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“Drew?” Heart pummeling my ribs, I turned in my chair. “Do something.”
“I’m doing it, princess.” He pointed his carbine at me. “Pay attention to Uncle Dearest.”
My heart dropped to my stomach. Grappling for words, trying to make sense of what was happening, I returned my gaze on my uncle.
He lapped at his fingers and smacked his lips. “Delicious.”
The disgust must’ve been evident in the cringe that hijacked my face.
“Don’t look so surprised, and don’t worry, dear.” His chortles were as sinister as the glitter in his eyes. “If you’re a good girl, I’ll keep you around as a treat to others.”
“I get her first,” Drew growled from his spot behind the door. “You promised.”
Drew’s lascivious look slimed me from head to toes. Thiswas such a different reaction from the blush on the man’s face when I first met him. He’d probably flushed from guilt back then. He paused to overtly ogle at my breasts. The shiver that crawled up my spine confirmed he wasn’t here for my protection.
“Yes, I remember.” My uncle grabbed a linen napkin and wiped off his hand. “I promised you a little fun as a bonus for helping out with this project. There’s a lot of cake on the menu for later. You and your boys can have your fill when I’m done.”
His boys? Were there more bad guys coming? This had to be a nightmare. I shut my eyes.Wake up, Thena. Wake up!
When I opened my eyes again, nothing had changed. My uncle was my enemy. His plan included Drew and “his boys,” and entailed more than a quick death for me—rape, humiliation, pain, and suffering.
My father had been a financial predator, but my uncle was a beast. No more “dear Uncle Arthur.” From now on I’d think of him as Arthur, or better yet, as Mr. Evil and variations of his new title, Uncle Shit.
I studied Mr. Evil, seeing him for the first time as he truly was. The hatred I spotted in his eyes shocked the breath out of me. It was old and feral, as if the monster in him had been hiding behind his jolly façade for a very long time. It emanated from him like toxic radiation.
How had I not sensed it before?
I clasped my shaking hands and tried to think through the fear freezing my vital organs. I was alone, trapped in this room with two armed men who had already admitted they were going to do me harm. Dash and the rest of the team were busy elsewhere. Another fear walloped me then. What if these two meant to use me to trap Dash and Tracker Team as well?
I swept my gaze over the table. A small gold-edged porcelain plate sat before me, ready for dessert. Above it sat asmall silver fork and a spoon. Too frail and dainty. On the other hand, my steak knife lay forgotten to one side of the plate.
I moved so fast Uncle Shit never saw me coming. I leaped to my feet, snatched the plate, and smashed it against his face with all my strength. He cried out, then staggered and fell on his ass. The gun bounced out of his grip. I reached for the steak knife and whirled on my heel, ready to run toward the French doors. The muzzle of Drew’s M4 hit me in the sternum.
“Sit,” he snarled, his face twisted with an urge to kill. “Or die.”
I froze. He’d moved silently across the room to cut off my escape. To my left, my vile uncle cursed, grappled for his gun on the floor, and pointed it at me. To my right, Drew and his carbine stood in my way. My escape was a bust.
Keeping his weapon propped against me, Drew reached out, snatched the steak knife from my hand, and tossed it onto the far side of the cake cart where I couldn’t reach it. With a swipe of his forearm, he cleared all the utensils and glasses from the table, leaving only a couple of harmless napkins behind. Now I had no weapons to fight with.
“Sit.” Drew shoved me with his weapon so hard I gasped. “Now!”
Ow. That hurt. My sternum throbbed with the hit. Metal against flesh and bone was never a fair contest. I eased down, reclaiming my seat at the head of the table. I kept my glower on Drew, as if, somehow, I could prevent him from pulling the trigger by the force of my stare.
“That was the stupidest thing you’ve done yet.” With difficulty, Uncle Shithead pushed up from the floor, looking both pale and pissed. A red cut glared on his chin and above his nose where a jagged piece of porcelain had done the job. Mouth puckered, he approached me cautiously, pointing his weapon at my head. “Do you want to die quickly, dear?”
“Sounds like a better choice than dying slowly.” I opted to feed my outrage as opposed to my fear.
“You’re such a brat.”Smack. He slapped me across the face.
The blow left me seeing stars. I had to blink off the tears.
“That should teach you some humility.” He yanked his jacket into place. “Lucky for you, I’ve got a plan and a schedule especially designed to gain your cooperation. I promise. None of it will be pleasant or quick. Drew?”
Drew shouldered his carbine, and after pulling out some zip cuffs from his tactical vest, grabbed my right wrist, and tried to strap it to the chair’s arm.
“What are you doing?” I snatched my wrist from his bruising hold. “Don’t touch me!”
Drew threw his hands in the air and looked at my poor excuse for an uncle.
