Page 59 of Relinquish

“Don’t be mad, baby.”

“Get the door.” Spit flies out of his mouth as he directs her.

“Yes, Sir.” She rushes in her heels to the door and twists the lock.

Distract him. Keep him busy until you can get the upper hand or someone comes to check on the noise. Right. Like anyone is going to hear you up here. “Why do you need measly costume jewels when you have tons of money?”

Randall laughs. “These aren’t costume jewels, but nice try.” He presses his lips together and shrugs. “I enjoy it.” His eyes glitter with mirth. “It’s a fucking thrill to steal from people who think they’re too fucking smart to be victims.”

“What do you do with the things you steal if you don’t need the money?”

Patricia’s face is white as she rubs her hands together. She clearly hadn’t banked on anyone catching them.

He grins wickedly and braces his feet shoulder-width apart in front of me. “I dress Patricia up in them and fuck her brains out. I videotape it, so when I’m having a boring-ass meeting with some loser who can’t get off the fence about whether to invest or not, I watch them. Half the time, I excuse myself to jerk off it takes so damned long.”

I stare at him in disgust and disbelief. Who does that type of thing? I shudder. It doesn’t bode well that he’s telling me all about it. Sweat pours down my spine as my stomach churns. He yanks my hand out of my lap and slaps it over his crotch. “See.” He licks his lips and leers. “I get fucking hard as a rock breaking and entering.”

Holy fuck. I convulse as the first wave of fear floods through me. Bile rises in my throat, and I jerk my arm backward. He doesn’t let me budge. This is crazy. At least if he were involved in a Ponzi scheme, it would make sense. But this is sick.

“Grab the rope out of my pocket and tie her up.”

“What’re you going to do to her?” Patricia’s hands shake.

“I can’t decide.” He strokes my hand up and down his shaft. “I’m either going to fuck her in these jewels or kill her.” This is bad. How in the hell am I going to get out of this mess?

“No.” Patricia shakes her head. “You can’t do that.”

He turns on his heel. “What do you want me to do with her? She’s seen us both. You’re as culpable as I am.” He leers. “More so, actually.”

She rushes forward with a wild look in her eyes. “But no one has ever caught us. This.…” Tears streak down her cheeks. “This is different.”

“It’s not different.” He drops my hand, grabs her arm, and twists until she’s in his face. “If you don’t want the same result, tie her ass up like I showed you, and be a good girl for daddy.”

He steps backward, slips the back of his jacket out of the way, and yanks out a pistol, training it at the two of us. “Faster.” I brace my hands as far apart as possible as Patricia laces the rope between and around my hands.

When she doesn’t notice, I throw up a quick prayer of thanks. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do.” Her hands shake as she slips the rope through a hole and tightens the woven handcuff knot.

“Grab her cell phone.”

Shit. That was my last hope of getting a message to Cade. She drags my phone out of my pocket and shoves it in her handbag. “He has all the evidence he needs against me. He videos me taking the jewels. All the videos are of me. No one will believe he did it.”

“Shit.” I close my eyes. The guy is sick.

Randall paces the floor. “I can’t believe you got us caught.” He glares at Patricia. “Now, I have to kill her because you’re too stupid to do things right.” His neck and shoulder muscles are tight as he waves the gun around. “Come here, now.”

She runs to him as I blink at the tears stinging my eyes. Stop. I can’t afford weakness. What am I going to do? I shift my arms to the left, where I placed the lipstick in my pocket. I twist my knees toward my hands and use my thumb to pull at the fabric of my sweatpants. Thank God I wore loose pants. I dig the lipstick out of my pocket and pull off the cap. I’ve got to leave Cade a note. If he doesn’t kill me right here where I sit. Fuck.

“Bitch.” He backhands her across the face, leaving the white imprint of his hand. It soon floods with red. She cups her face and stares at the floor. “You will have to make up for this.” He grabs her chin and lifts her face. “Tonight.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Cade

I blink and try to regain my bearings. I’m naked in a bedroom with a canopy bed. Lola. I smile and touch the mattress. The bed is empty, and the sheets are cold. Where did she go?

“Lola?” I call out, but there’s no response and no sounds from the bathroom. I jump up and take in everything at once. The room is lit by the crack in the bathroom door. Her dress is still in a puddle on the floor next to my pants. “Lola?”

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