Sweet Temptation

“Please don’t kill him, Chad,” she said in her softest voice. “I’ll go with you. I’ll be whatever you want me to be. We can be together. I won’t fight you. But don’t kill him.”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he stared at her, but the gun never moved. “I’m supposed to trust you? After you betrayed me by sleeping with him? You’ve been holed up here acting as his sex toy for weeks now.”

“I didn’t know it was you. You should have realized what a crush I had on you. Why do you think I went to you for help? But you ignored me. You treated me like a kid sister. Like David’s sister. What was I supposed to think?”

“Why do you care what happens to him then?”

Angelina glanced down at Micah and prayed he was still alive, that she could buy him enough time.

“He was David’s best friend. And if you kill him, you’ll go to prison for murder. How can we be together then? You’ll leave me just like Micah left me, like David and Hannah left me. I’m tired of being left behind, Chad. If you care for me like you say you do, then you won’t leave me either.”

His eyes flickered and he slowly lowered the gun. She held her breath as tension knotted her belly. Then he gestured toward the door.

“Let’s go.”

“I need my stuff. My clothes. It’s all upstairs.”

Suspicion glittered in his eyes again, and his lip curled upward in a snarl.

“Forget it. I’ll provide you what you need. For now we’re getting out of here.”

Swallowing back the stark terror that swelled in her throat, she took a step forward and made herself not look back at Micah. It would enrage Chad, and she needed him calm if she ever hoped to escape him.

He took her arm roughly with his free hand and kept the gun pointed at her side as they walked out of The House.

Sunlight accosted her vision and she winced, blinking away the brightness. She stumbled when he yanked her forward. How could this be such an utterly gorgeous day when her entire world had gone to hell in a matter of seconds?

“Get in,” he ordered.

She stood inside the open car door and everything inside her balked at getting into this vehicle.

Like the cop he was, he put his hand on her head and shoved her down into the car just like she was some criminal he was arresting.

The magnitude of her situation slammed into her brain with the force of a hurricane. She was being kidnapped by a lunatic cop. Crazy or not, he was a good cop. He’d be hard to find. He knew how cops thought.

She clamped her lips shut to quell the desperate moan that threatened to escape.

Think, Angelina. Keep your cool.

Chad slid in beside her, and to her relief his gun was at least holstered. To her dismay he clapped one cuff around her wrist and proceeded to secure the other cuff to his.

“Just in case you get any stupid ideas,” he said as he yanked her arm forward so he could start the engine.

“Where are we going?” she asked with fake calm.

He drove onto the highway, ignoring her question. There was sick determination on his face, and she knew no one was going to find them. If she was going to get out of this alive, she was going to have to do it herself.

Real calm descended over her. Her mind quit screaming. Her gut, which was knotted in worry over Micah, loosened, and she began to think. Really think.

Images from when David had taught her self-defense at the gym came to mind. He stood over her, making her repeat her moves until she was sore and exhausted.

You can beat anyone if you use your head. Intelligence always beats brawn. No matter how small you are or how big the guy, you can find a way to win, Angelina. You just have to outwit him.

Chad drove on, obeying all the speed limits. He was careful not to bring attention to them. He made all the correct stops. In fact he looked decidedly casual, one arm on the steering wheel in a nonchalant manner. He firmly believed he was invincible. He’d won. He’d gotten the girl.

Or so he thinks.

Somehow, someway, she was would escape. She only prayed she would get an early opportunity, before she had to endure whatever he had in mind for her.

CHAPTER 37

Micah stirred and was immediately assaulted by a rush of pain so intense that he gagged, which only made the pain in his head all the more vicious.

He tried to force himself up, but his arms and legs wouldn’t cooperate. Beside him, his cell phone lay on the floor, and he stared curiously at it as it wavered in out and out of his vision, so blurred he had to blink to try to bring it back into focus.

And then it came back, sharp, like a lightning bolt. Knowledge exploded through his head and he panted against the pain.

Angelina. Chad. Oh God.

He was an idiot. He’d trusted the wrong person and now Angelina would pay the price.