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She gave a small shake of her head.
I pressed the gun into her bones harder, only letting up when she cried out. “Leander told me you were stubborn.”
“Funny. He didn’t talk about you at all.”
“Ooo. Is that supposed to hurt?”
“You’d think he would have at least mentioned you a time or two if you were so important to him.”
“Really?” I put more weight on my elbow, digging it deeper into her tricep. “Would you have yielded so easily to him if you knew he was pining for someone else? If you thought for a moment that he didn’twantto be saved by you? That he didn’tneedyou?”
She strained beneath me, trying not to scream until it ripped out of her in a ragged shriek.
I eased up slightly and came nose-to-nose with her. “Retract your fucking article.”
The muscles over her collar bones flexed with each shallow breath. “And if I don’t?”
“Do you really want to try and take me on a third time?” I dragged the tip of the gun back over her chest, up her throat, and nestled it against her temple. “It won’t be a fucking charm for you.”
“Tough words for a guy with a gun.”
“You should know I don’t need a gun to hurt you. In fact…” I lifted it back into view before tossing it to the side. My free hand seized her throat, putting just enough pressure on each of her arteries to make her wonder how long she could stay conscious. “Let me tell you what I have planned so there’s absolutely no confusion in that pretty little head of yours.”
She squirmed, trying to get me to loosen my grip. Every time she moved, I squeezed harder. If she ended up crushing her own windpipe, then so be it.
“I’ll use you in a little experiment of my own, Doctor.” I lowered my face closer to hers. My breath, my hair, even my nose caressed different parts of her face as I settled in on top of her. She tried to avoid me, but it was impossible.
“Picture it,” I said softly. “You’re trapped in an empty cistern in the dark. Cold. Alone. Starving. Your voice is gone from screaming into the void. Your nails torn from trying to claw your way out. Kept alive only by my good graces.”
She swallowed hard, staring at the ceiling instead of me.
“You begin to live for my visits, for the meager scrapes of human interaction I deign to give you.” A vicious smile pulled the corner of my mouth, watching her expression morph from defiance to dismay.
My cheek skimmed along hers as I shifted forward, my mouth close to her ear. “I will break you, Lorelei. I will ravage your mind until you forget who you were before I put you in that miserable hole.”
Her lower lip trembled, but she didn’t turn away.
“And then, when I’ve grown bored with you, you will happily put that gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. Just like your father.”
She sucked in a shaky breath, a fresh wave of tears streaming from the corners of her eyes.
I caught a tear on the tip of my tongue, laughing darkly when she shied away with a whimper. “I can kill you without ever lifting a finger,” I murmured, pulling back so I could meet her teary gaze head-on.
“You’re insane. Just like him,” she whispered, trying to maintain her bravado, even though her body betrayed her.
“Believe me, I’m worse.” Perched above her, I could begrudgingly see her appeal. Shewasbeautiful. Intelligent, sure. But after this little exchange, I knew it was her fierceness that drew Leander in. She didn’t cower when she should have, even when every primal instinct signaled imminent danger. “I will give you a week to retract your article and issue a mea culpa. If you don’t, I promise I’ll be back to fulfillallof your deepest fears.”
She tipped her chin up and I knew it was the only acknowledgment I’d get out of her.
Smiling serenely, my fingers loosened from her airway completely. She was too busy gasping in a full breath to bother fighting me as I climbed off of her. Snagging the gun from where I tossed it, I kept it aimed at her as I backed away, in case she got any bright ideas. “One week, Doctor.”
I gave her a mocking bow and spun out of the bedroom, moving down the hallway in long strides and right out the front door.
A quick jaunt around the block brought me back to my car. I hopped over the door, settling into the driver’s seat. Double checking the time, I sped away, swearing. That took longer than I anticipated. God, she was difficult. But hopefully something I said got through to her. I really didn’t want to have to come back to this fucking town if I could help it.
I turned off the main road that cut through downtown Stratford and cruised by the police department. There were two squads parked in the back lot, which meant there was a third out and about somewhere.
In such a quaint little town, it didn’t take long to find the third guy running radar near the middle school, despite the fact it was almost nine o’clock at night. Perfect.
