Stay alive, J.T. We’re coming.
14
HOPE STARED AT the tiny strip of cloth that masqueraded as a top and the matching linen pants that were, once again, completely see-through, and lost her temper.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” she fumed, lifting the offensive outfit with disgust. She hated that Anso was delighting in dressing her up like his own personal plaything and she could do nothing to stop him.
It was either wear the clothes he provided or walk around stark nude—which she had a feeling Anso wouldn’t mind in the least.
He was playing a strange game with her and she didn’t understand the rules.
She wasn’t accustomed to being judged by her looks. In her entire life, she’d never placed much value on such superficial things. In truth, she was a bit of a nerd, preferring to enjoy the quiet of the library or attend lectures on cellular function by leading experts in the field.
Dressing up was something she had to do for formal functions to impress donors. The social game had never been her strong suit.
Anso had her at a distinct disadvantage. Was she supposed to be coy and flirty to endear Anso to her side or would that only encourage him to take things to the next level, which he had already implied he was more than interested in doing?
She shuddered in revulsion at the idea of Anso touching her with so much as a pinkie finger, much less his entire body.
As much as she wanted to knock a tooth out of J.T.’s thick skull, she knew it would be a long time before she managed to scrub the memory of J.T.’s touch from her mind.
A pang of grief reminded her of his abandonment and she sniffed back the tingle in the back of her nose signifying that tears weren’t far.
Hope wouldn’t cry over him.
She barely knew him.
Sure, he’d saved her life twice, she’d saved his and they’d gone over a waterfall together, but she didn’t even know what his favorite food was or the color of his eyes.
Not true.
His eyes were a hazel green, similar to her own, except his sparkled with just a hint of trouble that was incredibly appealing.
She sucked in a tight breath and exhaled with a slow deliberate motion. Now was not the time to wallow in the memories of the past. Two days ago was hardly the past, a snarky voice inside her head quipped, but she pushed all thoughts of J.T. away.
J.T. wasn’t here to save the day. She had to save the day herself.
Except she had no idea how and she was woefully ill equipped to save herself, much less the day.
Hope lifted the tiny outfit and sighed with a resigned shake of her head.
Time to play dress up for the mad billionaire.
She supposed it was better to play his Barbie doll than his scientist because God knew he had terrible plans in mind for that role.
Tugging on the tight clothing, she gasped as her breasts bulged out the top, and she couldn’t help but grimace at the idea that she looked as though she were auditioning for the remake of I Dream of Jeannie as the linen pants clung to her hips and thighs, but flared at the ankle.
“I feel like an idiot,” she grumbled, shaking her head. “I’m glad to see my education has served me well.”
“I don’t know—I think it holds a certain charm.”
Hope gasped and whirled around to see J.T. emerge from her balcony with a strained grin.
Her first impulse was to jump into his arms, so grateful to see him, but then she remembered that he’d abandoned her and she stiffened with a scowl.
“What are you doing here?”
One dark eyebrow rose. “Um...rescuing you?” His gaze traveled her outfit, resting on her breasts, and she fought the urge to cover herself. “Although I gotta say...this is a bit confusing and arousing. Why are you dressed like that?”
“Like I would dress like this on my own,” she hissed, flapping her arms and tugging at the diaphanous material with disgust. “He makes me dress like this. It’s all part of his sick game.”
His grin faded and his eyes darkened. “And just who is this person?”
Someone who wants me to help him commit mass genocide! But she couldn’t exactly share that without going into further detail so she kept her answer closer to the surface.
“His name is Anso DeLeon. He’s some billionaire with too much time and power. He’s also crazy. He likes to dress me up like his own personal Barbie and it’s degrading as hell, so stop looking at me like I’m something you want to eat.”
“You do look delicious,” he admitted with a regretful sigh, but switched to business quickly. “Look, we need to get you out of here and we don’t have much time to do it.”
“I can’t leave without my pack,” Hope said stubbornly. “I have to find out where he’s hiding it first.”
“Hope, we don’t have a lot of time to mess around,” he said, impatient. “I’ve got transport coming, but we have to get out of here first.”
“I’m not leaving without my pack.”
“You and that goddamn pack,” he growled. “You willing to die for the stupid thing?”
She swallowed. “Yes. If it comes to that.” Hope couldn’t explain why. But it was her responsibility to make sure that no one was hurt by her research. And if that meant dying to do so, she was willing. Tanya had given her life; why wouldn’t Hope? “But I don’t want to die,” she added quickly. “Let me find out where Anso is keeping my pack. In the meantime, you can hide here in my room until I get back.”
He could tell she wasn’t going to budge, which was a good thing. No sense in wasting energy on useless tasks. Hope risked a small smile. “Thanks for coming back for me.”
“Of course. I told you I was coming back,” he returned gruffly, and she wanted to kiss his scruffy cheek. She felt safer already, even if it was an illusion.
Footsteps sounded and she ushered him into the expansive closet with a “Shhhhh,” seconds before her door opened and AnaMaria entered, gushing with praise as she gazed at Hope.
