All her running was for nothing. Jeremy had Lachlan and Malcolm and her. And he was going to kill all three to keep his secret. He’d make her watch him kill them before he ended her life.
Or did worse to her.
He’ll give me to Porter.
Vivid images of women and children in cages flashed through her mind. She’d seen them with her own eyes on Little Edward Key. Seen them and had been unable to save them and it killed a piece of her soul.
Stop. Stick with what is happening right now and what you know or you’re going to freeze up.
What she knew was that her fall from grace with The Repair Shop hadn’t started with Skeleton Key but well before that, when she finally gained access to Porter’s island while rescuing Jordan. She thought the photos she took of people in cages would finally condemn him. But The Repair Shop did nothing.
“Poor thing,” Jeremy went on. “You thought you were saving the world. You really did.” He stopped pacing and knelt in front of her. Jeremy gripped her chin and lifted it until she was staring into his stranger’s face with familiar eyes.
“That was always your flaw, Regina. For as brilliant as you are, you never understood how the world operates.”
Jesus. He’s crazy.
No. She knew better. She’d seen it from the beginning but was too focused on her own ambitions to recognize Jeremy Heath for the sociopathic narcissist he was.
Malcolm groaned.
Jeremy looked over at Malcolm, who was beginning to stir. “You both served us, right, traitor?”
Gina looked around while Jeremy was distracted, trying to determine where he’d taken them. The room had the musty smell of age and dampness. She thought they must still be in Lucerne. Maybe she wasn’t out as long as she’d thought. The other thing she realized was that Lachlan was not there.
Maybe Jeremy didn’t have him after all. And if that were the case, Lach was looking for her. All she needed to do was keep Jeremy talking and hope that he wasn’t about to move them again. She needed to give Lach time.
“How did you know where I was going?Ididn’t even know,” she told him.
Jeremy took his attention off Malcolm. “Because I know you better than you know yourself. I trained you. I made you who you are.”
Doubtful.
“I knew you would try and leave the country and that you’d fly. LAX, Denver, and O'Hare, those are the airports I knew you could break into because I taught you how to myself. I also knew you’d never fly anywhere with Fleur in cargo. So I set up three women who looked like you in those three airports. I told them to act loud and obnoxious because it would get your attention. And I made sure the women had dogs that looked like your mutt.”
Well, shitshe thought.I should have known. It was too perfect.
Jeremy continued. “I knew if you went to the airport you'd find one of my women and steal her ticket, I just didn't know how. But my gamble paid off when Gertie called me from Denver to collect her reward and to say she needed bail money.” Jeremy smiled and rocked on his feet. “I was impressed by that, Regina. You sent her to jail without any guilt.”
She shrugged. “Not anymore.”
Jeremy ignored her. He was on a roll. “Imagine my surprise when you didn't step off the plane in Key West.”
“That must have been disappointing.”
“Oh, it was. But not entirely. I had a different surprise there. A good one.”
He’ll kill?—
Oh no.Who does he have?
Gina kept the fear out of her face and regarded Jeremy with a perfectly blank expression. He didn’t have Lach. Lach would come and bring reinforcements. But until then she needed to find a way to get herself and Malcolm out of here and find whoever else Jeremy had.
“You’re dying to know. I can read your poker face, Regina.”
He moved in closer and bent down beside her head.
“I can read all your expressions, no matter how you try to hide them. There was a time when we slept under the same roof as man and wife. Stayed in the same hotel rooms. You think I wasn’t watching you, that I didn’t know how to hide a camera where you’d never find it? I’ve seen you in your secret moments, Regina. Moments when you thought you were alone and the fears and doubts crept in and you fought them like demons.”
