Page 17 of Monster

Then again…

“What will happen to me once we get to your vacation home?” Charlotte asked.

I drew in a deep breath through my nose. “Letting you go would be dangerous, especially with the threat put upon you tonight.”

Her voice hardened. “What threat?”

I waved my hand in the air. “Some half-twit from the Lucchese Family has vowed to get a taste of you sooner or later. I’m sure it’s all hot steam, or whatever you Americans call it. But, the Lucchese Family isn’t one to be tried.”

She snickered. “Great. Just grand. I try to come here for a two-week vacation, and I’m kidnapped and sold off to the highest bidder. In the place where I was supposed to be vacationing!”

I nodded slowly. “What a coincidence.”

“Trust me, there are no coincidences in my life. Everything happens for a reason. Everything.”

My fear was that she was right, though. This worst-case scenario had most likely unfolded from that exact truth.

That nothing about Charlotte’s current predicament had been left to chance.

* * *

Charlotte

When the car I was riding in pulled up to the vacation home, I tried my hardest not to gawk at it. Ten million dollars on myself alone told me the kind of money this man was working with, but the expanse of his oceanfront home was more than I could have ever imagined myself. The place was sprawling and expansive. There wasn’t a neighbor for miles around. And the private beach the mansion had been plopped on was like something out of a travel magazine. Waves crashed against the rocks on the sand. The stairway from the back patio led right onto the sand. And with an infinity pool as well as a hot tub on that back deck, the luxuriousness of it gave me a sample of what was to come.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t get the opportunity to see it.

“Here. Drink this.”

The all-too-familiar man’s voice pulled me from my trance and I looked over at him, only to see him handing me a glass of water.

“Momma always taught me never to take things from strangers,” I quipped.

His eyes hardened. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. And I’m telling you, the hard way is no good.”

I looked down at the water. “What’s in it?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m not an idiot here, Mr. Ten Mil. What’s in the drink?”

He held it closer to me. “Nothing lethal. There’s a sedative in there that will help you sleep. It’ll kick in before you even get out of the car, and I’ll carry you up to one of the oceanfront bedrooms.”

I scoffed. “You bought me as your own pleasure toy for the foreseeable future—possibly forever—and you want me to believe there’s shit in that water that isn’t going to kill me?”

“Yes,” he said coolly.

My eyes met his. “Do I have a choice?”

His eyes darkened. “No.”

Why do his eyes look so familiar? “Fine. But, if you’re going to kill me, do me a favor and do it while I’m unconscious. All right?”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

I blinked. “See, I don’t know whether you’re joking or not.”

He grinned as he placed the drink near my hand. “Bottom’s up.”

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