Page 114 of Captivated

He wasn’t like Liliana.

“You got it, Joe,” Cory said.

The younger man headed for the stairs, and Liliana turned back to Joe.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Joe shook his head, and grabbed her jacket hanging on the hook by the door. “Here, put this on. We need to move you again.”

No, Liliana wasn’t going anywhere. At least, not right now. She didn’t like that all of the sudden he showed up at his home with nothing more than a demand for her to leave. Likely to leave with him, sure, but still.

Something felt wrong.

Off.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Joe held out her coat.

Liliana refused to take it.

Letting out a harsh sigh, Joe said, “Just … I need you to listen to me right now, Liliana. Not question me, or anything else. Just listen.”

“And I’m not moving until you tell me what in the hell is going on, Joe.”

She wasn’t entirely sure how much time passed with the two of them staring at each other, and daring the other one to move or say something. A few seconds, but maybe more. Long enough for her to hear Cory moving around upstairs.

Definitely not like his brother.

She would never know Joe was anywhere around if he didn’t want her to know it. Cory didn’t seem to give two fucks who heard him.

“Where’s your phone?” he asked instead.

Liliana pulled the device Theo had picked up for her out of her pocket, and instantly, Joe snatched it from her. He didn’t even look away from her when he swung the device, and smashed it into a useless bunch of pieces against the wall.

Her gaze widened, and flew back to Joe. “What the fuck, Joe?”

“Someone might be tracking it. It needs to go.”

“It’s a burner phone, Joe. It’s not even my real phone!”

Joe only shrugged.

“Okay, now you really need to tell me what in the hell is going on.”

“Liliana—”

“Please just tell me, Joe,” Liliana said. “I’ve been sitting in this house for days wondering why I’m even here, and what’s going on. No one will tell me anything. I don’t like feeling alone and afraid, okay? And I think, so far, I have done really well about not being a bitch regarding all of this. I haven’t really demanded anything, or whatever. So, please, just tell me. It’s about me, right. It has to be, so I think, at the very least, I deserve to know something.”

His fist clenched.

His throat bobbed.

Finally, he spoke, saying, “Rich Earl has gone off the grid.”

Liliana stiffened.

The cold spike of fear driving into her spine was only matched in force by the heavy weight of dread sinking low in her stomach. A feeling so thick and harsh that it made the bile in her stomach rise to the back of her throat. She could practically taste it on her tongue, and it made her want to be sick.