flew out of New York on my private jet, and I kept you under until we landed. You will remain here as my guest until I no longer have a use for you.” His gaze traveled the length of her body once again. “We should be here for some time.”
Small bolts of alarm were shooting through her, leaving her with a blank mind and a skiff of ice on her skin from her scalp to her feet. She took a step back and brought a hand to her throat to calm her slamming pulse. She wasn’t sure what was worse at this point; his story or how he’d told it. The tale itself was hair-raising, but his nonchalance in telling it was horrifying.
“That’s…you’re not…you can’t do this.”
He made a face of impatience. “It is already done. Now come. Let us get inside. You must be cold and in need of a restroom after your long rest.”
Her bladder was about to burst, but no way was she entering that place. Settled, she turned and walked away. Fuck him. Fuck all of this in a huge way. She ignored her name being called and headed around the circular drive. She’d rather freeze to death or get eaten by a pack of Romanian wolves than stay with this psycho.
“The lane is not long by my standards,” he called. “But there are armed men at the electronic gate that should take you the better part of an hour to reach in those shoes. They will not allow you to leave, and there is no one around for miles if you think to stand there and shout for help.”
She ignored him.
“Fine. If you insist we go here; I will have them shoot you on sight if you attempt to leave me.”
That had her spinning. She stalked back to stand before him, her heels slipping in the snow. “Are you fucking insane?” she hissed.
“Possibly.”
“You just threatened to kill me!”
He lazily stroked his knuckles up and down her arm. “It is out of character for me, but rest assured, it was an empty threat.”
She swatted his hand away. “How can you be so matter-of-fact about this? You know what? Don’t answer that. I don’t care. You will bring me back to the airport yourself. Right now.” The firm note she’d forced into her voice failed to do its job when a tremble overpowered it.
“No. I will not.”
“Yes, you will,” she insisted. “I can’t stay here with you. I don’t even know why you did this.”
“Because I wish to lose myself in you, Yasmeen. I need out of my head, and being inside you will get me there.”
She wanted to laugh again, but the sudden fear crawling all over her wouldn’t allow it. The heat snaking its way through her, she simply ignored. “Please stop this. It isn’t funny. I want to go home.”
“I am not trying to be funny. And you are not going home. You will relax once we are comfortable inside.”
Squeezing the leather of her purse, she felt her phone bite into her palm. She walked away again, digging it out as she went, and was relieved to see it was still over fifty percent charged. And go figure, she had service in the middle of Transyl-goddamn-vania. She called up her best friend’s name but realized something before she engaged the call. Yes, Miranda was her go-to, but Kristen was closer. Her other college roommate had left NYU after her first year to move to Paris. Romania and France were nearer each other than Romania and the United States. Fucking Romania. Was this for real? she thought as she hit Kristen’s number before bringing the phone to her ear with a shaking hand.
Nothing happened.
She brought it down and looked at the screen to see the call wasn’t going through.
“You can listen to music and amuse yourself with the few apps you have,” Lucian informed her. “But your sim card has been removed to ensure you do not get in touch with any distractions that might show up to annoy me.”
She fumbled the useless piece of technology and nearly dropped it. When she turned, she saw Sorin coming down the massive stone steps. As usual, his demeanor didn’t welcome any sort of interaction, but she rushed over to him anyway.
“Sorin?”
“Yes.”
“Will you take me to the airport, please?”
He exchanged a dark look with Lucian over her head. “I am afraid I cannot.”
“Why?” Her voice came out sounding small, and that bugged her.
“My boss will not allow it.”
“So