Page 78 of Dare to Dance
“I’m doing this for Raven, to get her back.”
“Losing your dignity isn’t the way. Take it from me, you’ll regret this.” She sounded as desperate as I felt.
Nausea churned in my stomach.
“I’m sure you haven’t told Kross,” she said. “But think about what will happen when he finds out what you’re doing? Do you want him to look at you differently? You two have had a great week rekindling things. Don’t mess that up, either.” She was good at laying the guilt trip on thick. It was actually the truth, which I’d needed to hear.
“I miss you.” I flinched at the sound of the key in the door then the click of the handle. “I’ve got to go.”
“Ruby, wait,” she pleaded. “Leave. Get out of there.”
“It’s too late.” I hung up the phone. Then with all the courage I could muster, I swallowed my nerves before walking out of the bedroom.
My jaw hit the floor. Trent Baker was standing at a table near the door.
“You’re the client?” I couldn’t look past his bulbous nose that stuck out like a deformed appendage.
“Disappointed?” he asked flatly.
Trent wasn’t ugly. With the exception of his large nose, he was in good shape for a man I would have guessed was in his late thirties. What made him disgusting was the evil in his brown eyes.
“I’m not doing this,” I said with a rigid posture.
He locked the door. “I thought you would say that.” He dipped his hand inside his suit jacket and pulled out his phone. After a few swipes of the screen, he handed me his phone. “I think this will change your mind.”
Not taking my eyes off him, I took the phone. “I don’t need to see pictures of me fighting.”
He bowed his head. “They’re not of you.”
Slowly, I lowered my gaze to the screen. When I did, my eyes bugged out of my head. Raven was playing in a park with a little girl I’d never seen before. I suspected the little girl was the one Raven had spoken about the other day.
“Go to the next picture,” he said smugly.
With a trembling finger, I flipped to the next picture. Raven was standing at the edge of what appeared to be the lagoon at the Boston Public Garden. I sucked on my tongue, trying to get some saliva to coat my throat.Keep it together, girl. You’re stronger than you realize.I had no strength to play his despicable game.If you give yourself to him tonight, then he’ll keep holding something over your head. You’ll become his slave like Alex.She was working at Firefly and for Trent.How long has she been his slave?
“So you have pictures of my daughter,” I said in a small voice.
“I’m sure you don’t want anything to happen to her.” Again, his voice was smug.
My vision clouded. “You wouldn’t dare.” The words were strangled. I would’ve never pegged Trent Baker, scumbag extraordinaire, as the type to harm a child. Then again, I was dealing with a criminal.
One thick brow lifted. “Try me.”
The asshole knew he had me under his thumb. The game had changed. We weren’t talking about paying off judges, but about Raven’s life. Ninety percent of me knew he wouldn’t harm her. He was using her to get to me. That was all. But I couldn’t risk that ten percent. Even if I called the cops, it was his word against mine. Then again, if he had a judge in his back pocket, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had the head of the police department as well.
“Why are you so hell-bent on me?” Much prettier and sexier women existed out there. Maybe he got off on desperate women.
“You owe me money, and you’re beautiful.” His voice was even, and he’d lost the self-satisfied expression. In fact, his brown eyes had glazed over. “Get dressed. I want to see those sexy legs.”
I clutched his phone so tightly that my muscles began to twitch as I glowered at the man, then past him to the door, the only door out of the penthouse.
He gave me a wry smile. “Usually when I tell a woman she’s sexy, it breaks the ice.”
The only thing I was breaking was his skull. I needed to regroup. More like, I needed to breathe in clean air rather than the acrid smell of him. I hauled his phone at him, narrowly missing his nose. Instead, his eye took the brunt of the impact.
His face darkened.
I stormed toward the door, the same one he was blocking.
