Page 20 of Ricochet

No one followed. No one seemed to know that I’d just kidnapped the mayor’s wife.

It was almost too fucking easy.

***

Back at the mansion, I carried Aubree’s passed out body hoisted over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Gripping tight to the back of her thighs through her black dress, I climbed the staircase, her hands beating against my ass with each step.

To the left of the staircase, I kicked open the door to her room—one I’d chosen directly across the hall from my bedroom. Dark drapes decorated the one lone window, obscuring the security bars there, just like the ones I’d placed over all the windows throughout the mansion, and her bed had already been set up, equipped with leather restraints and a headboard that I’d tethered to the wall.

I deposited her limp body onto the bed and worked quickly to fasten her arms and legs, before securing a gag over her mouth, lifting her head as I tied it beneath.

For fun, I tugged the black ski mask over my face—the same one Alec wore in his infamous Achilleus X videos—and stepped back.

A quiet moan hit the air, and I backed away farther as she shifted on the bed, her dress hiking up to her thigh. As though suddenly aware, she gave one sharp tug of the binds, and her eyes flipped open. Wide.

Panicked whimpers laced a sharp exhale, and, lifting her head off the bed, she gave another pathetic tug.

I wanted to laugh. So helpless.

“Oh, Gah, I fil see.” Her voice carried a slur behind the gag.

An awaiting bucket sat beside the bed, and I yanked the gag and lifted it in time to catch her vomit as she strained her head to the side. I’d anticipated it with the mixing of alcohol. Last thing I needed was to have the shit stinkin’ up the place.

She caught her breath, her gaze searching the room. “W-where’m I? Are you … are you Achilleus X?”

I stared down at Aubree Culling’s crinkled brows and mask of confusion. “Achilleus X wouldn’t spare a minute on you.”

What must’ve been an attempt at shaking her head looked like a bowling ball trying to stay propped on a piece of string. “’Cept tha …” Her eyes made a slow trail back to mine. “What d’you wan’? Money? I gah money. J’tell h’much.”

“You think I’d kidnap you for something as insignificant as money?”

Another abrupt roll of her head looked like the heavy bastard might roll right onto the floor. “Did … di summin hire you?”

“Like who?”

She exhaled a sharp breath. “Oh, God, h’knows.” Writhing on the bed hiked her dress higher up her thigh. “Lemme go. Never hear fr’me ‘gain. Pr’mis.” Huge, dilated pupils made her eyes look black, almost evil, and her lids fluttered shut with every uncontrollable roll of her head against the pillow.

I didn’t answer her. She wouldn’t remember anything I’d said, anyway. Besides, I wasn’t there to put her at ease and fill her in. Instead, I remained in the shadows, quietly staring, waiting for realization to settle over her and the waves of panic that were sure to follow.

Her chest rose and fell more rapidly, as her eyes wandered, from one side of the room to the other, then shuttered, her brows winging up like she fought to keep them open. A minute later, she lost the battle, her body falling flaccid and her mouth agape.

My gaze slid back to where the slit of her dress showed her splayed thigh, tan, tone and smooth, its sleek surface reflecting the dim light of the room.

Lena curls into a ball on the floor, her smooth legs coated in blood, burns and bruises. My hand hovers over the tender skin where they sliced her with a knife, and tears well in my eyes. She flinches at my touch, not bothering to look up at me, and I know why. She feels ruined. They ruined my girl. My beautiful Lena. Beaten and scarred.

Fury simmered through my veins, heating my blood. I rubbed my temples, numbing the sudden ache there, and paced like an animal in a cage, ready to tear into prey. Noticing Aubree’s thigh brought an uncontrollable desire to bruise it, to dig my fingers into her flawless flesh and leave a mark of pain, just like they’d done to my wife. I wanted to put my gun to Aubree’s temple and pull the trigger, take what was taken from me. An eye for an eye. Alec’s words battled the images inside my head. Don’t do it. Don’t fuck this up.

I left the room before I could act on my urges and headed downstairs.

From the kitchen table, I swiped the bourbon and tipped it back, waiting for the cool to soothe the scorch in my throat. Before I knew it, half the bottle was gone. Slipping off the gloves, I ran my hands under the water and let the cold stream coat the heat that burned below my skin. The house originally hadn’t come equipped with water, electricity, gas. I’d had to hook that up myself, tapping into electrical lines, gas lines, the water main. Damn near killed myself in the process.

I rubbed a hand down my face and pounded the heel of my hand against my head. Fucking headaches.

Having Aubree in the next room would take some hard hitting liquor—the kind that could drown out images of her thigh peeking out of the dress and all the things I wanted to do out of rage. I didn’t know how long Alec wanted me to keep her. Had no idea why he’d added the kidnap onto what I’d considered a perfectly constructed plan that we’d gone over for months. What bad could come of killing her? Why did he need her? He’d told me to hang on to her during negotiations, but negotiations weren’t part of the plan. I was to systematically kill each of the men who’d murdered my family, while Alec kept them on their toes, leaking information, keeping them occupied, off the trail. Culling wouldn’t give a shit about a few missing thugs, if it meant his whole fucking operation was about to be exposed. In the end, Culling would get snuffed. No negotiations.

I didn’t like that Alec had modified what we’d agreed on. The plan had changed and I had no choice but to go along. When I’d told him I’d do whatever he wanted, in exchange for the identities of the men who stole my life, I couldn’t have guessed he’d task me with babysitting the only woman on the planet I could’ve happily stuffed with a bullet.

Thickness in the air tightened my chest and a familiar urge pulled inside my gut.