Authors: Courtney Lane
“Sister?”
Pulled to sit upright by my stupid slip-up, I covered my mouth; it was too late. The crazy situation stole my ability to think clearly.
“You don’t have to look so afraid. I know who Michael is to you and that Deana is your half-sister. Why refer to her as your full blood sister?”
“Because she felt—feels like one to me,” I gave in, unable to keep up the lie. “How did you get her away? She was a daddy’s girl, and he’d never have let her go easily. And why isn’t he looking for her? He would use everything he had to find her.” The silence I was met with pulled my gaze from the plate of breads, meats, spreadable and solid cheeses on the serving tray.
His chin remained slanted to his chest when his eyes shot up at me. “Are you fucking with me right now, Sugar?”
Confused about what he meant and how my mini-rant concerning Deana meant to fuck with him, my mouth moved without words. Catch’s game was increasingly hard to play. “No.”
He peered at me as though I weren’t in focus. “Enjoy your breakfast and the pool when you’re ready.”
“Where are you going?” I stood quickly, wringing my hands. I might as well have said,
“Don’t leave me here alone.”
He glanced back at me, squinting, smiling in the way he always did when he wanted to screw with my head. A smile that tricked my brain into thinking there was a soft and sweet man ruined by fuck knows what, hidden underneath the sadistic deeds.
“Why? Will you be lonely?”
“There’s no civilization anywhere from what I can see out of the window,” I surmised. “How are you going to get anywhere?”
“I have a car.” He turned fully toward me and ran a hand up my neck. His violet-blue eyes glimmered as though he caught onto a secret in the way I shyly stared back at him. “You won’t be alone long enough to miss me.” The wind kicked up around him on his departure.
What he left unsaid didn’t sit right with me. Catch knew a lot about me, he had to have. Deana wouldn’t have lasted long wherever he took her, unless…
I strode down the hall. “Catch,” I called at his back.
He halted and turned around, throwing his silent ire at me.
“I need to see Deana again—to know she’s okay. Can you do whatever you need to do so I can see her and know she’s alive? Have her hold up today’s paper? Reassure me she’s okay.”
He spun fully around, his blue eyes turning into slants. “You feel you’re owed more by me, Sugar?”
“No.”
“Then, don’t make me feel otherwise.”
“It’s just—” I called him back as he turned to leave.
“What? Spit it the fuck out.” His shout startled me. The man never appeared ruffled and always spoke in low and soft tones. Whatever it was in what I’d said earlier annoyed him. The clenching of his fists showed me if I pushed too hard, he might delve into his dark side and show me what the bad temper could do to me.
“What did I say to put you in a shitty mood all of a sudden?” I kept my question unassuming and soft.
He chewed his lip, turning pensive. He delayed as if he was going to continue his game of withholding information. “I didn’t care for the look in your eyes when I said I had a car.”
I plastered a smile on my face. “I’m not going to run again. Besides, where would I go?” I gestured around with tense shoulders. “I want to know how to make you happy and give you what you want. I want a clean slate.”
The agitation dissipated from his face only slightly. “Intending to harm the man who helped you get away from Michael Leone says otherwise.”
“And I’m sorry about that,” I apologized for the failed attempt to shoot him. I sashayed up to him and rested my hands on his sculpted chest through his oxford shirt. I tried sexy, even though I never had to try that angle in order to get what I wanted. Hard work, dedication, and being smart were the tools drilled into my head by my stepfather. While my stepfather would never say it, he wanted me to be the opposite of what my mother was; she used sex to get what she wanted.
He looked down at where my hands were placed.
“Tell me how to make you happy,” I cooed.
His hands were on my wrists, and with each passing second, his grip crushed my wrists. “I don’t want you to be fake with me. What I want from you will happen naturally.” He pulled me toward him. I crashed against his hard chest with the force.
“Got it,” I said, hoping with the way it was stated he would stop touching me. His fingertips, his mouth, his face, his entire fucking presence increasingly opened up parts of me I wasn’t ready to leave ajar.
It wasn’t the time to fight it and show him what I was capable of. I had no clear escape route or way of saving Deana, and until I did, I would be his obedient little lapdog no matter how much of my pride I had to swallow down. “I’m sorry.”
He gently kissed me on the cheek, narrowly missing my lips. “Is there anything you need while I’m out?”
I tried shaking my head but somehow it pained me more. “Personal…feminine stuff, probably. I’m overdue for…” My voice faded into the air.
Brushing the back of his fingers against my cheeks, he swept away the tears I hadn’t given permission to expel from my eyes.
“Have no idea where the fuck that came from.”
“I do, and I don’t want to see these again unless I’m causing you real pain.” He kissed my lips just barely, shocking me so severely my lips fell limp under the caress of his soft mouth, setting my face on fire. “You had it wrong,” he whispered. “It’s not only about you pleasing me. It's about pleasing you.”
Leaving me stunned and wading in a strong tide threatening to bring me further into the whirlpool, he left the room. The second the front door closed, I went on a rampage.
Traveling from room to room while checking for cameras, I tried to find something—anything. All I discovered were furnished rooms with minimal furniture, locked rooms, and a distinct lack of technology—not even a single television.
On the second floor, down the hall, a skyway led to what I assumed was the guest house. The entry door was locked with a mechanism, and it couldn’t be picked. I ventured outside, but with nothing to travel in and no coat, the frigid air forced me back inside.
I slanted my back against the door and tried to hold it together.
