front of my teeth, scrape my tongue against the sharp edges and grin.
“Not if I gave him the perfect excuse to claim the security system was malfunctioning by tripping all those false alarms.”
Son of a bitch. He was going to play this off as if someone broke into his house and abducted his wife.
Soon, Adeline’s face would be all over the news, her abusive fuck for a husband crying and begging for her safe return. I wondered briefly how he would explain his busted knuckles.
Although most would consider this a bad turn of events, I see it as opportunity. It only means Grant won’t be arrested any time soon, and he’ll be out there unprotected in the world where I can eventually find him.
I tap a few more buttons, returning to the camera monitoring the foyer to see Grant handing the police Adeline’s burner phone.
It would concern me if the number on it had been my actual phone. But, all they will find by investigating that particular phone is that it’s a cheap throw away, paid for in cash, with a fake name attached to it. Still, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Crossing the room, I pull open a drawer and fish around for the phone. Hitting the button to turn it off, I notice a text before it powers down.
Adeline: Help Me
A new surge of fury explodes through my body to see she reached out for my help.
I shut the phone off to prevent tracking and drop it back in the drawer.
“The only choice I have is to wait this out. A few months, if need be.”
It feels like too long a wait, but I’m a patient man. If it takes years to finally have a clear path to Grant, I’ll do it. This was never about him anyway.
It was always about her.
I have what I want.
Revenge for what he did to her is secondary.
When I turn back, Lincoln is standing with his arms crossed and his back braced against the side of the piano. His expression says it all. I’m in a seriously fucking bad situation, one he’s been warning me about for years.
No longer am I just an assassin and a stalker, I can now toss kidnapper on the list.
“What are you going to do with Adeline?”
“Keep her,” I growl as I head to the wet bar to pour a glass of scotch. Slamming it, I pour another.
“She’s not a stray pet, Ari. They don’t have babysitting services for abducted women while you’re out on a job.”
I grin at his comment. “Your services have worked out pretty well so far.”
Intelligent brown eyes pin mine from across the room. Between us, the place is littered with proof of the years I’ve watched Adeline. It’s littered with proof that I’ve intentionally fucked with her life.
The sun is rising outside the large windows, and it casts brilliant color over all that evidence, like fiery spotlights of accusation on each photo, each instrument, and over a bookshelf filled with everything she’s ever read.
Sadly, that’s not all of it. Only what can be easily seen.
“So, what? You’ll just keep her locked in a room until she comes around to the idea that she now belongs to you?”
Swallowing, I clench my fingers over the glass. “If I have to.”
He shifts his position, crosses an ankle over the other. “You’ve lost your fucking mind.”
He doesn’t know the half of it. The truth is, I lost my mind on the night I first saw Adeline. What’s occurring now is that fate has handed me a shovel and is forcing me to dig my hole deeper.
As much as that’s been happening, I’m already halfway to the other side of the world.
But Adeline will come around.
She has to.
Because there is no other choice I’m giving her.
The sun rises higher, and my energy wanes. I need sleep if I’m to deal with Adeline’s reaction when she wakes up in a strange room, her face so swollen she can’t see.
But she will recognize my voice, and I hope it’ll be enough to calm her down.
“You can take off,” I say to Lincoln as I set my glass down and make the decision to take a nap in Adeline’s room so I’m there when she wakes. “Thanks for helping me out tonight.”
Lincoln slaps my shoulder as I pass him, a low grunt sounding in goodbye before he dips down the hall toward the elevator.
After going in my room to change into a pair of loose sleep pants and a t-shirt, I