Was she trying to get him to killher?
Christophe glared at her for a moment, and then said, “We are waiting for Mr. Lambert. He has been looking for you, and he will decide how to clean up this mess.”
“How long?”
Christophe’s eyes narrowed and he shrugged. “It could be minutes or hours.”
So much for helpful information, but she had been smart to try.
“Can we get some water?” she asked.
“No.” He sat in his chair near thedoor and glowered. “No more talking.”
For the first few minutes, he kept a close eye on them, but eventually he pulled out his cell phone and began thumbing the screen. Caitlyn and her sister stared at each other. Their similarities ended with hair color and freckles. Caitlyn had a tall, athletic physique, while Rose was short and curvy. Both were beautiful in their own way. Both were willingto risk their lives to save others.
Both deserved to make it out of here alive.
Some unreadable expression passed between the sisters, and Caitlyn surreptitiously focused her attention on Christophe, appearing to stare at the floor while periodically glancing up through her lashes at the guard.
The bored sentry occasionally scanned the room, as if to ensure they hadn’t moved, but he seemedunconcerned given that their hands were bound and tied to their seats. Rose rocked in her chair, and Caitlyn coughed several times, drawing the guard’s gaze. Clamping her mouth shut, she tucked her chin to her chest as if trying to muffle the sound.
Christophe’s attention returned to his phone.
Caitlyn glanced at Rose, who tipped her head the barest fraction and slowly blinked, flattening herlips in concentration. Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt saw a silver flash from behind Rose’s back. A knife? He looked at Caitlyn. She held his gaze, her eyes intelligent and fierce, and gave him the barest hint of a smile.
If he hadn’t been in love with her before, he was ass over teakettle now.
Some time later—but still dark through the small gaps in the wooden walls—Caitlyn jolted awakeat the sound of her sister’s cries of pain. Her heart played drum major against her sternum. “What’s the matter? What’s going on?”
Rose didn’t look up, but thank God, she wasn’t under attack. Was this part of her plan? Caitlyn blinked to clear her head and glanced at Kurt, who appeared alert, his eyes tracking their captor.
Christophe stood and stowed his phone, hands on his weapon, eyes wideand wary, his pace measured as he approached Rose. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Rose’s upper body curled in, like she would double over if she weren’t tied to the chair. “I don’t know,” she said, her voice a taut and screechy mimic of a poorly played violin. “My stomach.” Air hissed through her teeth. “I think it might be the baby.”
Caitlyn pulsed with shock like a struck gong.
“Baby?”Christophe frowned and took a step back, examining her as if he could diagnose her with his eyes. “You’re pregnant?”
Caitlyn ignored Kurt’s palpable gaze, her heart rate redlining, her mind hijacked by memories.
Abdominal pain that brought her to her knees. Blood staining her thighs and dripping onto the cracked tile. The fear on Kurt’s face when he found her…
So weak. So helpless.
Goddammit.She didn’t have time to get sucked into her past now.
This isn’t real. It’s part of Rose’s plan.It had to be. The alternative…No.Whatever was going on, she had to stay ready.
“It’s Glenn’s,” Rose said, through a whimper, her voice weak and thready. “We were…lovers.”
Rose’s words were like buckshot to the chest. Lovers like hell. Either he’d forced himself on her, or she’d been desperateenough to try to seduce him. Right now, Caitlyn would gladly kill him again.
Christophe sneered and looked her up and down. “He had many.”
Rose’s face pinched. “I know. But I loved him.”
“It’s your lucky day, then.” Christophe’s lips curved into a nasty grin. “You can face his killer.”