“Who knew hiding beneath those ugly tattered clothes was a beautiful, sexy goddess just waiting to emerge?”
A sexy goddess? Hope forced an awkward smile. How did one accept a compliment like that with any kind of grace? “Thank you,” she said, trying not to squirm with embarrassment knowing that J.T. was listening to this ridiculous conversation. “So, do you know what the plans are for today?” she asked, hoping to get some useful information for J.T.
AnaMaria smiled. “The master has fun plans for you today. You’re going to love becoming part of our family.”
Good God, and no, she wouldn’t. A moment of panic caused her to falter. “AnaMaria, you do realize I’m being held against my will, right?”
AnaMaria appeared confused. “Are you being mistreated? Are you not enjoying the master’s hospitality?”
“Being held captive in a gilded cage doesn’t make it any less of a cage,” she explained gently when AnaMaria remained unable to comprehend why Hope was being difficult. “I don’t want to be here and he won’t let me leave. That’s the definition of holding someone hostage.”
“He is so generous to buy you such fine things,” AnaMaria said, frowning with unhappiness at Hope’s comment. “You are very lucky and ungrateful.”
This conversation was going nowhere.
It was clear AnaMaria couldn’t understand why Hope wanted to get the hell out of there. Hope had to remember that she and AnaMaria came from two different worlds. Perhaps compared to whatever place AnaMaria came from, this was a huge step up.
“I’m not used to this kind of lifestyle,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “I don’t know how to acclimate to my new surroundings. I guess I’m struggling.”
At that AnaMaria smiled with dawning understanding. “When I first came, I was scared. Bu
t the master soon showed me that I had nothing to fear. He is a very smart man. And kind when you please him.”
Hope wondered what happened to the people who displeased Anso.
“Perhaps you could give me a small hint as to what is in store for me today?” Hope tried again with a small engaging smile. “I’m the kind of person who likes to be prepared.”
But AnaMaria shook her head, adamant. “My job is to bring you to breakfast. We’ve already spent too much time talking. Come.”
With a final backward glance, Hope followed AnaMaria out of her quarters and down the airy hallway to a beautiful open breakfast nook. The warm, humid air caressed her skin and the sultry scent of the Amazon jungle teased her senses. Under different circumstances, this compound could have doubled as a private resort.
But as she’d tried to tell AnaMaria, a cell with golden bars was still a prison.
Anso smiled with obvious pleasure when she entered the room, gesturing grandly for her to sit beside him. Hope gritted her teeth and took the seat that was offered, even though it was too close for her comfort.
Anso tapped his cheek and AnaMaria promptly kissed it. Hope wanted to vomit.
“Lovely girl, isn’t she?” Anso remarked with a possessive gleam in his eye as he watched AnaMaria leave the room. “Obedient and exotic. A perfect Amazon bloom.”
Gag me. Hope pinned Anso with a derisive look. “If you’re expecting me to kiss your cheek like that poor, misguided girl, you’re sadly mistaken. That will never happen.”
Anso chuckled, snapping his linen napkin onto his lap. “I rescued her from her village. She was filthy, dressed in rags and destined to marry a man three times her age until I intervened.”
“And how exactly did you do that?”
He shrugged with false modesty. “It was a relatively small thing. I simply offered her father more than the man she was supposed to marry.”
“And what is the going rate for a young girl these days?”
“In AnaMaria’s case, the cash equivalent of two donkeys, a goat and a pig. It was quite a bargain.”
Hope didn’t try to hide her disgust. “People should never be bought and sold.”
“AnaMaria is not unhappy with her situation. In fact, she is quite grateful. I saved her from a life of misery that would’ve ended only with her death. Ask her. She will tell you herself how happy she is here with me.”
Hope set her jaw. “Trading one type of slavery for another is no step up and you’re wasting your breath trying to convince me otherwise. If you truly cared about her welfare, you would’ve sent her to school instead of setting her up in your household to serve you and call you master, which is deplorable, by the way. What you’re doing is taking advantage of an ignorant girl who doesn’t know any better. Don’t try and package it any differently.”
Anso chuckled. “Ahh, Dr. Larsen, your fire and passion appeal to me. Life will never be dull with your sharp tongue. You will come to me in your own time. I can wait. However, in the meantime, we will discuss business.”
A new sort of dread filled Hope. “What sort of business?” Hope asked, being deliberately obtuse. “There is nothing that you and I have to discuss, as far as I’m concerned. Furthermore, where is my personal property? I expect my bag to be returned to me.”
“The contents of your bag are being carefully taken care of. Let us enjoy breakfast. One cannot think properly without a good breakfast.”
But Hope wasn’t hungry. If anything, her stomach was in a constant state of panic. The sick game Anso was playing was much like a cat toying with a mouse.
And she was the mouse.
“I’m an American citizen. You cannot hold me here against my will.”
“Tell me about the man you were traveling with,” Anso commanded, redirecting the conversation. He sliced into a ripe papaya and savored the fleshy fruit. “Is he your lover?”
The flare of her cheeks probably gave her away, but she maintained stubbornly, “That’s none of your business.”
