Page 21 of Room Twenty-Four: Under Their Hands

“You’ve got a mouth on you!” He sneers and paces back and forth in front of me. “Figures. Knowing those assholes it makes sense that you’d be a mouthy little thing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Your three musketeers. The assholes that you slept with.”

I flush and glare at him, moving my jaw side to side. It feels like my mouth is full of disgusting-tasting cotton balls.

“Who the fuck are you?”

His full mouth twists and his wet eyes stare at me balefully. “Somebody who wants those bastards dead.” He runs his eyes up and down my body and I feel shivers on my skin. “I might like to spend a little time with you when I’ve got your boys taken care of.”

“I’d sooner eat dirt,” I spit out.

“Yeah. I was right. Mouthy bitch.” He casually pulls his fist back and then punches me in the face. My ears ring and I can’t see past the darkness around me. I slip into the comforting darkness, moaning.

I come to and it’s dark but I hear a familiar voice that makes me jerk awake.

“There she is again. I know you were tempted when she mouthed off but I would appreciate it if you didn’t leave a bunch of marks on her. There will be too many questions if she’s all roughed up and she hands over the company to me.”

Snorting, I crack the one eye that isn’t swelled shut. “I should have known. You pussy.”

“You see. This is what I’m talking about. She’s begging for it.”

“You’ll get your money but keep your hands to yourself. I’ve got plans and I don’t want your filthy temper to screw them up.”

Jeremy saunters in front of me and smiles. “Hey, baby. I tried to tell you to leave me in charge of the company. I wouldn’t have let this happen to you.”

“You paid for this,” I say, my jaw dropping in shock. “You’ve got a few screws loose, don’t you?”

The stranger points at me, raising an eyebrow and I just glare at him. “You’re so fucking whipped, dick. When Seth and the boys figure out what you’ve done, you better hope you’ve got your insurance paid up. Don’t walk alone at night. Because you’re a dead man walking.”

“Hmph!” Jeremy snorts. “I think I’m safe. Those three boneheads have no clue who took you. By the time they realize what’s going on, you’re gonna be dead and buried somewhere and I’ll have taken over the company.”

I pale. I didn’t think he planned to kill me.

“I wouldn’t get too fucking cocky, asshole,” Seth’s smooth voice comes out of the dark. And then the building is fucking full of so many men in dark clothes that it looks like a goth convention. Or the set of that movie about alien cops.

Seth strolls out from behind the corner of the building and right behind him are Marco and Bruno.

Marco races up and his dark eyes flash midnight black sparks. “Who the fuck did that to you?”

I lift a brow at him.

“Oh. Right.” He unties me and holds my hands in his, his chafing mine gently until I feel blood finally start to flood painfully back into the digits.

I nod at the two men standing there with their mouths hanging open. “Jeremy paid for the kidnapping but the other guy did it and he’s the one that hit me.”

“Really,” Bruno starts cracking his knuckles again. “I think we need to have a talk, Daniels. A long one that is going to end abruptly.”

The man’s mouth hangs open and he stutters as Bruno starts to pull him out of the room.

“Where’s he taking him?” I ask Seth as he unties my feet.

Marco grunts. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll never have to worry about him again.”

“Oh.” I want to ask more but the looks on their faces tells me that I really don’t want to know the answer.

Jeremy glares at the men all around us. “What the hell do you think you’re going to do with me?”

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