She stared back at him implacably. “You make it sound as though I’m going to be stuck here indefinite, Abram.”
He moved slowly from the other side of the room, his expression brooding as he watched her, intense. “It may be a while,” he finally told her. “And I don’t want to take chances.”
“I’m not staying here a while.” A frown jumped between her brows. “Call someone. Khalid or my father, either one could have a transport here to fly me out within hours.”
“And Azir will have you killed the moment he learns that a transport is heading in this direction.”
Paige stared back at him miserably. She couldn’t risk staying here. God, why had she left Khalid’s home?
“Tell me what I need to know, Paige, then we’ll fight over the rest of it later.”
Her lips thinned. She knew that expression on his face. The hard, steely-eyed expression that assured her he meant exactly what he said.
If she wanted to discuss going home, then she would tell him exactly what he wanted to know.
Once she got home, if he decided to resume whatever started here, then he would have to rethink these stubborn tactics of his.
“I only take the medication once every three months,” she finally told him, though she hated the necessity of it. “My last dose was just before your less-than-sane father had me kidnapped.”
Crossing her arms over her br**sts, she all but stomped to the couch positioned in front of the fireplace and plopped into the amazingly comfortable cushions. That comfort didn’t make up for the fact that the Abram she was facing right now was little more than a stranger to her.
“Now, when am I going home?” she questioned him.
“When it’s convenient to send you home.” He shrugged as though it didn’t matter, as though she were there for a friendly visit rather than being brought there forcibly.
“When it’s convenient?” she asked him carefully. “And when do you think it might be convenient to take care of that little matter?”
“Once I’ve satisfied my hunger for you?” He tilted his head to the side as he answered her with a question rather than allowing her to know exactly what was going on.
That wasn’t like the Abram she knew. Of course, there was always the chance she hadn’t known him as well as she thought she had.
“That’s not a satisfactory answer, Abram.”
His eyes were cool and hard. She hated that look, that impassive, emotionless look so similar to Khalid’s. A look that had been honed in the hellish existence where they had fought to survive, here in this foreign desert.
“That’s the only answer I have for you at the moment. But I will have some answers from you. How did Azir’s men manage to kidnap you?”
Paige crossed her arms over her br**sts as she leaned back in the couch and glanced away from him.
“I went home,” she finally answered, knowing it was the wrong time to become stubborn.
His expression tightened further, this time in anger.
“Are Khalid and Marty safe?”
She nodded jerkily. “They were at the Conovers’. Tally’s party.”
He closed his eyes in frustration before wiping his hand over his face and giving his head a brief, hard shake. When he looked at her again, he didn’t bother to hide the anger heating inside him.
“You were told to stay safe.” He growled as the irritation rose. “What happened, Paige? Don’t try to tell me Khalid attempted to throw you out either.”
Paige wanted to laugh at the comment, but the expression on his face didn’t exactly invite amusement.
Instead, she dropped her arms, her hands clenching into the the couch cushions as she leaned forward, her own anger surging inside her.
“Do you realize I’ve lost my job because of this mess?” she snapped back at him. One hand lifted to wave at his room to emphasize the situation. “I haven’t worked in over two weeks now, I have bills to pay and responsibilities to meet. Do you think I was meeting those responsibilities by playing the cowering puppy at my brother’s home? Do you think my landlord is going to just nicely wait for me to pay my rent?”
“Since when did your parents refuse access to your trust fund, Paige?” His tone was chillingly uncompromising and unforgiving.