“Look at you,” he drawls as his gaze wanders over my jeans and Hunter’s blue t-shirt I have knotted at my stomach. His eyes pause at my hip, and he licks his lips, no doubt imagining the last time he put his hands on me. The smell of burning flesh seems to fill the air between us as my hip throbs with phantom heat.
Two guys I’ve never met in person, but recognize from my research, flank him. I note the guns resting at their waists and catch the outline at their ankles. They’re heavily armed and more than willing to use them. They seem capable, but the cocky tilt of their lips suggests they are unlikely to have actually seen combat and violence. Nobody resists Jonathan’s charm, so why would they?
I finally meet Steph’s eyes, and my breath catches at the familiarity to her brother. It’s almost like he is looking out at me, and the panic and fear settle a little within me. Her lips lift in a reassuring smile, and I pray she doesn’t understand what’s going on.
“I’m here. Let her go,” I demand as I come to a stop, keeping some distance between us. How he managed to get inside the institute is a mystery, but he’s always been good at worming his way into places he doesn’t belong. It could range from him seducing a member of the staff to forcing his way in. Either way, Green Hay is compromised. I risk glancing around, noticing the otherwise untouched facility. Hope surges. Maybe he hasn’t harmed anyone yet. Maybe they’ll all survive this. My eyes find his once more. What’s important is for us to leave and everyone here remains unharmed.
“I thought she was like the others.” Jonathan lifts a lock of Steph’s hair and trails it under his nose. “Broken. Defeated. Useless. But that look of defiance she possesses runs deep.” He chuckles, the sound like needles against my skin. “You know Ican’t resist breaking in a new toy. Plus, Christopher is rather salty he isn’t getting you, and I need to keep my best customer happy with a consolation prize.”
“She won’t be much fun for a man like him.” The longer I keep him here, the less distance he can put between me and Hunter who will be freaking out and on the move by now. The tracker will tell him which direction we’re going in, and even Jonathan is limited by the speed of a car.
“We will let Christopher decide. Either way, it’s punishment to the man who has had his cock inside you.”
“He’s not the first,” I taunt.
Jonathan smirks and jerks his head at one of his guys. He lumbers over with his six-foot, heavy-set body, but he has a dangerous look in his eyes. It’s one I would be worried about, but the softness around his middle, where his shirt strains against the fabric, shows the complacency in Jonathan’s men. He’s losing his touch. The man runs his hands over me, finds my phone, and drops it on the ground, crushing it under his boot.
“She’s unarmed,” he grumbles, his voice matching his stature.
I’m never unarmed, you bitch rimmer.Fighting against a smirk, I let my eyes drift back to Jonathan and Steph. I take it back. I love Carlson’s unique phrases.
He steps around to my back and yanks my hands together before snapping basic metal cuffs around my wrists. Rookie move. Just because I only recently started asking to be tied up for fun, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to escape a simple handcuff. I wince like they hurt, catching Jonathan’s glee at the movement. They might, but like most pain, I can’t feel it.
“Let’s move. I don’t want to wage a war with the local MC, and we have places to be and a little family reunion to attend.” He turns, glancing over his shoulder with a sadistic grin I remember from my nightmares. “I find myself in need of a newwife, Eleanor. A poetic end for you, don’t you think? To finally meet your fate after all these years as if no time has passed at all?”
But it has, and it’s given me more than vengeance—it’s gifted me love. Jonathan hasn’t changed; he’s learned nothing in the last decade, and that makes him predictable. That makes him weak. I, however, am not the little girl he tried to ruin, but my best bet is to make him think I am. He will fall back on his typical behaviors and drop his guard, and that’s when I will strike.
The idiot at my back grabs my elbow and shoves me forward without preamble. I allow my feet to be a little clumsy, forcing myself to embody the girl Jonathan remembers. It’s a struggle to revert back; I didn’t realize how far removed I truly was until now.
Wait, why are we moving forward? Panic swells in my chest, threatening to pull me under.Deep breath, Eleanor.I catch Steph’s eyes and try to convey without words that everything will be okay. It has to be. This woman cannot become one of Jonathan’s victims; she has survived too much already. But pain isn’t currency—we don’t suffer so much only to have the universe declare we’ve paid our dues and shower us in goodness. Goodness and light are fought for. They’re something you claw after until your nails are ripped to shreds and your body and mind are littered with scars. Happiness is a battle prize.
The parking lot disappears behind me as we round the side of the building. Jonathan said he didn’t want a war with the Desert Reapers, but since he’s kidnapping their VP’s sister, one is coming for him regardless. He knows he’s outmatched, and he knows when to run. No one ever accused him of being stupid.
Jonathan steps to the side, and I glance up. My hands go numb, my lips parting in a silent gasp. Nowhere in the hundred different scenarios I made up did I consider we wouldn’t be driving out of Green Hay.
The rotor blades of Jonathan’s helicopter spin in a lazy circle, the side door already open and waiting for us. My mind blanks as I process all the plans I’ve put in place. My phone call to Gail. The tracker. The understanding that no matter how fast Jonathan drove, Hunter would catch up to him. I didn’t expect us to get to any destination; it’s why I was able to look his sister in the eye with the conviction that no harm would come to her. I’m a fucking idiot. I underestimated Jonathan,again,and it might very well cost me my life and Hunter’s heart.
They shove us inside and force us into plush seats before strapping me in. Can’t have perfectly good females toppling out of the helicopter before they’ve broken us, can they? I try to shake off my dark thoughts, refusing to let the slime of my past trap me in them anymore. They aren’t productive, and they won’t save us. I still have the tracker, and there’s nowhere I can’t be traced. It might take a minute for him to catch up, but Hunter will come. We have to survive until then.
My stomach drops as they close the doors and Jonathan takes the seat next to me, toying with the neckline of Hunter’s T-shirt. A growl works up my throat, hardly heard over the sound of the blades. He smirks, and my eyes narrow. One touch, and my resolve to appear meek has gone to shit. I mentally slow clap my feminine rage for her timing.
“Ah, there she is. Not my quiet little Eleanor anymore, are you?”
I was never his. I willneverbe his. The helicopter banks to the side before speeding through the air over the peaceful buildings of Green Hay. Steph looks at the door like she’s contemplating jumping, unwilling to experience the same pain she’s only started healing from.Oh no.I shake my head. “You didn’t strap her in.”
Jonathan’s gaze snaps to Steph, who scowls at me with a look I’ve only ever seen on her brother.Sorry, Steph, but youleaping to your death is not happening on my watch.If we need to shelter her on a private fucking island to make her feel safe again, that can be arranged, but she has to survive first.
One of the guys clicks her belt into place, and if I could be burned alive by a look, I would be dancing in the fires of Hell right now. I take a steady breath and relax my shoulders.
Jonathan unzips a cooler bag on the floor beside him and grits his teeth.
“Ooh, do you have any popsicles in there?” My initial plan is totally fucked, so I may as well opt to show him my claws. He pulls out a brown glass bottle and a white cloth with a shake of his head, a muscle in his jaw feathering.
“I’m glad you found your fire, Eleanor. Your compliance is fucking boring if it isn’t earned. This way, you might live long enough to give me a couple of children.”
I bare my teeth as he uncaps the bottle and tips some of the liquid onto the rag.
“Put your disease-ridden micropenis anywhere near me, and I’ll fucking bite it off the first chance I get.”
