Page 15 of Taken By the Kingpin
“Better.” He smiles and it’s all the way up to his eyes. “You would have hurt anyone else.”
“I wanted to hurtyou. Because despite what you said,youare the one who has kidnapped me.”
He’s still holding my arms and again, I shouldn’t like the feel of him, but apparently my limbs have not moved on from seeing him half naked and sweaty.
“Are you always this grumpy before you’ve had coffee?” He releases me and steps away before I can do anything violent with those free weights in the corner. Though, I doubt I’d be able to even lift most of them.
“Come on. Coffee first, then explanations.”
I follow him into the kitchen and grit my teeth as he takes forever to make, admittedly delicious-smelling coffee.
“So.” He leans against the counter and I peer over the coffee mug at him from my place on the other side. Adversaries. “You weren’t supposed to come here.”
“You have another location for your kidnappees.” I’m not jealous. I’m not.
“Will you let me finish, angel?” A touch of exasperation threads his words.
I drink my coffee sulkily.
“You won’t be safe until Fletcher is dead, and even then, I think your father would claim you back. All those years away, with a new name, were supposed to protect you. Make you unrecognisable.”
I shrug. “I am.”
“You might have been if you were on the street. But then your boss got famous…” He makes a fait accompli gesture.
“I did that,” I admit.
“Impressive.” He nods. “And foolish.”
“I didn’t know it would get me into the limelight! And so what if it did? It’s been a long time.”
“Hey,” he says soothingly. “I said I’m impressed. But that reflection of you in the mirror? Something like it was going to happen. Eventually.”
I may be a little touchy about this. Being told most of your life that you’re a silly girl will do that. “I guess.”
“I had a safe house prepared for you. I intended to give you a place to go, before you were eighteen. But…” He folds his arms. “I got a bit carried away, enjoying your company, and didn’t explain until it was too close to midnight to do anything less than swiftly. And you weren’t as cooperative as I’d hoped.”
“I might have been more understanding if you’d explained better,” I snap.
“Yes.”
And I have to give him credit, he accepts his portion of the blame with grace. Though the reality is, we were both distracted by how well we were getting on and the attraction that clicked into place.
“Then the safe house had been compromised. I couldn’t send you there. I didn’t plan to kidnap you, just give you somewhere secure until I could fix the threat.”
“You’ve had five years!”
“No, I’ve had one day.”
The photo showing me in the mirror. It was yesterday.
Darn it. He’s right.
“Before that my plan was to let you live your life and just keep an eye out for any trouble. I knew your father and Fletcher wanted to get you, but they had no idea where you were before that goat video.”
“Capricorn,” I mutter.
“Yes, that one. I did try to murder your whole family and Fletcher before your birthday, but the idea turned out to have some logistical problems that would take a little longer,” he says neutrally, as though he was discussing ordering pizza for dinner. “Hence…”
