My heart’s about to leap out of my chest.
“We understand,” I tell Vivian.
“And another thing,” she adds with a worried frown. “You need to tell Kaleb about this. He’ll never forgive you if he’s not there when you find her.”
“You’re right,” I agree. “You’re absolutely right. It’s time we put an end to this senseless fighting, anyway. Thank you, Viv.”
She takes another look at the room in the back, where Vincent is standing over Jeremy’s form.
“Relax, he’s not going to kill him,” Max says.
“I will, if we don’t get to Raina in time,” I reply. Then Luke’s voice comes on the line. “Hey, I need you to ping a number’s location for me.”
29
RAINA
I’m in an empty house on the outskirts of Portland. I doubt anyone has even set foot in this place over the past couple of years, judging by the thick layer of dust and grime that has settled pretty much everywhere.
“What are we doing here, Deanna?” I ask my captor as she walks into the room. She keeps checking her phone, but based on her jittery irritation, I don’t think she’s getting the answer she’s been waiting for.
In the corner, a camera tripod sits quietly. She used it to film my ransom video, and I’ve been trying to understand the extent of this entire project ever since.
“Shut up,” Deanna mutters.
“There isn’t much else I can do here, except sit and talk to you,” I say and nod at the rope tightened around my wrists. “I mean, you could always let me go. I won’t say a word.”
“We both know that’s a lie.” She settles on the dusty windowsill. “I need you to shut up, Raina.”
I shake my head slowly. “You’re supposed to keep me alive, right?”
“For now.”
“What’s the plan, then? You get Alex, Max, and Vincent to pay my ransom? Is it some kind of retribution for having lost your job? Something you think you’re owed?”
Deanna scoffs and gives me a sour look. “I didn’t lose it. You got me fired, you fat, obnoxious bitch.”
“Fine, if that’s how you want to remember it. Fine. I got you fired,” I shoot back with a flat smile. “Now what?”
“Now we wait for a Bitcoin transfer. Once that’s in, and depending on how good you are at groveling, I might let you go. Or I might keep you around for another week while I ask for more funds. I deserve a generous payout.”
“You do? What for?”
The least I can do is keep her talking. There’s no telling where Deanna’s self-control actually ends. She proved that much the minute she kidnapped me at gunpoint. The woman is unhinged, and I am pregnant. I owe it to myself and to my baby to survive this nightmare.
“What for?” Deanna replies, almost laughing. It’s as if I asked her the dumbest question she’s ever heard. “For all the work I put in. For the high-end clients I attracted. For the glowing reviews. Haus of Sin was built on my back!”
I offer a slight, almost sympathetic nod. “Forgive me, but weren’t there always ten of you? Five guys and five gals.”
“I was always the favorite, the most popular,” she replies. “I raked in most of the revenue. And they threw me away like I was nothing because of you.”
“Deanna, this was never about me. Why don’t you at least admit that? I never did you any harm. I never told the guys to fire you. I only kept my head down and did my job. You’re the one who kept at me with your insults. You turned Haus of Sin into a schoolyard.”
“You deserved every single insult,” Deanna snaps, “for having the audacity to claim them, all three of them.” She shakes her head in disbelief. “My God, do you really think you’re better than me?”
“I never thought that.”
“You think if you’re a so-called good girl, go to college, get your degree, that makes you better than me? I came up on the streets!” she almost screams. “I have had to screw my way out of the gutter. I built up my S&M persona. It took literal blood, sweat, and tears. All for you to come in and destroy everything.”
