You’re in love with him, and he probably thinks he has feelings for you.
Fucking sick.”
I try to scramble away from him when he lunges, but he’s too quick.
And too strong-he wasn’t scrawny, to begin with, but he’s bulked up a little since we first met.
I didn’t notice.
Even if I did, why would I have cared?
I didn’t know he was doing it so he could be strong when it came time for this.
He picks me up, both arms around my waist, and I kick and scream and claw at him while he carries me to my room.
“Loosen up,” he pants close to my ear.
“You might even enjoy it.”
I hit the bed hard enough to knock the air from my lungs, but I recover fast.
“Don’t do this!”
I beg, but he only climbs onto the bed.
I kick out blindly and connect with his stomach.
It’s enough to stop him-he doubles over, one arm across his midsection.
I fight my way to the foot of the bed and jump off, then make a run for it.
It would be easier if we stayed here, where Zeke could find us, but I don’t know how long that will be, and he’s coming for me.
I hear him pounding down the hallway.
“You’re gonna bleed for that!”
He reaches me before I can unlock the door, and I scream when his arm encircles my waist again.
Now he clamps the other hand over my mouth, covering it along with my nostrils.
I can’t breathe because he’s suffocating me.
I tried to dig my nails into the back of his hand to make him loosen up.
“You can’t do things the easy way, can you?”
he grunts, hauling me across the room and dumping me on the sofa.
“Please, please.”
I’m on my back, trying to get up, to get away, but he looms over me.
Then he pulls his gun, aiming it at my head.
“Maybe I’ll let him show up and find out he was too late,” he mutters before grinning in triumph.
“How about that?”
I’d answer, but I’m too scared to speak.
Besides, a soft, high-pitched beeping noise catches my attention before I can react.
The alarm.
Zeke disarmed the alarm from outside.
And Dean didn’t hear it.
Too busy planning to kill me.
“I’m a victim in this, too,” I remind him, desperate to stall for just another minute.
“Don’t punish me for that.
These things happened before I ever-“
He didn’t hear the alarm disarming, but there’s no way he couldn’t hear the door being unlocked.
He spins around, aiming the gun at the door now.
The only thing I can think to do is scream.
“Zeke!
Gun!”
Chapter 33: Zeke
33
ZEKE
Mia Casteel owns my soul.
She might have saved it by showing me I’m more than a cold, unfeeling hitman.
More than a bodyguard.
And by screaming my name at the last second, she might have saved my life.
When I hear her scream, I pivot, pressing my back to the wall beside the door while it swings open.
A bullet hits the wall across from the doorway, one that would’ve gone through me if I hadn’t moved.
I pivot back, my own Glock drawn, and I aim it into the room.
He’s not aiming at me anymore.
His gun is pressed to Mia’s temple, her body in front of his.
“I should’ve known somebody like you would use a woman as a human shield,” I mutter.
“Like I told you.
This is between us.
She has nothing to do with it.
Let her go, and we’ll handle this like men.”
“But she is part of this.”
She whimpers when his hand brushes against her chest before taking hold of one of her tits and squeezing.
“How does it feel?
Knowing there’s nothing you can do.
I’m going to fuck her.
I’m going to take her right in front of you.”
“Not if I kill you first.”
“And if I pull this trigger?”
He jams the gun against her head, and she whimpers again.
The sound is like touching a match to gunpowder.
I want nothing more than to watch him die.
“That’s all it would take.
You should know that by now.”
I don’t have a shot.
There isn’t enough room.
I could easily hit her.
How can I get him away from her?
Someone must have heard the shot.
Have they called the police?
Is anyone even here?
“I didn’t know you were there.
At the motel.”
This is all I can do.
Distract him, and hope he makes a wrong move that gives me a chance.
“I didn’t know.
I was given a name and a location.
That was it.”
“You expect me to feel sorry for you?”
His laughter is tight, high-pitched, and crazy.
“Try again.”
“I’m just saying.
I’m sorry you had to see that.
And I’m sorry for whatever you went through after, I really am.
But you have to know the man I killed-your dad-wasn’t a saint either.
He made some pretty bad choices.”
“So he deserved to die?”
He holds her a little tighter, squeezing harder.
“All because her old man said he should?”
“I know how it sounds.
I do.”
I inch closer to them, almost holding my breath.
“You want to punish someone, then take it out on me.
Here and now.
You wanna beat the shit out of me, you wanna beat me to death even, fine.
But leave her out of it.”
“No.
That’s not going to happen.
Haven’t you been listening?”
He sticks out his tongue and runs it along her earlobe, and all I see is rage.
Blinding, white-hot rage.
Something has to end this.
And all of a sudden, I think I know what it will be.
I look Mia in the eye.
Understand me.
Just this once.
“Sandbag.”
“What?”
Dean snaps.
He doesn’t have to wait long to find out.
Mia slumps like she fainted.
Her legs are like jelly, knees loose.
It’s enough for Dean to react in surprise.
Which is all I need, even though my aim’s off slightly, thanks to him bending to pull Mia back to her feet.
The shot hits the bicep of his dominant arm-he drops his gun, grabbing his arm with the other hand.
Mia drops to the floor, safe for the moment.
Before I can fire again, he throws himself at me, hitting me low, knocking me off balance.
I manage to maintain my hold on the Glock.
He grabs my wrist, twisting it, trying to loosen my grip.
And all through this, he screams.
Roars.
It’s pain, it’s rage, it’s years of wishing.
Fantasizing about what he’d do if he ever got a hold of me.
This isn’t the way it played out in his head.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.