Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 105231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Do not gag.
“That’s right.” She forced a smile. It probably didn’t look pretty, but he seemed appeased.
Reaching out, he cupped her cheek again. Why did his touch make her shudder and want to vomit when Travis’s touch just made her melt?
“My beautiful girl, how I’ve missed you. I sat in that hellhole in Nigeria and thought of you, dreamed of touching you, tasting you.”
Dear Lord. She was going to throw up.
Do not do it.
Deep breaths. Nope. That hurts your lungs.
How would they get out of here? How would Travis find them? Actually, it was probably for the best that he didn’t. The compound was protected and every man here was armed. Travis could get himself killed.
That was the last thing she wanted.
“After my release, I found you had fled and I was so furious. I nearly lost my mind. I immediately tasked my men with finding you. But we discovered the name you gave me was wrong. Why would you do that?”
Oh bloody hell.
Couldn’t she catch a break?
She shifted in her seat, trying to get more comfortable.
Bad move. Pain engulfed her as the world spun slightly. Was that due to the drugs she’d been given? Exhaustion? The pain?
All three?
“I didn’t mean to,” she said. “It wasn’t technically wrong. It’s the name I used for years while working. My grandmother’s maiden name. You know I consider her my only family. But when I went back to the states . . . well, I wanted privacy. So I used my other name.”
He narrowed his gaze as he studied her. “So it wasn’t to hide from me?”
Caren forced herself to gaze at him innocently. “Why would I need to hide from you? I thought you wanted me gone.”
“Yes, yes, of course.” He nodded.
“How did you find me, though?” she asked hesitantly.
“I hired someone who is good at finding people . . . their software discovered the photos of you in the tabloids after your exhibition in New York. You were pressed up to another man.”
There was that dangerous glint in his eyes again.
Be careful.
“Oh yes. I grew up with him.” She didn’t want to say too much about Travis.
“Grew up with him? That looked like something more.”
“Did it?” she said. “So you sent some guys to get me? How . . . how did they know I’d be at that appointment with my agent?”
“Oh, the tracker I hired gave me your agent’s information. When my men arrived in New York, they thought they might be able to simply grab you, but you always had company.” He sent a look at Tyler. “And you were never at your apartment. Were you?”
Shit. Fuck.
He knew about her relationship with Travis. But she decided to ignore the questions in his voice. “Did they . . . did they use Oliver to get me to that meeting?” She remembered now that he’d changed it suddenly.
“I suppose so. I don’t know the ins and outs. Just know that they figured using the agent to get to you was the easiest way.”
But there was security in that building. How had they gotten in? Oliver would have had to put their names on the list . . . unless someone else had.
Oh God.
Isabel? Could she have helped them? But why would she do that?
How had they snuck them out of the building, though? There had to be another exit. Maybe Isabel hadn’t helped them. Perhaps they’d come in a back way and then threatened her and Oliver until they had no choice but to call her and have her come in to the meeting a day early.
That could explain it.
“What happens now?” she asked, glancing briefly at Tyler.
“Now, you rest, my princess. I’ve got a special visitor coming tomorrow. And then you are going to be mine forever.”
Oh God.
She didn’t like the sound of that.
At all.
44
“I’ve just been sent some footage from the building where your girl and brother were kidnapped,” Hunter said, walking into the shack that they were using as a base of operations.
They’d managed to pick up the tracker signal after landing, thank fuck.
Now they were hiding out in a small village that was close to the compound without being so close that they’d gather a lot of attention.
Still, he didn’t like this. Someone could alert Aadan to the fact that they were here. And they still didn’t know how to get through the security at the compound.
This part had been Miranda and Charles’s idea. But Travis didn’t like following other people.
He was the leader. He made the decisions.
Right, like letting your girl go to that meeting without you.
Fuck.
“What is it?” he asked.
Hunter’s tech guy had been working with Gable to figure out how these assholes had managed kidnapped Caren and Tyler. They’d interviewed Oliver for any information he had. Which wasn’t much, unfortunately. And they’d also tried to find his niece, Isabel.