Change of Heart - By S.E. Edwards Page 0,29

flame flickering against his face. He squints his eyes, but I know he can’t see me yet.

“Penny?” he whispers softly. “Penny, you in here?” His voice rings hollow in the empty room. I debate not answering. The hesitation lasts only a second.

“Here,” I croak.

Rich looks up, and his eyes settle on me in the dark. He makes his way over, careful not to make a noise. Without a word, he steps behind me. I hear the scratchy sound of a knife cutting plastic, and feel the vibration up and down my arms.

“What are you doing here?” I hiss. I can’t turn my head back to look at him.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” he asks, repositioning himself to work on the straps around my shins. “Rescuing you.”

“Rescuing me?” I say. Unbelievable. “I’m only here because of you!”

He ignores the comment as the final PlastiCuff snaps free. He stands up and brings the Zippo close to my face, looking me over. “Are you hurt?”

“Aside from the frostbite in my toes? No, I’m just fine!” I spit.

Rich exhales and runs a hand through his hair. He looks as uncertain as I’ve ever seen him. “Look, you can be as mad as you want,” he says. “Later. Right now, we need to get out of here.” He walks to the door, and searches for the handle. Finding it, he pushes it down and carefully pulls it inward. Light shines in from outside. “Come on.”

Rich is halfway out the room before he noticed I haven’t moved. He glares back at me. “What are you waiting for?”

I cross my arms. I want nothing more than to get out of the cold. But, I know better than to be careless around Rich. “How can I trust you?” I ask.

He looks at me for a long moment. His eyes flash at me. Then he barks a crude laugh. “You can’t.”

“And you expect me to go with you?”

He closes his eyes and rubs at his forehead in irritation. When he opens them again, they’re afire with emotion. “Do you have any other choice right now?”

“No,” I concede. “But I could scream. If you’re not supposed to be here, Victor and the other guy will make sure you’re in as much shit as I am. And if you’re working with them—which seems so obvious given everything that’s happened—then you’re just trying to bait me into going somewhere I probably don’t want to be.”

Rich exhales loudly. He closes the door a quarter of the way. “God! Are you always this dense?” He grips me by the shoulders. “I’m risking a lot just being here. My life, in fact! But that’s not the worst of it.” He shakes his head. “Of course you don’t understand. I don’t expect you to. But I will say this—” his eyes darken, and his fingers dig deep into my skin, “—I am not working with those men.”

The conviction in his words is undeniable. But I already know how good a liar Rich is. “I’m not convinced.”

“If I were working with them,” he reasons, his voice a low growl, “would I need to sneak in through the fucking ventilation shaft to get you?”

“It could be an act,” I point out stubbornly. “Bait me into going with you to prove I’m uncooperative. Victor seems like the kind with a lot of anger inside. He’d jump on the chance to teach me a lesson.”

“Penny. Look at me.” Rich stares down at me and holds my gaze. For the first time, I notice that his eyes are red from lack of sleep. There are stress lines on his face that weren’t there before. They make him look older. No. Not older. Wearier. “I promise you, I am not working with them. Even if I were, it wouldn’t matter. You’re not supposed to be in any danger. You’re not the one they want.”

I blink. “What do you mean?”

“Think! Before you met me, did you believe anyone had reason to kidnap you?”

“No, but random crimes happen all the time—” I protest.

“They do not.” He gives a mocking snicker. “There’s always a motivation. You’re so naïve sometimes, Penny. But then I forget. You’re still very young, aren’t you?”

“And you’re a condescending asshole,” I snarl, twisting out of his grip. “I’ve gone through more shit in my life than would fit in two of yours. That’s not even counting this fucking disaster!”

Rich glares at me. For a second, I think he’s going to argue. Instead, he takes a deep breath and holds