Page 11 of Under Control

“You undersell yourself.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” she said to reject his words—reject everything that threatened her narrative.

“I know what I see.”

What does he see?She parted her lips as she fell further into his darkly lashed, deep blue gemstone eyes.Sapphires in a storm.

He ran his hand up her throat, gripping her jaw and angling it, seemingly to get a better look at her. She obeyed as he moved her, revealing how much she was growing to love when he touched her like that. The intensity in his gaze was startling. It was clear he wanted to know her secrets.

“You have to trust me,” he ordered, focusing intently on her. “You have to tell me what’s really going on.”

She tried to shake out of his spell, stiffening her spine. “I can’t.”

Her words left a faint echo in the foyer.

“Then there’s nothing I can do.” He pulled back and let his hand drop from her face.

He gave her a second to change her mind, but she couldn’t. None of his rapport-building had made a difference. She wasn’t going to tell him what he wanted to hear—because she just couldn’t.

Carrick let out a seemingly frustrated breath and turned back to the door. Everything in Danica’s heart ached as he moved to leave.It shouldn’t be like this.With a quick nod goodbye, he disappeared out of the door, leaving her behind.

Alone.

Crushed, she leaned against the foyer wall then fell to the floor in her socked feet. For a minute or two, she just closed her eyes and rubbed her hands over her face. Finally, she decided to get up and make a move.

Then everything fell apart.

The front door whipped open, but instead of hearing the welcome voice of Carrick once again, an unwelcome, familiar paternal voice echoed through the foyer, filling her with unparalleled fear.

“Dansa,” an aging man wheezed as he walked in. “I have been looking for you for too long. You will not disobey me again.”

Chapter Five

Carrick

Madder than an angry dog, Carrick leaned on the armored SUV with his elbow on Delta’s driver-side window. He maintained a strong silence while watching events unfold before his and his partner’s eyes—events he’d never planned to see.

About five houses down, a couple of stubby bouncer-type guys with dark suits stood at the sidewalk leading up to Danica’s apartment. They’d locked it down because Carrick’s client was inside—talking to his daughter.

It didn’t feel right. Nothing about it felt right. It took everything in Carrick’s power not to force his way back into that situation.

“I didn’t take this ‘search and rescue’ contract thinking it would end up in ‘hostage rescue’.” Carrick finally broke the silence in a low, critical tone.

Delta nodded, sitting in the driver’s seat beside Carrick, gripping the wheel of the SUV tightly. The engine was off, but both men were flexed and ready to make a move if they had to. Carrick’s feet, firmly planted on the cold concrete of the road below, felt the rumbling of distant traffic in the urban residential community.

“Yeah—I’m not going to lie to you, Moose. This guy has been playing silly buggers with you,” Delta grunted, looking around.

“For once, you might actually be right.” Carrick shot his friend a sardonic look. “This isn’t what I signed up for.”

“How did this guy find you?”

“Said it was a recommendation from ahappycustomer, but he wouldn’t say who,” Carrick replied slowly, shaking his head in self-loathing. “Yup, Petrov cooked up some big fucking story, all right. His poor, estranged daughter is vulnerable and in danger. He can’t find her to warn her. Then he went on and on about this fucking shadowy evil that’s out to get her.”

“You bought it.”

“That’s right. I fucking bought it all.”

The two men grunted together, seething that some Russian asshole had gotten the better of them.

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