by Violet Howe
Bea raised an eyebrow and clasped her hands together.
“I’m simply doing what I was asked to do. If there are any changes, you’ll need to take that up with someone much higher up the ladder than me, I’m afraid.” She turned in dismissal and pulled a pink cosmetic bag from the suitcase. “Now, I’m told your desired toiletry brands are in here for your shower, facial care, and make-up. If there’s anything else you need, please let me know. Given the hour, I might be limited in what I can procure, but I’ll try.”
“No, I don’t need any toiletries or clothes, and I won’t be showering. If you’ll just speak to Victor, I’m sure he will tell you that I’m no longer accompanying him.”
She nodded and moved toward the door. “Very well, then. I’ll leave that between the two of you.
I waited only a moment before flinging the door open to follow her, unwilling to be left out of the discussion with Victor regarding my future.
The two of them stood in the dark at the end of the hallway, Bea’s murmured account of our conversation whispered too softly for me to make out any details.
Victor looked up and made eye contact with me as he patted Bea’s shoulder. “I’ll take care of it. Thank you.”
Walking toward me slowly with his hands in his pockets and his gaze on the carpet, he only looked up again once he’d come to a stop in front of me. He motioned for me to step inside the bedroom, but I ignored the request and stood firm in the hallway.
With a deep inhale and a long, slow exhale, he leaned his shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms, his exhaustion even more apparent than it had been before. The light from the bedroom fell across his face, which looked paler than I’d ever seen it. His mouth was drawn tight in a hard, grim line, and his eyelids seemed so heavy that it looked as though he might fall asleep standing up.
“I’m ready to go home now,” I said, my voice more timid than I’d intended. I crossed my arms to mimic his, lifting my chin and hoping I looked less scared than I felt.
Rubbing his hand roughly over his chin, he lifted his tired eyes to meet mine. I shivered at the steely determination I saw there.
“I can’t let you do that.”
He spoke quietly, but the force of his words knocked me a step backwards.
“Victor, I want to go home.” My voice was hoarse with fear.
“Sweetness, this might seem unpleasant now, but it will all be worth it in the end. I’ve told you there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, no lengths I wouldn’t go to, and if this is what it takes, then I’m willing to bear the brunt of your wrath now to keep our future intact.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head as his intentions became clear. “No! I won’t go. I won’t leave with you.”
He straightened, and the telltale muscle in his jaw pulsed as he spoke. “We’re meant to be together. You are my destiny, and I am yours. We will work through our issues as husband and wife. Hell, I’ll even agree to counseling, if that’s what you want. But there’s no way for our relationship to survive with you here and me across the world from you. We must be together for this to work.”
“It’s not going to work! I don’t love you. I don’t want to be with you.”
“You do love me, and eventually, you’ll remember that. I’ll make you remember how happy we were. You’ll see.”
The relief I’d felt before dissipated, and my mind reeled with the renewed direness of my situation. “It will be outright kidnapping if you make me get on that plane. I will fight you every step of the way.”
His shrug, though casual, seemed menacing, as though he’d already reached that conclusion and was fine with it.
“If that’s what it takes to have you by my side,” he confirmed. With a cold stare that gave me chills, he took a step toward me. “Look, you’re angry with me, I know. If I had more time, I’d give you the space you need. I’d court you. I’d take things slowly, proving to you that we can be who we were together. But circumstances dictate that I have to leave the country, and I have to go now. I’ve already delayed my departure far past what was prudent in my efforts to get you to agree to come with me.”
“What did it matter if I agreed when you plan to take me no matter what?” Even as I said it, I shuddered at his conviction and my fate.
He moved closer, and I tried to retreat, but my back hit the wall. He braced his hands against the wood paneling on either side of my head and leaned forward, his face inches from mine.
“I don’t want to take you against your will. I want you to desire our future together. I want you to remember what we had and to believe we can still have it. It would be my wish that you would come not only willingly, but eagerly.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
He reached to trace my bottom lip with his thumb. “I see now that it was too rushed. Too sudden. You haven’t had time to think things through. You haven’t had time to work through your anger and see past it. I knew you’d be resistant to picking up and leaving without any warning, but I’d foolishly hoped that when we saw each other, your love for me would be enough to get us on the plane and on our way.”
“Yeah, well, I guess you underestimated how much I loathe you right now.”
“Obviously,” he said, his mouth turning up on one side into an uneven grin. “And so, we move to Plan B, my love.”
It took everything in me not to lunge at him, to claw at his eyes and spit in his face.
“Is this the one where you just take me and hold me prisoner and prove you’re every bit the monster they described in that courtroom?”
His lips twisted and the muscle in his jaw began to flex again. “It is not my intent to hold you prisoner. You have my word that you’ll be treated with the respect you deserve as my wife.”
“I’m not your wife,” I spat out.
He arched an eyebrow and flicked his head to the side as if the statement were debatable.
“If you won’t come on the plane willingly, I’ll have you carried on,” he said, standing up straight as he shoved his hands back in his pockets. “But I will not let you go, and since I can’t return to this country once I leave it, I must take you with me and make things up to you once we’re safe.”
