“I understand. And I’ve told you, as soon as youtell mewhat I want to know, I’ll have the jet take you home,” I say.
Evie glares at me from across the table. Iwonder if she’s even the slightest bit afraid of me. Men wouldn’t dare to look at me the way she’s looking at me right now, let alone speak to me how she does. I don’t want her to be afraid of me. I don’t think. I want her to talk to me.
The fact that there are people out there who have hurt her is driving me fucking insane. I just spent hours in the basement with some fucking pageant judge Paz picked up. The guy claimed he didn’t know Evie. He was full of shit because his face paled the moment I showed him her photo. The asshole took whatever secrets he had to hell with him, though. Because he didn’t talk and I didn’t stop.
I’d been waiting to get a call that Evie was leaving. She didn’t fucking move. She sat her ass on the fucking floor in the middle of my room.
“Why didn’t you leave?” I ask her what I’ve been wondering myself.
“What?”
“When I left you in the room, why didn’t you walk out the front door?” I don’t get her. She says she doesn’t want to be here, doesn’t want me, but she’s really not putting up much of a fight.
“I didn’t want to get shot down trying to walk out of the gates.” She shrugs.
“No one here is going to fucking shoot you, Evie,” I tell her.
“You have an army of men out there with rifles. How am I supposed to know what they will and won’t do?”
“They’re not going to touch you,” I repeat.
She lifts a curious brow at me. “What were you doing?”
“Torturing a pageant judge,” I say honestly.
Her face pales. “You what?”
“He’s dead,” I tell her. “If you won’t tell me what I want to know, I will get those answers elsewhere.”
“You can’t do that, Emmanuel. Some of those people are innocent!” Evie gasps.
“You see that? You just admitted that someoneisn’tinnocent. Who is it, Evie?” I press her.
She shakes her head. Her eyes water. “You can’t kill people because of me.”
“Actually, I can. And I will.” I study her face for a moment, then change the subject. “We should watch a movie.”
“You’re insane,” Evie whispers.
“Mi alma, you have no idea the lengths I’m willing to go to.” I stand. My chair slides backwards, and I walk over to her side of the table and extend a hand. “Come on, let’s go watch a movie.”
“I want to go home, Emmanuel. I have work to do,” Evie says.
“You were planning on staying in Vegas for theentire week before you ran,” I remind her. “Give me that week.”
I have no intention of letting her go, but maybe if she thinks she’ll eventually escape me, she’ll relax, and I’ll get the information out of her.
“The week? For what?”
“So we can get to know each other.” I’m still waiting for her to stand.
“A week isn’t long enough to get to know another person,” Evie argues.
“Want to make it longer? I don’t mind.” I smirk. “Besides, a week is just the beginning, not the end.”
“I’m not sleeping with you,” she says.
“You barely sleep at all, so I’d assume that.”
