that to her. I decided that soon after coming up with the idea.
“He took her to a doctor to give her a birth control shot so it wouldn’t work.”
My brain rattles with rage.
“He did what?”
“While she was getting that shot, a tracker was inserted.”
Tobias is already dialing Joseph when my phone dings again.
Lucas: Okay wait. I should ask my question differently. Maybe then you’ll tell me. Because I think I can guess the answer. So maybe a better question is how much? How much do you love your wife, Brother?
28
Cristina
I wake to the distant sound of glass breaking. Disoriented, I rub my eyes and look across the room toward the empty bed as the fog clears my brain.
Scott’s bed.
Remembering where I am and why, I sit up.
The blanket falls away and I’m surprised that I fell asleep so quickly. So easily.
I don’t know what time it is because there isn’t a clock in here, but it’s still dark out. I hear footsteps outside my door and swing my legs over the bed.
It must be Damian come for me.
The door opens as I stand up. A man steps into the room.
“In here,” he says.
Dark forms move in the direction of my bedroom. Two. I recognize one and it sends a shiver along my spine.
Because it’s not Damian.
“There she is,” Lucas says in that tone of his, the one that sounds like we’re old friends. The mocking one.
I swallow and back up a step but knock into the nightstand.
“What are you doing here? How did you know I was here?”
His eyes scan me, and I remember what I’m wearing. A little tank top nightie that doesn’t hide much.
“My brother sent me to get you. Bring you to him,” he says, meeting my eyes again.
I study him but can’t read his expression.
He steps deeper into the room until he’s only a step from me.
“Where’s Joseph?” I ask.
“Downstairs.” He looks me over again. “You were sleeping.”
I look down too, cross my arms in front of myself before meeting his eyes again. He’s too close. I lean back only to feel the lamp at my shoulders. I’m out of space.
“I want to call him,” I say when I see the phone in his hand. “I want to call Damian.”
He shrugs a shoulder. “Sorry, it’s out of charge.” He puts it into his pocket. “My brother has all the luck,” he says. It’s quiet for a long minute while he watches me, wiping something from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, eyes narrowing slightly like he’s thinking. Planning. If he comes even a centimeter closer, we’ll be touching.
My heart races because he’s not here to take me to Damian. I know that.
“You don’t scream at the sight of me anymore. Why not?”
I want to tell him it’s because the outside isn’t nearly as scary as the inside, but panic is setting in. This is bad. Very bad. I feel it in my gut.
He cocks his head and I feel one hand span my lower back. He tugs me to him.
I yelp, hands flying to his chest. He’s big, like Damian. And he proved how much stronger than me he is at my uncle’s apartment.
“Lucas—”
“Tell me why you don’t scream.”
“Please.”
“Tell me.”
“Get off me.”
“Why does my brother get to have everything he wants, and I get stuck with this face? Because I admit, I want the pretty girl too.”
“The rules say you can’t touch—”
He snorts. “You think I give a fuck about any rules.”
“Let me go!”
“Boss,” someone says behind us.
“Yeah.” Lucas doesn’t turn.
“It’s all set to go.”
“You mean to blow,” Lucas says with a strange look. The man only chuckles. “Get out and close the door. I need a minute with my sister-in-law.”
Without a word, he’s gone, and the door closes behind him.
“Get on the bed,” Lucas says, releasing me.
“What?”
“Get on the bed.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“Lucas—”
“Get on the goddamned bed!”
His tone is so sharp that without a thought, I drop to the edge of the bed.
He looks down at me and I try to not look away from him. I try not to look at his crotch, which is at eye level.
“Put your feet up.”
“What?”
“Your feet on the bed. Pull your feet up on the bed.”
I do, setting my knees between us, but it’s clearly not what he wants because he grips them and forces them apart, pushing me back onto my elbows when he does. My nightie rides up to my belly and he keeps hold of me, looking at me. At my spread legs.