A faint smile passed her perfect lips. “I doubt Chase would allow anyone to knock me out on purpose.”
“Yeah, well, he should have.”
There was a long pause. Blondie closed her eyes and went back to looking fearless. Then she opened them and looked at Tia.
“So when he comes back, you know he’ll rape me first,” she whispered. “Just let him. Please. I don’t have the strength to fight him. If you let him take his time, Chase and Jake will come by then. They can save you.”
“How do you know they’ll come?”
“I have to apologize—I got myself into this, and you’re my collateral damage. I knew I was being followed, and I was stupid. I was going to prove to Chase once and for all I could take care of myself.”
“What did you do?” Jesus, no wonder she made a great partner for Jake. She was every bit as crazy.
“I lied about being tailed. I was, I knew it, and I wasn’t going to let Chase know. I was going to handle things on my own. And obviously it backfired.”
“You think?”
“Hindsight is twenty/twenty.”
Yes, it was, but it didn’t solve how they were going to escape. Tia struggled a bit, testing the ropes. Too tight. “How are they going to find us?
We
don’t even know where we are.”
“Am I still wearing a locket?”
Tia strained to look over. The gold locket was there, hanging from the perfect neck she wanted to strangle. “Yeah.”
“I installed a GPS chip in it. I left Chase directions on how to use the program I made to run it. It will get them close enough to find us if the battery doesn’t die.”
Tia stared at her. “You did all that, but you couldn’t just tell him you were being followed.”
“Did Jake tell you what Chase did? He planned my pregnancy so he could banish me from danger. He took away the last thing I had control over—whether or not I would be a mom. And quite honestly, I didn’t want to bring a kid into this. Any of this. I wasn’t going to let him lock me away in the house for six months.”
“You married him knowing he was controlling.”
“It’s what I love and hate about him.” Kate went still again, her face quiet. “All I wanted was to show them I wasn’t a damsel in distress, that I was stronger than they thought. I was wrong. So just tell them I’m sorry. Please?”
They. Them.
She meant Jake as well as Chase.
“That’s it? You’re not going to fight.” Tia stared straight ahead at the dingy stove, wanting nothing more than to kick her ass from here to China, where the stove was made.
With a start, Tia finally understood what Jake meant in the danger of giving up. To give up the power meant there was no chance, like now, when Blondie just admitted that she was done. If Kate were to give in and accept the situation, she would still hold control. No way in hell was Tia going down without a fight, not when Jake waited for her.
Did she believe? Tia swallowed, hard. She didn’t know if she believed that Jake loved her, but she knew he was out there, somewhere, trying to save them. She was his partner and that right there was reason enough for him to hunt them down. And Chase would go to the ends of the Earth to find Kate. If they fought, then maybe…maybe there’d be time in the future for Tia to learn to trust. Learn to believe.
Somehow, Tia had to get Blondie to give in, accept their situation, so she could fight when the time was right. “Damn you. You hold both Chase and Jake’s hearts in your hands, and you’re going to surrender.”
“I know. I m weak. Pathetic even.” The faint smile appeared again, her eyes still closed.
“Get off your ass and fight him, so we can get out of here. Be a real spy, for Christ’s sake. You have two men who want you. A baby on the way. Fight, damn you.”
“It’s all I can do to sit here and not scream.”
Tia snorted and looked away. Weak, rookie Blondie. “I don’t know why they love you.”
“You think what you want to think, but I know Jake loves you. You have his heart, now. Not me. He took
you
home.”
Yeah, right. Stupid, possessive house. “And what about Chase?”
“He’ll be sad.” Kate sucked in a deep breath, one that made Tia look at her with a growing concern she really didn’t want or need at this point.
“What’s wrong with you? I know he didn’t shoot you. Did you break something when you fell?”
“I’m having a miscarriage, I think. Chloroform and babies don’t mix.” She shifted in the chair.
A miscarriage…
Tia stared, her heart hammering in her chest at those words. Not a glimmer of the pain Kate must be feeling showed on her perfect face. Tia knew pain. If Kate could lose a child and not scream, she was one tough cookie. And unfortunately, Tia had a thing for tough girls.
