Shot in the Dark (Blackbridge Security #2) - Marie James Page 0,54

how many turns we make and in what direction, but I’ve never been to Des Moines before tonight. I don’t know a damn thing about where I’m going. Hell, I couldn’t tell you the name of the hotel I was staying at because I was dead tired when I checked in.

It seems like we’re only driving for a couple of minutes, but it could be hours or vice versa. My head is spinning, and I’m dangerously close to getting sick when the engine dies. I prepare to kick and scream the second he opens the car door, but he must be a genius because he doesn’t come at me from that end. Instead of opening the door at my feet, my attacker opens the door at my head, pulling me out of the car with ease and hoisting me over his shoulder once again.

A door beeps, and the cool night air is replaced with warmth. As I jostle along, ready to give up and just let whatever is going to happen, happen, I think about Simon. He betrayed me tonight, but that doesn’t mean I hate him. People get fooled by people pretending to be good all the time. It shouldn’t make a difference for animals. More tears are forming when I wonder if he’s going to be okay. Will housekeeping find him? Will they send him to a shelter or take him home? Will he find a new family? Will he miss me? Or will I be forgotten the second someone shows him a metal bowl full of food?

I’m utterly defeated by the time I hear a second door beep. Not a split second later, I’m tossed onto a bed with a bounce. Hands touch my calves, and I do my best to kick them away. A chuckle fills the room and it makes me pause. I scramble until I’m halfway sitting up, halfway lying with my back against what feels like a headboard, and I realize if I concentrate enough, I can see shadows passing in front of me.

Is he pacing? Having second thoughts? I spend an ungodly amount of time urging the gag out of my mouth with my tongue, and when it finally falls free, I take a breath of air so large, it makes me bend over wracked with a cough.

A warm hand touches my back and it freaks me out.

“Did you think it would be that easy to get away from me?”

My pulse is pounding because the voice is familiar, but my heart rate won’t slow enough that I can actually determine who it is?

“J-jones?” I manage, but he doesn’t confirm.

He’s FBI. Wouldn’t it just be easier to kill me and dump my body in the river or something? I’m hours from home with only fake IDs. It’s not like the cops are going to work that hard to solve a crime, plus I’m sure he’s got years of experience in shit like this, right? He’s a criminal mastermind. He’s hurt people. He’s hurt people’s families, their children. The man has no moral compass to speak of.

The hand that was touching my back returns, only this time he pulls my restraints from my wrists. Next the hood over my eyes is tugged free, but I’m terrified to open my eyes. Cool air meets my face, making the tears on my cheeks seem like just another punishment.

“I haven’t seen your face,” I assure him, eyes squeezed tight. “Please don’t hurt me. I won’t tell anyone. Take all my money. It’s yours.”

Instead of agreement or denial, a low chuckle fills the room.

The laugh is more than familiar. It’s something I’ve heard in my ear more than a hundred times late at night while at home. But it’s impossible. I’ve never been lucky enough.

I crack one eye open, and every emotion a person could go through in their entire life rushes over me in a split second when I see Wren fucking Nelson standing down at the end of the bed with a wicked grin on his face.

“Hey, baby.”

I freak out when something alive touches my hand, squealing like a crazed person before looking down to see Simon falling to his side to be petted. Only then do I look around the familiar room to realize he brought me right back.

After he abducted me…

Chapter 23

Wren

Her face goes from confusion to anger in the blink of an eye.

“Hey, baby? That’s what you have to fucking say?” Her voice is low, deadly, but she’s not being loud enough to