“Yeah. Bring that up to Abel.”
“Dude! That thing cost me almost ten grand!” His voice has raised a pitch in his disbelief, but I just shrug.
“Abel needs a black suitcase, and I don’t want to risk a trip to the store. Bring it to him.”
Roman sighs and starts up the stairs, heading toward Eve’s room where I saw his luggage last. I leave him to his task and pull out my phone.
I scroll through my contacts until I find George, my pilot. He answers on the first ring, sounding like he’s having a fun time if the girlish screams coming through the speakers are any inclination.
“George, are you enjoying Denver?”
He landed this morning, wanting to spend a day on this side of the country before heading back to New York.
“Oy, Atlas, my boy!” I have to stifle a snicker at his greeting.
“I’m afraid I have to cut your party short; we need to leave for New York tonight.”
I hear him relay the message to whatever woman,or women,he has with him. Even at fifty, George stays popular with the ladies. I think it’s the Scottish accent.
A chorus of groans follow his words, proving there’s definitely more than one woman with him at the moment, and I hear him try to settle them. “I know, I know. Not to worry, though, loves. I’ll be back in Denver before you know it.”
This time, I can’t help the laugh that burst through my lips. “Planning a return trip so soon?”
“Atlas, these ladies are about as – “
His words are drowned out by the back door slamming open, Wylder holds a small canvas in his hand as Kortez follows behind with murder in his eyes.
“He’s got her, Atlas. That motherfucker has Evangeline.”
Chapter 40
Eve
My head is pounding, my muscles are aching – everythinghurts.
But why? I was in the shed, working on yet another portrait to try and stop the screaming in my head and then...one of the guys came in? I couldn’t see who it was, but their arms went around my shoulders, dragging my back into their chest.
When I went to turn around....Wade.
My body screams as I push it off the ground, rough tile scratching against my palms as I pull myself into a sitting position. It’s too dark to see my surroundings, but I know I’m not alone. The hair stands up on the back of my neck, my body feeling like prey for the first time in years. Blood roars through my ears, begging me to find safety when I have no clue where safety could be.
It was Wade in my shed holding me like he was one of my lovers. He took me right under their noses. Perhaps I’ve been underestimating him all along.
“Well, it's about time you woke up.” His words are accompanied by the sound of something being dragged across the floor – wood, by the sound of it. “Lights.”
As soon as he says the word, the darkness is replaced with fluorescents, the whiteness nearly blinding after already being used to the dark. I use a moment to take in my surroundings. The house itself looks lavish in all the wrong ways with an overabundance of gold accents and fluffy rugs, like you let a child go into a store and told them to pick out what they think a rich person would like. There’s a large bed pushed up against one wall but even it looks like he got inspiration from a children’s movie, the atrocity being wrapped in silks and thick blankets until it looks like a fort my son likes to make instead of a four-poster bed.
He’s made himself a mock castle, a weak king pretending to be strong while hoping his rivals don’t call his bluff. It’s pathetic.
The house isn’t the worst of my problems, though. That honor belongs to the giant metal cage I’m currently housed in. The only thing locked in with me is the small cot I woke up on, which looks like it’s seen better days.
All this mock grandeur in a bedroom and the man can’t even swing a new cot.
By the time my eyes find their way back to Wade, he’s sitting on a wooden stool and wiping at a small scuff mark on his gleaming leather loafers.
He smiles when he looks up to find me watching him. “I never thought you’d wake up. You can’t expect to sleep your life away, Evangeline.” He makes a small motion with his hand as the smirk grows across his lips. “Life just...passes you by.” He shrugs. “Althoughit seems you’ve recently changed life directions so perhaps you’re perfectly fine with being a housewife now.” A loud sigh escapes his lips as he digs around in his pocket; his hand emerging wrapped around a pack of cigarettes with a lighter slid between the plastic wrapping. “I couldn’t ever imagine my ruthless little Evangeline being so...docile.”
Silence stretches between us as he puffs on a cigarette, knocking the ashes between the bars of my cage. He watches me as I watch him, his brown eyes cataloging every breath I take while I do the same.
