Page 108 of Holiday Hostage
“I think I want my money more, so I’ll keep you in one piece. For now.”
He ran the knife back down my cheek, tapped it twice against the gag, and straightened.
The knife disappeared into a pocket, and he sauntered toward the wall directly in front of me.
Leave. Please leave. I needed to be alone so I could try to process what could happen next.
Did he still believe I was some arms dealer’s daughter? If that was the case, I was screwed.
I twisted my wrists in the ropes and zip ties that held me, keeping the movements slow and minuscule so that he wouldn’t notice.
The hard plastic cut into my skin.
Much more and I’d start bleeding. Jack was sure to notice that.
He stopped at the wall and leaned his back against it, grinning at me with that manic smile as he crossed his ankles.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret. If I don’t get my money soon, I’m going to take it out on you. I’ll draw out your death, making it as slow and painful as possible, for the inconvenience you’ve caused me.”
My blood pressure spiked, causing blood to whoosh in my ears.
The sudden jackhammering beat of my heart put new meaning to the phrase “heart beating out of my chest”.
I had no choice but to keep quiet and listen to his slow diatribe.
I latched onto one word: inconvenience.
I’d been that for a lot of people throughout my life.
Except for Dad and Lisa, I had never really cared what anyone thought of me.
Then there was Mav, Tarron, and Reed.
I loved them so desperately that it tore me to pieces to once again remember they were dead and would never come to save me.
I had to find a way to prove to Jack that I was worth more alive than dead.
To do that, I needed to be able to talk. I doubted he’d listen to anything I said.
He hadn’t before.
But I would not, could not, give up. I packed all the terror rushing through my body into a single thought. Protect my baby.
Tears threatened to blur my vision, and I widened my eyes, unwilling to let them fall and show Jack my vulnerability.
I also didn’t want to lose sight of him.
He was the danger here.
I strained my ears but there were no other sounds. No soldiers outside the walls.
No machinery. Nothing but the slowdrip, dripof water in the corner.
Jack continued to slouch and stare at me with a perturbing coldness.
How did a man like him get away with killing the loves of my life?
Death was too easy for him.