Kate sighed. The pain must have passed, but she looked sickly pale and green, all at the same time. She gave Tia an apologetic look. “I’m surprised you didn’t realize. They tell me I can’t lie for beans.”
“You’d make them proud.” Tia reached over with her fingertips and brushed Kate’s hand. Kate took Tia’s fingers in hers and squeezed, hard.
“Well, I have to hide it, or when he comes back, it will be fast. We don’t know if he’ll rape you. He could just slit your throat and move on to me. And then where would our men be?”
Kate had a point. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“Why not? I’m not going anywhere.”
“What’s your safeword?”
“Christmas. Why?”
“Because Jake said a safeword once, and I thought it was yours.”
Kate inhaled sharply, and from the look on her face, it wasn’t because of the pain. “He told you about Paris.”
“Yes.”
“Then he loves you. He wouldn’t tell
me
about Paris. Not without Chase’s permission, and then he just made Chase tell me. I still don’t have all the details, but enough to know the hell Chase went through, and that Jake is the best friend a man could have.”
“I didn’t believe him when he said the safeword wasn’t yours.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to tell when Jake’s full of crap and when he’s being honest. He lies, he cons, he sweet talks, and he always gets what he wants.” Kate squeezed her hand then. “But he won’t lie to you about the important things. Not the things that matter.”
I don’t lie about the important stuff. Like loving you…
Tia squirmed, wanting to believe them both.
“It explained a lot when he told me about his cover with Chase.” Tia shifted. “Why we all hate Paris for various reasons.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever go home with Jake?”
“Not with Jake. Chase took me. That’s where he proposed, because I would have to follow the crazy house rules and say yes if I wanted sex. I sent Jake an engagement announcement photo taken in front of the house. I thought he’d like it.” Kate shifted.
“You didn’t ask how we got around the rule.”
“No, because Jake told me when he called Friday morning. He was upset with himself, and he didn’t know what to do. He hasn’t been in love in a long, long time. He used to talk about a Maria in his sleep, and I guessed she hurt him enough to make him the way he is. I never asked, though. I wasn’t brave enough.”
Tia never thought she’d feel anything but hatred for perfect Kate. Not anything that resembled a growing respect. Maybe even one day, a friendship. “You don’t love him.”
“No.” Kate bit her lip then, her face contorting for a long moment. It passed, and she gasped. “He’s all yours.”
“How much pain are you in?”
“An eleven on a scale of ten.” She breathed deep, and it was hard to believe she could get any paler, but she did. “I’m upright because I’m bound. The minute he unties me…” She shuddered. “It hurts more, because I know a part of Chase is dying. A part I hadn’t wanted, until right now. Sad, huh?”
“What about the part that is you?”
“It’s already gone.” She smiled very sadly. “Just tell them I’m sorry, okay? Tell Chase I love him, and I’m sorry.” And another wave of pain came, one she couldn’t hide. Tia squeezed her hand, harder, and felt like such a bitch. Kate didn’t deserve this, or anything Tia had felt for her. The anger, the hatred. The jealousy. She wasn’t the monster Tia imagined her to be.
The door rattled, and the key engaged in the lock. Their captor entered with a grocery bag in his arms. Tia hadn’t seen him before, because he’d been behind her the entire time. He was about five-ten, lean and disheveled looking in a short-sleeved button down shirt and jeans. His hair was dark brown and fairly short, the goatee and mustache well-groomed at one point but now starting to look unkempt. “How are my girls?”
Kate closed her eyes again, and said nothing. He set down the bag on the table and came to inspect them with a leering grin. “You not so glad to see me, pretty girl?” He kicked Kate’s leg, and she flinched, her eyes squeezed shut.
Tia knew then and there she couldn’t give up, let this man hurt Kate and then face Jake. There had to be something she could do, a way to lure him to her, to make him want her, first. She could make it last somehow and give the guys enough time to find them.
“Leave her alone,” Tia demanded.
“Why?” He arched a brow, and a shiver of fear rattled through Tia’s soul. His eyes held a hint of madness in their depths, madness that hinted of dark things to come. She reaffirmed her vow to save Kate. This man would rip her to shreds.
“She’s sick to her stomach, that’s why. She wants to barf.”
