Page 14 of Her Wicked Hero

He pulled her to her feet and put his face close to hers. His breath reeked. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

She nodded, keeping her eyes downward. Her head hurt really bad, and she felt dizzy. Trying to maintain this subservient façade was going to be tough when she felt like crap, but darn-it she could do what she needed to in order to live through this crappy hand life had dealt her.

She’d known Mr. Brockman almost all of her life. Her family had lived across the street from his family when her parents had been alive. Mr. B. would send those soldiers after her. There was no way he’d leave her hanging in the wind. She just needed to hold on and not let her mouth get her killed.

“Can I ask a question?” she asked meekly.

“Can you be pleasant?”

“I promise,” she said in a low voice. “You said we were on a deadline. How fast do we need to go?”

The look he gave her made her skin crawl. “As soon as I get to a phone, I’ll get in touch with Jefferies and see what plans he might have for you. If it’s worth my while, I’ll turn you over to him. If not,” he shrugged. “If not, you and I are going to do a bit of Skyping with your father. I have a bone to pick with him.”

“What do you mean we’ll Skype?” Marcia hated the tremor she heard in her voice.

Raymond pulled her even closer to him and she could see bits of food stuck between his teeth. “Pray hard, Lesley, pray really hard Jefferies can make it worth my while to hand you over because your daddy has a lot to answer for. I want him to suffer for my friends who died.” He shoved her away from him, then smiled brightly like they were at a cocktail party. “But don’t you worry about it, I’m sure Jefferies will make me rich, and soon, you’ll be home in the bosom of your family.”

She looked at him in disbelief. How could he change personalities in the blink of an eye?

“Quit staring at me,” he growled.

She looked down at the dirt.

“Good girl. Now, let’s get going. The sooner I get to a phone, the sooner you’ll be home.”

Sure, she believed that. Just like she believed in leprechauns, the Easter bunny, and the tooth fairy. There wasn’t a chance in hell they were ever planning on letting her return to the U.S. Marcia took a deep trembling breath.

Get it together Price.

One breath. One moment. One hour. One day. She could get through this.

“Did you hear me, Lesley? You get to go home? So, speed it up.”

“Sir, I could go faster if you untied my hands. My balance is off.” Gah, she had to swallow down the bile using the word ‘Sir’, but if it would get him to untie her hands…

“Nice try. Suck it up, Girly,” he said as he yanked at the rope. “If you keep up, I’ll feed you the next time I need to take a piss.”

Her stomach growled at the mention of food. She’d keep up. Her foot hit water. What in the world?

“Where are we?” she asked before she could stop herself.

“We just hit the swamps leading up to the river. Nobody’s going to be able to track us through this shit.”

Marcia whimpered as her Sketchers sunk into the mud and tried to suck her shoe off when she lifted it back out. How was she going to keep up now? He had boots on. This was going to be impossible.

“Raymond.”

His eyes cut to hers, and he glared.

“What is it?”

“Can we stop while I tie my shoes on tighter? They won’t stay on in this mud.”

“For fuck’s sake, you should have worn something more practical,” he reprimanded harshly.

She bit her tongue just in time. How stupid was he to say something like that? As if she had thought she was going to be kidnapped off the yacht. He stopped next to a rotted stump. He lifted her up like she weighed nothing. The show of strength gave her the heebie-jeebies. He scraped the stinking mud off her shoes, so he could get to her shoelace. Two beetles crawled over her jean covered leg. She whimpered.

“Don’t be a pussy,” Raymond said as he crushed the bugs into the fabric of her jeans. Once again, she felt herself throw-up in her mouth and was forced to swallow it back down. The fetid and sour taste made her eyes water.