Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,182

man had considered the odds, had calculated the best approach that would give them the winning hand.

Besides, they were stacking the deck with every outlaw gang they knew who could reach Bennett in time for the showdown.

As he heard the woman working on the front door’s lock, Judd looked around the room to make sure he’d been careful. Nothing out of order, nothing to disturb the dust and alert anyone that someone was staying there.

He moved silently, returning to the kitchen and taking out the supplies he’d need from the drawer where he’d stashed them. Plenty of rope. A gag he’d made by threading a thin collar through a small ball that must have been a dog’s toy. A corkscrew. A knife. A lighter and a fork. He put them on the kitchen table, then took up position in the exact spot that would keep her blind to his presence until it was too late.

The front door opened and closed. Stealthy movements, which meant she wasn’t supposed to be here. Wasn’t that perfect? If she wasn’t supposed to be here, no one would think to look for her here.

When she came within range, he moved, striking fast and just hard enough to stun her, just hard enough to keep her confused while he dragged her into the kitchen and secured her to the kitchen table’s legs. The moment she tried to scream, he shoved the ball gag into her mouth and secured it behind her head.

Grabbing her hair, he turned her head so that she could see him over her shoulder. “Are you clean?”

She stared at him, terrified.

“I’m going to play with you for a while. There are plenty of things I can use besides my cock if you have any diseases. So I’ll ask you once more. Are … you … clean?”

She nodded.

“Good.” Judd ran a gentle hand from her shoulder to her hip. “It’s been a long while since I’ve had a chance to indulge like this. A long while.”

* * *

* * *

Dina didn’t know how much time had passed. A few minutes? Hours? He’d done … things … to her. Terrible things. She had a feeling that places inside her were broken now, maybe forever.

She heard him return to the kitchen. She wanted to wail, wanted to scream out the fear. But she knew better than to make a sound, knew what he’d do. What he’d done.

She heard him move to the sink. Heard water running.

His hand came in sight, and in his hand …

“Want it?” he asked.

Water. A dog’s bowl filled with water.

He let her lap some water before setting the bowl on the floor, just out of reach. Another kind of torment.

“Time for us to talk.”

She said nothing.

He laughed softly. “Good girl. I’ll ask questions. You have permission to answer. You raise your voice … Well, you won’t be as valuable to me without your tongue, will you? You understand?”

Dina nodded.

“Say ‘Yes, sir.’ ”

“Yes, sir.” Her voice cracked.

She barely held on to the questions long enough to give him answers. Couldn’t remember what she’d said a moment later. But she told him everything she knew about the Sanguinati and the Wolfgard and that female deputy.

“Anything you want to say?” he asked. “This is your chance.”

Odd how she hadn’t remembered the rose quartz and turquoise pendant until that moment, hadn’t noticed the chain, which now felt like it was slicing into her neck.

“Abby was right,” she whispered.

He leaned toward her. “Say it again.”

“Abby was right. She said this pendant would draw dark things to me.”

He sighed, a sound so filled with satisfaction she hoped—oh, how she hoped—that he was done with her, that he would let her go so that she could find help because there were things inside her that were broken.

“Tell me everything you know about Abigail,” he said. “Everything.”

As his hands performed tiny tortures, she told him everything she knew about Abigail Burch. When she couldn’t think of anything else, he gagged her. Just before he left the kitchen, she felt a sharp pinch on the inside of her thigh. She heard the shower as she watched a red puddle slowly form under her.

He came back and crouched beside her, careful to avoid the puddle. “Still here?” He sounded … cheerful. “You know, I have a feeling that, except for the last cut, if this had been your idea instead of mine, you would have enjoyed it.”

A door opened and closed. A car started.

The light faded.

* * *

* * *

“I wondered when