my spine at the thought of meeting the man that has the power to order a guy like Ivan around. I chew on my bottom lip nervously as we wait in silence.
A few minutes later, I hear footsteps approaching from down the hall. I instinctively sit up a little straighter, wanting to seem less like a bug that this man can squish. Wringing my hands in my lap, I watch as the door opens, and a tall man, wearing a black tailored suit, appears. He’s not as large as Ivan, but his dark eyes tell me he can cause just as much damage and mayhem… maybe even more than him.
His eyes are downcast, reading something on a paper he is holding as he steps into the room. He looks angry, almost furious, like he is about to yell at me, maybe beat me or worse.
“You interrupted my family dinner, little girl,” he growls, his voice dripping with annoyance and hatred… hatred for me. He throws the stack of papers on the table in front of him and looks up at me.
Dark eyes connect with mine, and for a moment, I’m so scared, I forget to breathe. Then, something weird happens. An emotion I don’t understand flickers in his gaze… pity? His eyes soften, but not much, and they swirl from pitch black to stormy cloud gray.
He takes the seat next to Ivan, never taking his eyes off of me. His stare is so intense, it makes me even more uncomfortable than I already am. It’s like he’s inspecting me, trying to figure me out. I do my best not to squirm in my seat, but that’s a little hard with two of the most intimidating men I’ve ever seen sitting before me.
After an awkward moment of silence, he starts talking. “Dove, is it?”
“Yes,” I answer before asking, “Who are you?” I don’t know where this burst of confidence comes from, but I kind of like it.
He raises one of his eyebrows and leans back in his seat as if he is just getting comfortable. Maybe I should’ve kept my mouth shut. Screw my newfound confidence. That shit is going to get me killed. I need to be quiet like a mouse to get myself out of this.
His lips twitch up into the tiniest smile before he introduces himself. “Xander Rossi. And you, Dove, are at my compound. I expected you to tell Ivan the truth. We did save you after all, didn’t we?”
“I didn’t lie,” I start to defend myself, but Xander holds up his hand, shutting me up.
“You told us you were kidnapped at the hospital, but your employer reported you missing a week prior to that. There was a police report stating that your apartment was broken into, nothing of value was taken, but it was ransacked like someone was looking for something.”
“My apartment?” I question as if that’s my biggest issue right now. “I-I can explain.”
“Explain then,” Xander growls a warning in his tone, “Better make it good.”
“I didn’t lie. Everything I said happened… I just didn’t tell you what happened before that. I didn’t think it would matter.” I shrug. “And I really just didn’t want to talk about that part.” My lips tremble as I speak, and if I didn’t want to make myself look weak, I was doing a really shitty job of it.
“What happened before?” Xander asks, cocking his head to the side as if the newfound angle well help decipher what I’m saying better.
“This is probably going to sound like a lie, but I swear it’s not. I was kidnapped… twice. One time from my apartment and then a second time from the hospital, but the first time it wasn’t Christian. It was…” I pause, wondering if I can tell this part without starting to cry. I don’t want to, but tears are already dwelling in my eyes. Blinking the tears away, I continue, “His name was Zane. He kidnapped me first, but not to hurt me. He just wanted to keep me safe.”
“Zane?” Xander says his name as if he’s tasting it. He and Ivan exchange a glance, then he turns back to me and asks, “Who is Zane to you?”
“We both grew up in foster care. We were in the same home at one point. A bad one.” My voice breaks at the end, and I’m no longer able to hold back the tears, no matter how hard I try. The memories of that time rush forward, the memory of