Page 135

No, the fact that I very well might have to pee my pants is the thing that makes tears spring to my eyes.

This motherfucker.

I swallow the tears down and will myself to hold my bladder as long as possible, but I’ve given birth and I’m shit at doing Kegels. My pelvic floor isn’t what it once was, and a strong sneeze can make me leak a bit.

Sexy, I know, but there you have it.

So, I don’t think I’m going to make it out of here with dry pants. And that fucking sucks.

“We’re going to call your husband in a few minutes,” Damien says. His tone is light, as if he’s discussing the stock market or which flowers he’s going to plant in his garden this year. “And we’ll get this ball rolling. But in the meantime, I need to punish you for running away all those years ago.”

No.

“Did you think that I wouldn’t try to get away?”

“You see,” he continues, as if I didn’t say anything at all. “You left me at my most vulnerable. You didn’t even have the common decency to see if I was okay.”

Is this motherfucker for real?

“Um. Okay.”

Not sorry, asshole.

“Imagine my surprise when I came out of surgery and was told that you’d left me, Rina. That you didn’t even say goodbye.”

“Are we remembering the same events?”

He turns, and I go very still because the look in this man’s eyes isn’t merely unstable or delusional.

It’s evil.

And based on the pliers in his hand, I’m about to hate whatever he’s going to do to me.

“Open your mouth.”

I slowly shake my head. This asshole is not going to pull my teeth.

“Open that pretty little mouth. You can either suck my cock, or I’ll pull out all of your teeth. You get to choose.”

I frown up at him. “I was told that you can’t get it up. But if that was just a nasty rumor, whip it out and I’ll give it a shot. I do have a gnarly gag reflex, though, so go easy on me, okay?”

He’s vibrating with fury as he tosses the pliers to the ground—thank God—but then he spins around, grabs an ice pick, and reaches me in two strides, then swings his arm down and stabs me in the shoulder, making me scream in pain.

Fifty

CARSON

She’s been gone for twenty-four hours.

Twenty-four mind-numbing, terrifying hours.

Everyone stayed here last night. I have plenty of bedrooms, and no one wanted to leave. In fact, I believe Rome’s exact words were Until our sister is back where she belongs, we’re here with you.

We left the office long enough to eat, shower, and change, but aside from that, we’ve been in here, trying to find her.

“Damien no longer has a home base here,” Mateo says. He’s sitting on the floor, his back against my leather couch, head tilted to look at the ceiling. “We burned it down. So where the fuck would he keep her?”

I narrow my eyes on him and look over at Julian, who’s still sitting behind my desk. I need him to work his tech magic, so I don’t care if he’s sitting in the commanding seat. Rome’s standing at the window, hands in his pockets, staring outside.