I pulled myself from the wall and shifted so that the stairs were behind me as I stepped away from him.
“Safe? How would I ever feel safe with you, Victor? If you would do this to me, how on earth would I ever feel safe? What else would you do to me once you force me on a plane and carry me to some godforsaken island?”
“I would never hurt you, sweetness.”
“You keep saying that, but you’ve already proven that’s a lie, like everything else.”
A flicker of anger flashed in his eyes, and he closed the short distance between us and grabbed my face in his hands, his gaze intent on my lips.
Shoving against his chest, I turned to run for the stairs.
I hadn’t heard Ned approach behind me, and crashing into him was like hitting a brick wall as he stepped forward to block my escape. His arms wrapped around me as he lifted me off the ground, and despite the pain from my still sore ribs, I began to kick and scream with every bit of adrenaline and strength I could muster. Ned held me tighter, grinning as though he enjoyed my predicament, and my stomach turned in on itself with a wave of nausea as the air was cut off from my lungs.
“Release her,” Victor growled behind me.
Ned’s grin faded. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, boss.” His arms closed even tighter around me. “She’ll just run again.”
“I said release my wife, now.”
Ned let go immediately, and I tumbled to the ground.
Victor came to my side to help me up, and I jerked my arm from his grasp. “Don’t touch me.”
I stood, crowded between Victor and Ned in the narrow hallway as I pressed my hands to my tender ribs and took in a ragged breath.
“Leave us,” Victor said to Ned, and then he pulled me into the bedroom and shut the door. “You
can spew your anger all you want, and I’ll take it because I deserve it, but you will leave with me, one way or another. We made vows. We pledged our lives until death do us part, and if there’s one thing you should know about my family, it’s that we never break a vow.”
“Your lies made those vows null and void, and the state of Illinois granted me a divorce that freed me from them.”
“We were joined together in the eyes of God.”
I laughed in disbelief. “Really? You’re going to bring God into this? Because I’m pretty sure murder is high on His list of things to avoid.”
“Enough!” Anger glittered brightly in his eyes, which were fully open and alert now. He grabbed my arms, his fingers digging into my flesh as he stood towering over me. “No more delays. I’m done pleading and reasoning. I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice.”
Sixteen
Fear gripped me, and I fought to hang onto my fury. “Do what? Tie me up? Carry me onto the plane kicking and screaming? Because that’s what you’ll have to do to make me go with you, and I’ll hate you for it. And don’t think for a minute that my family won’t come after you. They’ll never stand for this.”
“Texts will be sent to your family from your phone as soon as we’re in the air. They’ll be told you’ve decided to give our marriage another chance, and that you’ll be traveling but will contact them whenever we arrive.”
I shook my head. “They’ll know it’s a lie. They’ve seen what you did to me. They’ll know I would never leave with you.”
His dark grin was cold and calculating, and gooseflesh rippled across my skin in response.
“Love makes people do crazy things, sweetness. They never would have thought you would get married after knowing someone only two weeks, and yet, you did just that without even telling them first. Why would they question what you would do for me now?”
Guilt washed over me for the way I’d treated my family, and some part of me suspected he was right. They no longer trusted me. They no longer trusted my judgment. They probably would believe I’d left with him.
“Seth would know,” I said, clinging to a sudden hope.
His grin widened, and another wave of nausea hit me. “Would he now? You yourself told him you were willing to leave with me.”
“No. Seth knows me. He knew I was bluffing for him. He knows there’s no way I would actually go. He’ll come for me. He won’t stop searching until he finds me. Until he finds you! He’ll make you pay for this.”
Victor chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Really? He didn’t even follow you to Chicago when you were his, and you think he’s going to bother to leave the country for you now when you’re not? The last time he saw you, you were in my arms. You had your tongue down my throat and your breasts shoved against me, and I looked him in the eye as I cupped your beautiful ass in my hands and asserted my claim on you. He watched you walk out the door with me willingly.”
I shook my head, reviled at the memory of what I’d had to do in the motel room. “He knows I did that for him. He knows I did what it took for him to be safe. I played a part to get you away from him.”
“And you don’t think he has any doubts? You don’t think he wonders if perhaps you wanted to come with me?”
My facade faltered as his dart hit its target. Seth might doubt. He’d questioned why I approached him in the bar. He’d questioned several times during our circular escape whether I intended to meet up with Victor, whether I’d resisted him accompanying me due to my desire to be reunited with Victor. If I didn’t return, he might think I’d decided to go away with Victor, to reconcile and forgive.
But, no. Seth knew me better than I knew myself. He would know there was no way I’d leave my family like that. Especially not with Amy ready to give birth so soon. Seth would know I wouldn’t be willing to miss that.
Would he also know how much he meant to me? How good it had felt to reconnect with him over the course of the evening? Would he have any idea how much I wanted another chance with him? Had it felt as right to him as it did to me?
