Entranced (The ROGUES Billionaire #1) - Tracie Delaney Page 0,76
last time. A little stooped, head bowed, a balaclava covering his cowardly face. Except unlike last time, I paid attention. I took note of the tuft of hair peeking out from underneath the mask—a dull brown—of his eyes peering through two peep holes—green—of his height, weight, the clothes he wore. Anything that might help to track down this motherfucking bastard when I got out of there.
Because I will. You can bet on it.
“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice a gravely rasp as though he’d smoked twenty cigarettes a day for years. Accent… definitely New York. Slightly dulled. Maybe he’d lived out of state for a while? But yeah, this guy originated from my hometown.
And anyway, what kind of a dumb fuck asked a kidnapping victim who they’d chained to a pipe and forced to pee in a bucket if they were okay?
“No, I’m not fucking all right,” I snapped. “I want to go home. I demand to go home.”
My captor pulled over the wonky chair from the corner of the room and set it in front of me, but not close enough for me to grab with my free arm. Hmm. Not so dumb after all.
He sat and crossed his legs. “I’m sorry it’s come to this.”
I frowned. “What? What’s come to this?”
He offered up a watery smile. “I’m not going to hurt you. If you behave.”
“You’ve already hurt me, asshole,” I spat. “You stuck a needle in my neck. For all I know, I could have HIV, or hepatitis. You bundled me into a car, and you’ve kept me chained up here against my will. Do tell, what’s your definition of not hurting me?”
I had no idea what made me so brave, to use such incendiary language. But I refused to cower.
“I am sorry. But it’s necessary.”
I shook my head. “I don’t get it. You’re not making any sense.”
“I’m owed. He owes me.”
“Who? Who owes you? What do they owe you?”
His chin dipped to his chest. “My life.”
Okay, this dude was either stark raving nuts, or… yeah, I had nothing. He’d clearly lost his mind.
“You’re going to have to give me more than that.”
“Your brother,” he snapped—the first flash of emotion I’d seen shooting from his eyes.
“Elliot? What’s he done?”
“He ruined my life. And now the time has come for him to pay his dues.”
“How did he ruin your life?” I asked, genuinely interested in the answer. There was something almost pathetic about this specimen. He wasn’t a scary monster. A little creepy, maybe, but far from the evil, violent kidnapper I’d built him up to be.
“What do you care?” He stood.
“Wait,” I said, not wanting to be left alone. “Please sit down. Tell me. Maybe I can help.”
He chuckled. “You are helping. You, my dear girl, are going to net me a very large sum indeed. Fifty million dollars to be exact.”
My jaw slackened. “That’s insane,” I whispered. “Elliot won’t pay that.”
“It’s nothing more than pocket change to him, and he’ll damn well pay it if he ever wants to see you alive again.”
I jutted out my chin. “You won’t hurt me. You don’t have the guts.”
He leaned into my personal space, his breath smelling of a hint of garlic that he’d tried to mask with mints. I pressed my spine flush to the damp wall.
“Don’t be so sure,” he said. “It isn’t my intention to hurt you, but underestimating me would be a mistake. I’ve given your brother twenty-four hours to come up with the money. For every hour beyond that, I’m going to send him a finger.” He grabbed my unshackled wrist. “Such pretty hands, too.”
Okay, for one thing, coming up with fifty mil in that amount of time was nigh on impossible. And secondly, I’d completely misread this guy. I pegged him for harmless crazy, but now, up close, he almost appeared sinister. I remember reading a story about a survivor of a kidnapping once. They said something about humanizing yourself because if you force your captor to see you as a real person, rather than a means to an end, it makes hurting you much harder.
“Please, tell me what Elliot did to you. Whatever it was, he had no right. I’m not like him.” Forgive me, brother.
“I believe you,” my captor said hoarsely. “I think you’re a good girl. Not like him. But don’t think that means I won’t do what’s necessary, because I will.”
He placed the chair back in the corner of the room and went over to the door. He