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I patted my pockets. No cell phone or wallet. Big shocker. But the idiots overlooked my ice pick. So, by all accounts,notprofessionals. Good news for me.
Knowing what I had to work with, I wandered over to the windows and yanked on the bars. They didn’t budge. I couldn’t see beyond the crud-caked glass to even get an idea of where I was, but I knew it was daytime. There was no telling how long I’d been unconscious. At least eight hours, given the fact it was after dark when they jumped me.
We were probably in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t look like any city basement I’d ever been in and even a beginner kidnapper would know better than to take their victim to a populated area.
I turned my attention to the door next.
It was metal, somewhere beneath all the rust bubbling across its surface. There was no handle on the inside to even try to pull on — someone had sawed it off. Assholes.
With nothing else to do and no possible means of escaping, I resumed my earlier position on the floor, sliding the broken zip ties behind me and out of view. I’d just have to bide my time until someone came in to check on me. Whenever that would be.
Raking a hand through my hair, I propped my elbow on one knee, glaring at the floor. This was a new one, even for me. I had no idea who the hell I pissed off this time or what they wanted. There were two obvious answers: revenge or ransom.
If it was revenge, it could have been any one of dozens of people. Literal and figurative bodies littered my path through life. I could draft a list of angry relatives and organizations alphabetically, chronologically, and geographically.
If it was a good old-fashioned ransom, they weren’t very smart. Whoever it was wouldn’t get a cent out of my mother for my safe return and Allegra’s money was tied up in a trust until she was twenty-five. Unless they planned on ransoming me back to Leander, they’d literally kidnapped the only person who could give them a chunk of the Bancroft fortune.
Fuck! Leander.
He was probably losing his mind. I told him I was going to get a laptop and now I was gone, without a fucking trace. Would he realize what happened? Or would he assume I left him — again?
Just the thought hurt more than the taser burns. We went through so much to get to where we were. I hated that it would all be obliterated in an instant.
What would he destroy this time? The house? His wedding band? My car?
My car!
My fucking car was in the driveway. Unless the assholes moved it, Leander would see my car and know I was there at some point. I went where I said I was going. He would most certainly pull up the security cameras and see what happened. He would see I didn’t leave him voluntarily, that I fought to stay.
That meant he’d be out there looking for me.
Still, I wasn’t going to sit around and wait to be rescued like a damsel in a tower. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, I was going home to my husband.
20
Leander
Ilooked at my watch for the twentieth time and then checked my cell phone. The results were the same — Bennett had been gone for over an hour. In a town the size of Easton, it didn’t take an hour to get anywhere by car. Even if hewalkedfrom the mansion to Elijah’s, he still would have been here by now.
Calls went unanswered.
Texts went unread.
A sickening feeling slithered into my intestines, twisting and knotting with each passing minute. Bennett had disappeared before, right when our relationship crossed from friendship to, well, more than friendship. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility he’d leave again. Even Lorelei presumed he’d cut and run once he realized how damaged I was.
No.
That was before — before Bennett and I made our feelings explicitly known. Before we were married, for Christ’s sake. He loved me. I knew it. He wouldn’t do that to me again.
Would he?
“I’m going over there,” I announced, shoving away from Elijah’s dining room table.
“I’m coming with you,” Cole said, jumping to his feet as well.
Olivia made a face. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously,” Cole snapped. “What if something happened?”
