Under Pressure [IAD Agency] (Siren Publishing Classic) (27 page)

Oh God, what happened? Where is Jason?

Memories came rushing back of a van crashing into them on their way to dinner. Bella hadn’t even had a chance to scream out a warning before the van rammed straight into Jason’s side of the vehicle. Bella’s head had hit the side window upon impact, and she remembered no more until waking up on the floor.

Dane. Victor Dane had found her.

Bella blinked rapidly to stave off the tears that threatened. Her chest hurt holding back the hysterical sobs that wanted to rip out of her throat, but she forced herself to remain silent as she scanned the room. In the center of the room she could see a drop cloth had been laid out, surrounded by tea light candles that cast an eerie glow around the room. Back here no one could see her. No one would be able to help.

But she was alone, for now. Bella quietly turned her head to survey the room. She had to close her eyes at the movement that once again caused her stomach to roll. Slowly Bella scooted her body around, reaching with her hands, desperately hoping that she would find something to help her cut through the ropes that bound her hands behind her back. Her fingers touched pieces of wood, but she kept searching for something else that would help her gain freedom. She had to fight to hold in a sob of relief as she found a small handsaw left by one of the workers.

Bella gripped the saw awkwardly with one hand as she tried to slice through the thick rope. She winced as the saw cut through the delicate skin of her wrists, but she continued the sawing motions, praying that she would be able to free herself. Her grip slipped as blood from her cuts dripped down to her hands. Sweat broke over her skin as she continued to work. Bella bit her lip to keep from sobbing out in relief as she felt the snap of the bindings pull free.

Her relief was short lived as she heard a soft whistling coming from the main dining room beyond the plastic curtains. She quickly lay back down on the ground motionless, gripping the handsaw tight in her right hand while she held the ropes in her left. Bella closed her eyes just in time as Victor Dane came back into the kitchen.

“He’s got the whole world in his hands…”

Fear and adrenaline raced through her bloodstream like a jolt of electricity, making it hard for Bella to remain still on the floor. Like a trapped animal Bella wanted to lash out at him and run for safety, but with her legs still tied, she knew her only hope would be to wait for the right moment to fight. She sensed Victor squatting down in front of her when suddenly he reached out and yanked her head up by her hair, causing a pain-filled gasp to escape before she could stop it.

“Ah, I see you are awake now. Good, sit up, little bitch. I want you to see exactly what I have planned for you. Did you miss me, slut? ’Cuz I sure have missed you.” Victor gripped her face with his hand in a painful hold and crushed his mouth down on hers.

Bile rose up her throat at his touch, and Bella wondered how he would feel if she threw up on him. He bit her lip hard when she tried to pull away, and she forced herself to remain still under his hold.

He released her, breathing hard with arousal. Bella simply stared back at him silently, letting all the disgust she felt for him show in her eyes.

This man would not break her again, no matter what he did. She was stronger than that. He reached out and viciously slapped her across the face, his hand in her hair holding her so she took the full impact of the brutal hit.

“That was for finding you with another man, Bella. My sweet little Bella. Good thing I killed him.”

Jason.
Bella couldn’t hide her fear.
Oh God, what happened to him?

Was Victor telling the truth or was he lying?

Was Jason still alive?

Victor smiled as he saw the tears in her eyes. Up until that moment he had been slightly confused that she had not broken down begging and crying like she did before. But no bother, she would before he was done. Her cries would echo off the thick brick walls of the building. Her screams would be music to his ears just like before.

Bella watched as Victor sauntered over to center counter to pick up something between his two fingers. The candlelight flickered off the diamond like a beacon as he rolled the band of her engagement ring tauntingly.

“Bad, bad little Bella. Did you really think I was going to allow you to marry someone else? You really can’t be that stupid.”

He leaned his hip against the marble table casually, like they were old friends settling in for a chat. Bella slowly slid her legs further behind her, hoping for the opportunity to cut the bindings around her ankles as he continued to speak.

“I’ve watched you, you know. You and that Neanderthal you’ve tied yourself to. You should have known you would never be safe from me no matter who you tried to get to protect you. I had to leave the States for a while after our…last night together. At first I was very angry at you for living, but then I realized this was a blessing. It was an opportunity for me to have another chance with you. One last night. And nothing could make me happier.”

He turned and set the ring down on the counter, next to a gun and a roll of black cloth. He pushed the cloth, slowly rolling it to reveal a set of knives as he continued to speak casually.

“You see, I searched for you in New York, but you had vanished. I guess I should have known you would run back to your family. After I saw your picture in the newspaper, I knew exactly where to find you. The Internet is a funny thing, you know…even though you weren’t named in the picture, you were mentioned as a donor of that benefit. All I had to do was search your name. You should have known better, but thanks for making it so easy for me.”

He had taken four of the knives out of the cloth roll and set them down on the drop cloth in the center of the room as he spoke.

Bella watched the light reflect off the steel in his hands. Her breathing sped up as fear began to overcome her senses.

No, not again. This couldn’t happen again.

She struggled to saw through the ropes around her ankle without him seeing, but she couldn’t get her legs angled behind her and her terror was now causing her body to shake with uncontrollable tremors, making her grip on the handsaw slip.

“Now on to the fun we’re going to have. I’m going to stake you down onto the floor here with these knives, one in each of your hands and your legs. It’s going to hurt like hell, and you’re going to scream. Then I’m going to use you anyway I want…for as long as I please. I really have missed fucking you, Bella. You were the best fuck I’ve ever had.” He chuckled softly. “When I’m done with you, I’m going to leave your body here for your family to find. Perfect, right?”

