“Rory, I was hoping I’d see you here.” She pulls me into a quick hug. “Is your brother here?”
“Yeah.” I look around. “He just got back yesterday, so he’s been getting settled in.” He accepted Daddy’s offer, and he’s moving into the mansion to work full-time.
“I’d like to say hello on a personal level.” She gasps when she realizes what she just said. “I mean, like, not as a police officer, but as a normal person.” She pauses and takes in my face. “I just made it obvious that I have a crush on him, didn’t I?”
“Maybe,” I tease. “But he might like you too. He always watches you when you’re around, and he trusts you.”
“I’ll try to flirt with him and see how it goes.” She shrugs.
“You have my full blessing.”
“Thanks. How are things going with Hart? Is he good to you?”
“Very good. He makes me feel safe.”
“I’m glad. You deserve all the comfort and love in the world.”
We share a tender moment before her phone rings. She looks at it and curses. “Damn, I’m sorry, I have to take this.” She winces, and I wave her off.
“No worries.” I watch her leave when someone steps up behind me.
“You shouldn’t wander off on your own, sir,” a gruff voice says from behind me. I think it’s Bellen. I’ve only met him a few times, and he’s kind of a dick.
“I’m never alone.” Lex is being overprotective and probably sent this guy to check on me. It warms my heart to know that he cares so much about me that I can’t even leave his?—
“Close enough.” He grabs me and pulls me roughly to his side.
“What are you doing?” I try to pull my arm away when something that feels like a gun is pressed to my side.
“Let’s go. Not a fucking word.”
Suddenly, the smoke alarms go off. People rush around and shout, but Bellen pulls me out of the house and into a waiting car. I don’t recognize the driver, but I don’t care.
“Let me go,” I growl and hit at him. “What the fuck are you doing?” He reaches over and pins my arms down before he stabsme with a syringe. Ah, fuck. He just drugged me! “Where are you taking me?” My words slur and my eyes start to close.
“To meet some new friends and some old friends…” He chuckles.
I wake up in what looks like a rundown warehouse full of molding crates. Now I truly am in a mob story, and I’m the dumbass who got kidnapped.
Oh, look. I’m tied to a chair.
How original.
No, this is not the time to mope about the lack of creativity in these mobsters. I need to figure out where I am and how to get the fuck out of here.
What did that traitor Bellen say right after he stabbed me in the neck?
New friends and old frien?—
“Hey, Rory. Long time no see,” a voice says behind me.
My blood runs cold, and I’m worried I might pass out, but no, I’m stronger now. I can handle this. My resolve wavers when Chad walks around to the front of my chair. God, I hate this fucker. It’s a shame he’s so handsome.
A bastard with a soul like his should be ugly. Like warts and balding ugly or at least come with a warning label.
“Hey, Chad. Couldn’t take what you had coming to you, so you decided to kidnap me? Like I told the police, I don’t know anything.”
“You know your brother hired the mob to come after me.”