Kate opened her eyes and stared at her, the coldness there demanding Tia to go with the original plan. Tia shrugged in answer. She was doing this her way, not Kate’s.
“Yeah?” He grabbed Kate by the back of her head and made her stare up at him. He grinned down at her, his fingers delving deeper into the blonde strands, clenching harder. “When I’m done with her, she’ll do more than barf.”
Kate closed her eyes in surrender.
“What about me? What will you do to me?” Tia drew his attention the best way she could. He looked at her, assessing her with calculating eyes that made her skin crawl.
“Don’t,” Kate warned.
He laughed, but let go of Kate’s hair and stepped over to stand in front of Tia, his shins touching her bound legs. His fingers dove into her hair, his nails biting her scalp. She counted the buttons on his shirt to keep herself calm—there were six she could see.
He leaned forward and breathed in her ear, “You’ll die, too.”
“But you don’t have an issue with me. I can make things very enjoyable.”
He yanked her hair, pulling her head backward. She met his brown, insane eyes, unflinching in the gaze of madness although all she wanted to do was run like hell and take Kate with her.
“Maybe I like it rough,” she whispered, baiting the trap.
He tightened the hold on her hair, as if to call her bluff. “How rough?”
“How rough can you make it?” Tia asked, glad for once she didn’t mind pain of certain sorts. “I like it really, really rough. If you raped me, I’d love it. I’m a pain slut.”
He looked confused for a moment and released her with a small shove, as if disgusted. “Fucking Americans.”
Tia laughed softly. He had a little sanity left it seemed. But his madness liked the idea of her screaming in pain, enjoying the blood he’d spill. There’d be a lot of blood, from the look he now gave her from across the room. She tried not to think of how Jake would react, when he finally found her. She had a job to do.
“I like blood,” she whispered. His head snapped up from the bag on the table, his snake gaze absorbing hers. “I used to cut myself, all of the time. I made a man choke me once, to get me off. You could use me several times. Cut me, hurt me. I’d last a long, long time. If you did it right, I’d come as you killed me. Have you had a woman come as you killed her before?”
Asshole licked his lips, the madness intrigued. Tia shook away the pain, because it hurt to share her secrets with a madman, even if it was to save another. Suddenly, she was thankful she could compartmentalize her emotions. Fuck him or die now became an act without a safety net. She hoped she lived, though. She had so much to tell Jake.
Kate was staring at her now, all sorts of shocked, like Tia had killed her pony and trampled her flowers.
Their captor stared for what seemed like forever, the battle between crazy and sanity heating up behind his eyes. His breathing ratcheted up a notch, his chest rising and falling. She didn’t want to know what madness pictured doing to her, because his gaze was cold, slimy, and hateful.
Then sanity burst through for a second, looking confused, shocked, until madness took the bait she offered and shut down any hope Tia had of him releasing them.
She’d just sealed her deal with a monster, and the last minutes on her life’s clock were counting down at Mach ten. Fuck him or die had just become fuck him
and
die. She hoped Jake would hurry, but was losing faith. Very quickly, losing faith.
He withdrew a knife from a sheath attached to his belt, and instead of going to Tia, he went to Kate and stepped between her legs.
“I can’t wait for you to bleed, pretty American,” he said to Kate. He ran the tip of the blade along her jaw to her chin. He dug the point in so she had to tip her head up to look into his eyes. “I should just kill you first, and then use the high from revenge to make killing your friend even sweeter.”
No no no. Fuck. The deal wasn’t for Kate.
Tia cleared her throat. “She’d hate it if you made me bleed first. Killed me first. You want revenge? Real revenge? Make her suffer by using me first. It’s her fault I’m here. You think she’s happy about me being here? She’s scared shitless because if she survives this, her husband and boyfriend will kill her. She’s weak. That’s why you caught her. Use her weakness to make revenge even sweeter. She’ll be in agony.”
The knife point dropped from Kate’s chin, leaving behind a dribble of blood. He looked from Kate back to Tia, unsure. Damn it, this was not the time to go sane on her. Sanity led to trouble in this case, not release. She had to tempt madness again.
“My blood is just as red as hers. Use my blood to take revenge.” His pupils dilated, and a look akin to desire crossed his face. Tia knew she had him. “Untie me. You can’t use me, tied up like this.”