Bella blinked to clear the tears from her eyes, so they slid down her cheeks in hot rivers, then blinked again to make sure she wasn’t imagining what she thought she saw. A sob of joy burst from her chest as she watched a dark shadow moving silently behind the plastic panel covering most of the dining room.

Victor grinned at the sound, taking it as a sign of her fear of what was to come. He walked back over to the counter but quickly turned, gun in hand as Jason and Finn suddenly lunged into the room. Victor screamed in rage as he saw the two big men, realizing that he was caught. With one last chance to hurt Bella, Victor pointed his gun at Jason.

Bella screamed as she threw the handsaw at Victor with every ounce of strength that she had left. It struck his arm at the same time he fired his gun.

Jason and Finn both fired their guns at the same time, emptying their entire clips into Victor’s chest. Victor’s body did a macabre dance backward before falling heavily onto the floor.

Jason didn’t even spare his body a glance as he rushed over to where Bella was sobbing on the floor. He dropped the gun and fell to his knees before her. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her to him, his ragged breath blowing against her neck as he groaned against her skin. “Oh God, baby, I’ve got you. My sweet Bella, everything is going to be okay now. I’ve got you. I’m here.”

“I thought you were dead,” Bella sobbed.

“Not even death could keep me from coming for you.”

Neither of them noticed Finn, who had gone over to Victor’s dead body to kick the gun out of his hand. He looked down in disgust, wishing he could kill the bastard a few more times just for the hell of it.

Bella burrowed into Jason’s chest, trying to get as close to him as possible but immediately pulled back as she noticed his wince.

Jason wouldn’t let her get far, his right arm banded around her, holding her to him like a vise. She managed to look up at him and gasped as she finally took a good look at him and saw the blood dripping down the side of his face and his left arm hanging limply at his side.

“You’re bleeding! Oh my God! Jason, we need to get you to a hospital!”

Jason smiled. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. The cavalry is on its way.”

“I thought I was the cavalry,” Finn joked as he walked over to them holding Bella’s engagement ring in his hand. He gently slid the ring back onto Bella’s finger.

She immediately felt better as the ring’s weight settled back into place. Bella looked up at Finn, smiling through her tears. “Thank you.”

Finn gently squeezed her hand then frowned in concern as he noticed her wrists. “On second thought, we need to get you to the hospital. You’re both in pretty sad shape. Ah, here they come now.”

Outside sirens blared over the sound of screeching tires. Seconds later a barrage of cops, medics, and IAD agents flooded into the room. Bella closed her eyes as she snuggled into Jason’s embrace, not caring who was there. All that mattered to her in that moment was the man holding her, whispering soothing words in her ear.

She was safe.

Her nightmare was finally over.

Lying in bed later that night, Bella trailed her hand lightly over the gauze wrapped around Jason’s chest. She let out a grateful sigh that they were finally home. Nothing pleased her more than lying naked in bed with her man after the day they had.

After hours spent in the hospital being checked over, they were both finally released. Bella and Jason had given their statements to the police, but Finn had made damn sure that they had kept the questioning short and sweet.

Besides, no one would miss a sack of shit like Victor Dane, and with the history between him and Bella, it was an open-and-shut case.

The world was a better place now that he was gone.

Thanks to the reinforced steel frame of his car, Jason had only suffered two bruised ribs and a broken left arm in the crash. Both Bella and Jason had cuts on their heads from where they had hit the windows, hers on impact, his on the rebound, but otherwise the damage was minimal.

Bella winced to herself as she thought of the worst of her injuries she had done to herself with the handsaw she had used to free herself.

“What’s wrong?”

Jason moved his head so he could look down at her as his right hand held her protectively to him as if some unseen force would try and take her.

“Nothing, I just feeling kind of stupid that I cut myself,” she answered before placing a small kiss onto his chest. She smiled as the tension left his body and his right hand reached across her back to gently touch the bandages around her wrists.

“You’re not stupid, love. You were smart. Not many people would have been able to hold it together enough to find a way to free themselves after being tied up like that. You did. Not only did you free yourself, you armed yourself and prepared to fight back. I’m very proud of you.”

Bella snuggled deeper into his side. “Thank you. I was going to fight. I wouldn’t have let him hurt me like that again.”

“I know, baby.” His hold on her tightened as he thought back to how close he came to losing her. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner.”

Bella rolled her eyes. “Jason, you were just hit by a car. You were unconscious, give yourself a break.” She paused for a moment, thinking back to something that had her confused. “How did you get to me so fast? I mean, I know you said Finn was the closest in the area after you called in when you woke up, but how did you know where to find me?”

Jason froze, his body tensing up. Bella propped herself up on an elbow so she could look down at him. She was startled by the look of guilt on his face.

“What? Spill it.”

“Umm…it was your ring. I…ah…” He gruffly cleared his throat before admitting, “I put a tracker in the band of your ring.”

Bella gaped at him. “You LoJacked me?”

“Look, it’s not like I’m watching where you are every day or anything. It was just for in case of emergencies, and you have to admit it bloody well came in handy, didn’t it?” He growled defensively.

Bella’s face softened with a chuckle as she leaned down to kiss the frown from his lips. “You’re right, it did.” Bella settled back down, laying her head on his chest.

“You’re…not mad?”

Bella could have laughed at the confusion in his voice. Instead, she sighed. “No, baby, I’m not mad. I’ve had a psycho stalker trying to kill me. I think it was actually pretty smart of you to think of. I just wish you would have told me about it first.”

Jason relaxed again. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it. I just couldn’t let that asshole get you again, but we don’t have to worry anymore. He’s dead. He can’t ever hurt you again.”