“Ah, so he is.”
Hope seamed her lips shut. She did not want to talk about J.T. “My personal business is my own.”
“Everything about you is my business. You belong to me. Have you not figured that out yet?”
Hope sputtered. “I do not belong to anyone. Just because you’ve closeted yourself up in this jungle fortress, surrounded by simpleminded girls who are wowed by your wealth, doesn’t mean that I am snowed by your act. All the money in the world doesn’t change the fact that what you’re doing is illegal and immoral. And the first chance that I get, I’m going to take you down.”
Anso narrowed his gaze, and for the first time he lost the benevolent mask he wore for her benefit. “Careful, Dr. Larsen. I find that women are much more malleable after they’ve tasted the kiss of a whip. I am not above punishing a woman to remind her of her place.”
He wasn’t bluffing. Hope sensed in her bones that he wouldn’t hesitate to beat her if it suited his purpose. He had to keep her alive, but she could do her job with bruises just as well as dressed in finery.
That message came across loud and clear.
Mask back in place, Anso smiled. “Let me disabuse you of any fantasy you might have that your lover will come to save you. My men will find him and put a bullet in his head. If you care about him, you will pray that he abandoned you. Because I do not take lightly to anyone trying to take what belongs to me.”
Hope shuddered with true fear knowing J.T. was hidden in her bedroom. She had to believe that J.T. knew how to keep himself safe, but they were in the lion’s den and at any moment could be eaten.
“He’s not my lover, simply my pilot. If your idiot thugs hadn’t tried to shoot my plane down, I wouldn’t have been caught in the jungle with him. I was paying him to deliver me to my lab.”
Anso wiped his mouth with a slick smile. “My mistake. You remind me that only fools make assumptions.”
She returned his smile with a thin one of her own. “I hired him to do a job. So, there’s no need to chase after him on my behalf.”
“Indeed, but one must be thorough.”
Hope covered the chill bouncing down her spine with a delicate shrug. “That’s your concern. Mine is where you are holding my property. You are neither equipped nor qualified to handle what I was carrying.”
Her answer seemed to mollify him. Brightening, he gestured toward her. “Please, eat. We have a full day ahead of us. I mustn’t have the most brilliant gem in my collection lose her sparkle because she didn’t eat her breakfast.”
Eating was the last thing Hope wanted to do. And the idea of putting that food in her mouth made her physically ill. But she also knew that she needed to be able to think straight. And she couldn’t do that if she had low blood sugar. Smothering her revulsion for Anso, she coolly picked up her fork and began eating. She needed to refuel if she was going to get herself out of this mess.
But she took a moment to privately pray that J.T. had figured out a plan that would get them both to safety.
Don’t be a hero, J.T.
Don’t get yourself killed for me.
15
FOLLOWING BREAKFAST, ANSO led Hope to a new part of the complex. It was obviously something that had only recently been finished, as it still smelled of new drywall and paint.
Anso was obviously quite pleased with the results, as he gestured with great flourish for her benefit, exclaiming, “Welcome to your new lab. I have spared no expense in ensuring that you have only the best to work with. Please, what do you think?”
Hope stared in utter incredulous shock. Tessara Pharmaceuticals never scrimped on value for their scientists, however, this lab was something out of a scientist’s wet dream.
Of course, a madman with an endless stream of funds would be able to create the perfect sett
ing to complete his genocidal dream.
She stared, words failing her. “And what exactly do you expect me to do here?”
“I have been following your research very closely. Although you and Ms. Fields had cracked the code to make the virus viable, you had not yet determined how to efficiently disseminate the virus.”
“Because we never planned for it to be used in this way!” she shot back, aghast. “The idea wasn’t to create a weapon. There were supposed to be applications beyond destruction.”
“Your naivety is endearing and annoying at the same time. Your company has military contracts. Scandal is Tessara’s shadow. It is no secret that Tessara seeks out the most brilliant minds for their scientific foundation. Why do you think Tessara is so closely handfasted to your government? They have secrets worth protecting.”
Hope stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I know is that I did not create this virus in order to kill an entire tribe of people!”
“Your concern is duly noted. Now, what else will you need to aerosolize the virus? I trust the lab is everything you will need?”
Hope could only gape. He truly believed she was going to do his bidding? She would rather die first. “You can make me wear these stupid outfits, but you can’t make me help you kill people for your own gain.”
“I find that beauty and brains are rarely found together. You, Dr. Larsen, are a delightful contradiction to my observation. However, while it distresses me to think of marring that beautiful skin of yours, one must remain on target with one’s goals.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, feigning bravery. “You think that if you beat me, I’ll become more open to genocide? Sorry, you’ll have to kill me first.”
Anso reached out to caress her cheek and she flinched away from his touch. His gaze narrowed. “I can only imagine that your stubbornness is a complement to your brilliance, but I do not have time for your childish show of emotion. I will give you one day to consider your options. After a little education, I feel you will change your mind.”
At that Anso snapped his fingers and two hard-faced men shaped like gorillas on steroids appeared in ill-fitting white suits.
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