“Play along,” I said to myself under my breath to get my shit in order.
*
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An entire room, an offshoot of the house on the first floor, was dedicated to the heated pool. The seamless glass walls gave off the illusion of being outdoors.
Exhaling, I tried to do the impossible and relax while lounging in the upholstered lounge chair. I couldn’t relax; all I could think about was Deana. I clamored for Catch to show me one more shred of kindness and provide me with proof of life.
The padding of bare feet across the tile forced my eyes to dart to my left. In a white bikini and large sunglasses, Jory took up a seat on the lounge beside me. Applying sunscreen onto her olive-toned arms and legs, she studied me through her gradated sunglasses.
I was overly grateful to see another face there, even if she was a raging and unstable bitch. “We weren’t introduced. I’m…”
“Sugar. I know.” She cut off my need to introduce my overzealous introduction of myself. She plucked up her phone and began to play a game.
“I’m not giving you my phone.” She continued to work manically on her game. “Do you really need a tan? I feel like you’re mocking me.”
I closed my eyes and turned my face up to the track lighting in the ceiling; the only source of light in the entire room. It was currently pitch black night outside.
Okay, this woman really isn’t all there.
“Are you…seeing Catch?”
She plopped her sunglasses on her head and jerked her head toward me. “What the fuck makes you think that?”
“So that’s a no, then?”
She shrugged at me. “Would it make you jealous if we were seeing each other?”
“Not at all.” As I stared at her face and had a better view of her features, I kept thinking she looked very familiar.
“You have eyes don’t you? What straight woman wouldn’t want to fuck him?”
Someone sane, maybe?
I had no idea what it made me. I hated and wanted the man. He had my sister for a reason I couldn’t discern, and he treated me with a respect no man had ever shown me. Jasper was hardly around, and Michael was the monster of everyone’s nightmares. It was a sad state all around.
“Have we met before?” I examined her face, unable to shake the familiarity in her features.
“Nope. I have a
familiar
face.”
“Hey.” I gave her a smile to try to appear inviting. “Things don’t have to be like this. We can be friends, you and I. We’re both alone and—”
“I’m not alone. You are.” She kicked up her legs and leaned back with a relaxed sigh.
I could pretend to be her most awesome friend if it meant answers and saving Deana. For now, I had to approach the situation with caution. “How do you know Catch?”
“Catch is married,” she offered up easily.
“Catch…is
married
?”
“Was,” she corrected me and her earlier statement. “But that’s not how we’re connected, not really.”
“Does he do this often? Take women and…”
“He doesn’t want me to talk about it. All I’ll say is he doesn’t make a habit of taking women
in
.” She covered her mouth and shook her head. “I’m busy, stop asking questions.” She slid her sunglasses back on her face and continued to play her game.
From the space in her sunglasses, I could see that her eyes were closed despite working feverishly on solving the puzzle. “What was up with the men at the house back in the States?”
“I don’t know. He told me to come here and get the place ready after we had a little hiccup with me leaving bread crumbs for you. Catch has too many enemies. I mean what’s the point of security if you’re not going to use it? He opens up the door and invites them in because he likes to kill. I think the kid lost his mind some time ago.”
“Kid?”
“Just a name I call him. Sometimes he looks like a nineteen-year-old boy even though he’s almost a decade older. A really buff one with a better vocabulary, but do you see it? I see it. It’s weird, right?”
“Breadcrumbs?” I attempted to guide her nonsensicalness back on track when it was definitely heading off the rails. “The suit jacket?”
“You saw it?” She turned to me and beamed. “Did you see what I did to her? It was beautiful wasn’t it?”
My posture began to sink and I recoiled from her. “You…killed her?”
“Sure did. Ding dong the wicked bitch is dead.” She burst out in laughter. “Catch was right, you’re gullible. Catch is my brother, if you need to know.”
I couldn’t really see the family resemblance. “So…
you
killed that woman?”
“I said I did, didn’t I?”
Had Catch lied to me about his mercy shot? Or was Jory the one deceiving me? “Excuse me…” I jolted off the lounge.
She stood, blocking my path to the exit. “You really should stay here if Catch told you to. If you’re scared of me, I can help. We’re all people working for the same goal in a different way.”
“If that’s true, you know some of Catch’s enemies?”
“Yes, and they are yours. I thought we were going to be friends. Real buddies. I’m not going to be someone you can use to get information on Catch.”
“I’m not trying to use you. Put yourself in my position.”
She looked behind her for a moment. Inclining forward quickly, she partially cupped her mouth and whispered, “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you. I don’t think you should go on like you have without knowing. I watch the video feeds of you and him when he doesn’t know. I know Deana is really important to you. She’s not the person you think she is.” She stood in my personal space, bowing her back to meet my shorter height. “She’s more.”
*
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My time alone wasn’t the best company. All that filled my mind were questions without answers: Catch’s real identity and connection to Michael. Why he had my sister. Who Jory was and what she meant by shared goals. Why, of all the people he could’ve taken, did Catch take me, allowing me to live in a prison of luxury when Deana mattered more to Michael?
A pending fit of dread wouldn’t leave me alone. It was there for a reason. Things were going to change for me.
-11-
C
REATURE
C
OMFORTS
Catch hadn’t returned to the house in two days. I scoured the house for Jory and couldn’t find her. I assumed she lived in the guest house; the door remained permanently locked. I searched the rooms open to me until my soles were sore, looking for what I might’ve missed on my previous trips.