He’d told me on the dance floor he’d never gotten over me, that I was the reason his relationships since us hadn’t worked out. But he hadn’t said he loved me, and we hadn’t discussed the future at all. His focus had been getting me through the evening alive.
So, after all that had transpired, after all I’d done to him, would he still want me? Would he still fight for me? Would he come after me?
Or was Victor right? Would Seth simply assume I’d embraced insanity and run away with a killer?
“Ah, I see that you know I’m right.” Victor smiled at my discomfort.
“No,” I shook my head, refusing to accept that possibility. “You’re wrong. Seth knows me. He knows I wouldn’t go with you. He will find me, and he’ll make you pay for the hell you’ve put me through.”
Victor’s wicked smile faded, and his jaw tightened as the anger returned to his eyes once again.
“You’re still so hung up on him, aren’t you? Well, I might as well make that work in my favor. I won’t have to carry you on that plane, and you won’t fight me at all.” His voice was cold and his gaze even colder. “I can make you get on that plane easily, and yes, you may hate me for it, but I’m willing to risk that to have you by my side.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket and swiped his fingers across the screen before flipping it around to show me a picture.
Seth sat slumped in a chair, blindfolded and gagged with his hands still secured behind him.
I gasped in shock and reached for the phone, but Victor held it beyond my grasp.
“Where is he? He’s supposed to be safe. You told me you’d get him help once we left the hotel room.”
“He’s safe,” Victor said, sliding the phone into his back pocket. “For now. And I said I’d call for help once we were clear of the area, which—thanks to you and your delays—we are not yet. But the deal still stands. You come with me, willingly and without protest, and I guarantee the deputy won’t be harmed.”
My legs failed me, and I sank onto the bed. Nothing remained of the Victor I’d known and thought I’d loved. The man standing before me with his hands resting casually on his hips as he stared down at me was a killer. A monster. Ruthless and determined to have what he wanted. Me.
For the first time, I saw him clearly and without any filter or veil, and my stomach convulsed in disgust. Fear rippled across my skin in gooseflesh as the magnitude of his vileness struck me.
I knew without any doubt that Seth wasn’t safe, and neither was my family. The only hope I could give them, the only way I could have a chance of protecting them, was to do as Victor asked.
The weight of that truth crushed me, forcing all the air from my lungs. I opened my mouth to gulp in more, but my chest refused to expand, so I resorted to short, shallow breaths, which made me feel even more dizzy and lightheaded.
Victor showed no outward emotion as he watched me struggle to breathe, and finally, I gathered enough oxygen to force words out between my lips.
“Once we leave, how do I know you won’t go back on your word and kill him anyway?”
“You don’t,” he said, his voice still hard. “You have to trust me.”
I shook my head and closed my eyes against the tears that threatened to spill. “But I don’t trust you. I can’t trust you.”
He bent and placed his hands on the bed on either side of me. Opening my eyes, I found his face only inches from mine. I tried to draw back, but he grabbed my chin with a firm grip.
“Then let me make the choice easier for you,” he whispered. “Either you get on that plane, or I’ll have my men make him wish he’d never met you.”
My heart pounded so hard that the force of it thudded in my head, turning the room red with rage and terror.
“You really are a monster,” I spat out between gritted teeth.
“No.” He released my chin and stood to stare down at me. “I just meant what I said
when I told you I’d do whatever it took to have you. I’ve tried everything I can to do it your way, but you haven’t made it easy. So, now we’ll do it my way. Take a shower and get dressed in the clothes I provided.” He opened the door and stepped into the hallway. “Bea? Could you come here, please?”
A door farther down the hall opened. “Yes, sir?”
“I need my wife ready to depart in thirty minutes, so please assist her with whatever she needs.” He looked back at me. “Wear the burgundy dress. It’s always been my favorite color on you, and we’ll be making a stop along the way to meet with an associate I’d like to impress.”
Bea didn’t look at me or Victor as she came into the room with her head bowed. It would have been impossible not to feel the tension, but if she noticed it, she never let on. As soon as Victor left and closed the door behind him, she pulled a roll of tape from her pocket and held it up.
“I’ve brought a roll of waterproof tape to wrap your bandages so they don’t get ruined.”
She lifted my hand in hers to expose my wrist as she pulled at the tape with her teeth, and I didn’t even bother to resist. Defeat washed over me, and silent tears streamed down my cheeks as Bea tenderly wrapped my wrists and cut the tape.
When she had finished, she gave my right arm a pat and then went to turn on the water in the shower.
“I’ll give you a moment’s privacy for the shower, and then I’ll be back in to assist you.”
“I don’t need any assistance.” I huffed as I wiped away my tears.
“Very well.” Bea nodded and walked toward the door.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me and I couldn’t let her leave the room without at least trying.
“Bea?”
She stopped and turned with a sympathetic smile beneath her blue eyes and raised eyebrows. “Yes?”
“There is one way you could assist me.” I tried to recall any details I’d seen in the picture of Seth. “Can you tell me if there’s a room in this house with white walls and a wide gray stripe at about chair rail height running around the room? There’s a gray table in the center of the room.”
