Page 33 of Ride Forever
The handcuffs dragged against my wrists, and I winced. “Because I hated him.”
He stood up, resting his palms on the tabletop, and my gaze lowered as a flash of silver glinted underneath his shirt. “I fucking hated my father, but I didn’t shoot him in the heart,” he exclaimed. “Why did you kill him?”
Anger exploded through my body, and I wrapped my fingers around the chains holding me in place. “Because he wasa monster.”
“Don’t lie to me, Betty.”
“Don’t fucking call me Betty.”
“You liked it, didn’t you?” He stared me down, standing over me. “You liked the power.”
“Yes!” I screeched.
King’s lips twisted into a grin, and he sat back down, smoothing his fingers along his jaw. “See? That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”
I trembled, my chest heaving.The twisted son of a bitch.
“Why?” I whispered. “Why does it matter?”
He continued to smile at me creepily. “I suppose you’re wondering, what now?”
My jaw tensed.
“As I see it, you’re out of options, but I’ve got an offer that could help greatly with that.” King leaned back in the chair, looking cool, calm, and collected. The MO of a true psychopath. “You’ll be released without charge, but that’s only temporary. If you want it to be permanent, you have to do something for me in return.”
Of course, he wanted something. All psychotic criminal masterminds did.
“What?” I drawled.
His lips curved, obviously pleased with my apparent interest in his incoming offer.Smug bastard.
“I want Gunnar Mason.Alive.”
I swallowed hard, my heart twisting. It was the same thing I was going to offer King when I walked into his casino. Theexactthing. Did Chaser know? It didn’t matter now because King had taken all the power away from me and twisted it all for his own gain. If I didn’t do what he said, I was fucked. If I’d managed to make the offer at the Halcyon, this would be a different story.
Hand over the only man I’d ever loved? I wasn’t sure I could do it when Chaser himself offered, let alone now.
“So, what’ll it be beautiful?” King asked. “Life in prison or freedom in exchange for your boyfriend’s life?”
Not even a day had passed since my arrest, but I’d already morphed into a different woman. Life was in a constant state of flux, and so were the people in it. I could do this. I could twist King’s game and ram it straight up his ass.
“You’re such a sadistic bastard.”
He grinned, flashing a set of perfect, pearly white teeth. “I do love these life or death choose your own adventures. It makes life so much more interesting.”
“More interesting than your perverted sexual torture victims?”
“If you wanted to join in, you should’ve let your daddy hand you over to me. Though we can still come to an arrangement if orgasming while bleeding to death is your ultimate fantasy. If you don’t give me Gunnar Mason, you will hang from my ceiling and bleed like a choice cut of meat with my cock in your pussy…or be locked up in a maximum security prison where there are people worse than me looking for flesh as ripe as yours.” King rose to his feet and smoothed down his suit jacket. “Make your choice now, Sloane.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “I’ll do it.”
He turned and strode toward the door, not even bothering to glance back as he delivered the final term of his twisted offer.
“You have forty-eight hours.”
“I’m going to need some shoes!” I shouted after him.
