gotten my feelings hurt, they wouldn’t have to hurt me. I’d do it for them. Gladly.
He took a knife from his pocket, twirled it in and between his fingers with studied movements. “Mess with me and I will kill you.”
I nodded.
He cut through the duct tape holding me to one of the chairs from my office.
As soon as I was free, I was up. I was weak and wobbly, but I was on my feet. I took one unsteady step and launched my fist through the air at his face. He’d had it coming.
He ducked back, easily dodging my blow. He raised his free hand. A knife glinted in the lights of my bedroom. With a slight smile that did more to brighten his dark eyes, he lifted his hand and plunged the knife into my side. He pulled it out just as quickly. “Next one will be in your kidney. Find her. Now.”
Another streak of heat surged through me. Thick, warm blood slid down my side. I sucked in a breath as I pressed a hand to the wound. “You deserved it.”
He nodded as he handed me a towel. “Undoubtedly. But you are not my executioner. Move.” He pushed me ahead of him. “It’s a flesh wound. I made sure not to go all the way through. Five stitches and you will be good as new.”
I tripped as we moved from my bedroom to my office. Rafe was sitting at my fucking kitchen island, a bagel smeared with cream cheese in his mouth. He finished chewing as he watched me stumble across the hall.
“I’ll stitch you up when you find her. Chop, chop, son.” He stuffed another bite in his mouth, his dark eyes cold as a winter’s night.
Whatever rapport or social capital I’d earned with these men was down the fucking toilet. I was now an obstacle in their path to get Willow back. My Willow back.
Using the focus techniques I’d learned from too young of an age, I zeroed in on the task at hand. Finding Willow. I had to find her. Had to apologize. Had to save her.
My brain chose that moment to flare with a migraine that shut down all vision in my right eye. “I need some water,” I called to Massimo.
“I don’t care. Find her.”
I gritted my teeth as I tried to apply more pressure to the wound in my side. “That’s going to take longer now that I can’t see out of my right eye. Hangover migraine. Get me some water, an orange, and I’ll be good as new. I’ll start combing the system, but I’m telling you, I need those things. Now.” I pushed into the office, fell against the doorjamb with my bad side.
A high whistle of pain escaped my mouth as I lost control of the agony that flooded my body.
I pushed it away. Shoved it in a box for later.
Willow.
Her name became a chant as I sat at my computer and booted it up.
Willow.
Her face became the touchstone I kept in my mind’s eye to guide me.
Willow.
I’m a stupid fucking idiot, cupcake. And a stupid fucking childish one at that. Let me find you. One more time. Let me find you and I’ll never hurt you again. I’ll be everything you need me to be. Just give me one more chance.
Let me save you so you can save me.
We can save each other.
Chapter 38 – Willow
The sedative was working too fast. The slowly encroaching blackness of oblivion pressed on my mind. Taunted me with more failure. More death.
“Willow, you’re not trying hard enough,” Ethan said. His eyes were so full of disappointment. And something else. Something I’d never seen before in all of the five years of our marriage.
Enjoyment.
Somehow, someway, in the last eighteen months of being divorced, he’d found some kind of sick, twisted fun in torturing these women. He spent more time playing with his subjects this time around. Less time recording his precious data.
I wasn’t the focus of his attention. Or at least not completely. There were moments, longer spans of time than I could ever recall previously, that it was like I wasn’t even in the room with him.
I blinked once. The bastard had been right about the new serum. I could function better with it than any of his earlier concoctions. But that didn’t mean I would be able to save this poor girl.
When he’d left for his ritual lunch, he’d dropped her body on the floor like she was a used mop.