Page 44 of In the Dark

I FIGURED I HAD made it pretty clear what she was supposed to be doing for the next two weeks in my home. Not that Jasmina Ruiz would listen to anything I ever said.

She hadn’t come out of her room in five days.

No, I wasn’t counting.

The woman could rot in there for all I cared. And I didn’t say that lightly, but she’d pushed me to it.

I told my guys to give her whatever food and luxury she requested for the first couple of days in hopes she would come out for something more.

She didn’t request anything other than telling them to relay a message back to me where she called me every obscenity she could think of.

She didn’t ask for water or sneak out to get anything at night. She didn’t charge my card or get deliveries either. She only opened the door to her room to throw something out of it. I paid an obscene amount of attention to it too. I watched the cameras and put alerts on so I could know if her door ever opened without her being in some fit of rage.

It didn’t.

“What did she say when you gave her the meal the last time?”

“Two days ago?” Archer asked with an arch in his eyebrow like he disagreed with my tactics. “How long do you want me to babysit her, by the way? I won’t be in town much longer.”

“Where do you intend to go?” I asked, my curiosity piqued. Archer was one of our best men, but I could see his restlessness, see how his mind was elsewhere lately. He wasn’t made for being just a guard. His mind was wired for more. He was smart, ruthless, but also loyal. He’d been a trusted friend with a shadow of darkness behind his eyes for as long as I’d known him.

“I have other work,” he said simply. No one else would have answered me that way.

Fucker.

“Work where? For the Diamonds?”

“Work that benefits us.” He shrugged, still not elaborating.

“You haven’t fed her in two days?” My future sister-in-law cut off our questioning from where she was scribbling in her notepad.

“Mia, don’t worry.” I rolled my eyes. “She agreed to all this before she came here. It wasn’t like when you got to Paradise—”

“And your brother drugged me before chaining me to a bed?” She gave Jameson a look before setting her pen down and crossing her arms over her floral sundress. “Is she chained to the bed, Cal?”

“What? No.” I stood up and combed a hand through my hair. “I gave her a phone, told her she could utilize whoever she wanted to help her prepare for the wedding. I catered in food when she didn’t request any because I didn’t know what she would eat. One of my guys even set new clothing outside her bedroom door and let her know it would be there for her if she wanted it.”

I’d given her everything. She was supposed to be a damn prisoner, and yet she was calling every shot, not that she cared or knew it.

“Well, maybe she doesn’t want any of that.”

“She has to want to eat, Mia. It’s survival.”

“Well, she has a bathroom. I’m sure she can get water from the sink.” She had a point.

“Maybe I should turn the water off.”

“Quit it. Why don’t you try asking her what she needs rather than trying to dehydrate her out of there?”

“Because, dear, dear Mia, she is not a guest here. She’s a means to an end.”

“What a terrible way to talk about the girl you’re going to marry. Especially when she’s right upstairs.” Mia frowned and glanced around as if concerned that Jas could hear us.

“You say that now, but you’ll change your tune once she talks with you.”

“And why is that?”

“Because”—I gave her a pointed look—“Paolo was her uncle. You realize that, right?”