Vampire Debt - Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,118
brothers heard you running up the stairs shouting for your little friend ten minutes ago. And I heard the waitress answering questions about a petite brunette in a black dress back on shore. Smart. We expected you to rush down to the restaurant.”
“Is this Theodore?” I asked softly.
He hissed. “So nice to be on first-name basis at last. I feel closer to you already.”
I bit back on a sob.
“Would you like to see your friend?” he asked next. “Crap lay, your bestie. One more day with her looking at me with that pathetic expression and I might’ve slit her throat. Maybe I’ll do you a favour and kill her anyway.”
My throat worked. “Kill her and you’ll never get to me. Stop the shit talk and show her to me. Then get on with whatever psychotic plan you have in place.”
Savage growls abruptly cut off.
“Careful, careful,” Theodore breathed down the line. “Let’s not forget who’s in charge. You may have a cunt dipped in gold, but from now on, you’re our whore. And because you’re a stupid whore, I’m going to spell the rules out clearly for you.”
“My Indebted would love to hear what you have to say,” I snapped back.
“So many lies, Basil. My brothers are on your property and can’t hear this conversation. That soundproof room of yours has come in handy. All Indebted, but the useless five I left on shore, are accounted for.”
I remained silent, listening in on the background. They were in an echoing room—maybe like a garage. I couldn’t hear Tommy or any sounds of struggle. Was she knocked out?
“Here’s what’s going to happen. After this call, you’ll go outside and inform your chauffeur that Tommy doesn’t need to be picked up tonight. Her boyfriend hired the entire boat and she is staying there overnight. Do you understand?”
My mind worked frantically. There had to be some way out of this.
“Last chance before she loses a hand.”
I clutched the base of my throat. “I understand.”
“Good,” he purred. “Now, you will meet us alone. In return, your friend lives. If you bring backup, inform Kyros, or if we’re ambushed at any time… well, you can guess the rest.”
“What’s my guarantee she lives? I’m supposed to trust that you’ll let her go? I’m not stupid.”
“Oh, but you are. Didn’t you hear me? You’re a stupid whore. Tell me what a stupid whore you are or I’ll carve my name in your friend’s pretty face.”
My chest seized, and the words flowed from my mouth. “I’m a stupid whore.”
Fred jerked beside me as though slapped.
Theodore’s laughter rang in my ears, and I just couldn’t give a fuck what he forced me to say. If they hurt Tommy, I wouldn’t make it in this life. That realisation made what might happen next almost insignificant.
The thought calmed me more than anything else had so far.
“Good girl. Want a look at her as a reward?” His cold laughter faded away as he turned the video on.
Pulling the phone away from my ear, I scanned the concrete room on the screen. A garage. I was right. At least five cars. Not a tower—too small. Private house, perhaps?
“Hey, Tommy?” Theodore sang, his voice echoing through the room now. “Say hello to your rich friend?”
They hadn’t bothered to tie her up. She’d thrown up at some point and lay in her vomit. In response to his question, she mumbled, a small frown between her brows.
“What did you do to her?” I said, fury shaking my voice.
“Whores don’t ask questions,” Theodore replied. “But I’ll answer this once. I know how stupid you are. We gave her a little mix of a few pills we had lying around. Doesn’t look like she’s reacted too well.”
A smirk that chilled me to my core spread across his face. He couldn’t see me or Fred, but I had to doublecheck because his almond-shaped hazel eyes seemed to bore into my own.
“Listen very closely,” he said, eyes gleaming with a twisted fever. “Because we don’t hand out second chances. You’ll meet us out the front of your property in thirty minutes. If Kyros is there, your friend will die. And it won’t be clean.”
I couldn’t fuck this up. Kyros couldn’t be part of this. Or anyone, barring Fred.
“That won’t work,” I told him. “I’m surrounded by Indebted, and Kyros can feel what I’m feeling. He could already be on the phone to them as we speak. They won’t let me out of this house.”