. I run toward the door and grab the handle.
I only have time to note how cold it is before I feel two warm arms encircle me, hard as steel. Damien crushes me to him, lifting me up slightly as he brings me back to the center of the room. Well, there goes my big escape plan. I close my eyes, expecting he’ll kill me now.
Hopefully, it’ll be quick. He’ll probably decide I’m not worth the effort. He can obsess just as well over some other girl. That’s the word they used, wasn’t it?
But nothing happens. Well, nothing except a chuckle. I open one eye, and see that Logan is still sitting on the couch, laughing. Igor is standing where he was before, and he’s also smiling like he’s just seen the funniest thing in the world. I clench my fists furiously. They’re laughing at me. How dare they?
I turn my eyes away, and notice Damien’s forearm is bleeding, but he doesn’t make any move to treat himself. He doesn’t even seem fazed by it. One of his arms is still wrapped around me in an iron hold, the other one leaning on the desk.
“She’s a feisty one, isn’t she?” says Logan, still laughing.
I grit my teeth, then cringe back when Damien removes his arm from the desk and brings his hand toward me. He slides it under my shirt, over my stomach.
It’s going to start now. Any minute, it’s going to start. I guess if he’s not killing me, it means he’s after whatever those rich perverts do to lonely girls for fun.
I try to inch away from his hand, but I’m trapped by the wall of stone behind me that’s Damien’s torso. His hand doesn’t move up, though. It merely stays there, on my bare stomach. As if I’m justsome object he owns.
“She’s full of surprises,” he agrees.
“But she has the chip,” says Logan. “You’re going to have to search her.”
