Page 32 of Claimed in the Dark

“Talk to me,” he urged.

“I did.” God, the idea of Owen taping me at work and then, what, superimposing me onto a naked woman’s body or something? I wanted to hurl. And strangle him. What a sick, twisted asshole.

“You look like you’ve got more on your mind.”

I frowned at him. “Now I do, with what you just said. I can’t stand to think of him…” I shuddered.

“We’ll handle it.”

I opened my eyes wide. “You’ll… what?”

“He’s under investigation with that video, but, well…” He shrugged. “After we determine we’ve gotten every piece of intel out of him that we need, you won’t have to worry about him anymore.”

“Because you’ll… you know… um, handle him?”

“He’d deserve it, right?”

I cringed again. “I don’t play games like this. It’s not my place to determine who lives and dies.”

“Then it’ll be my place.” He stated it like that conclusion was a simple one to stick with, no matter what. It was what it was.

I could barely accept that I had a killer in my company. A killer and savior.

“What’s on your mind, Louisa?” he asked again. It wasn’t a demand, but it proved to me that he was far more attuned to watching me than I realized.

I shook my head. “Why me?”

“I heard what you told Paloma,” he said. “You won’t question that it just happened to be you seeing that video. You didn’t go looking for it, right?”

I shook my head. Not at first.

“You didn’t get invited to watch it.”

I shook my head again.

“Then it seems to me you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“But then why were those men after me? To silence me?” I licked my lips nervously. “Because I saw something someone didn’t want me to see?”

He nodded.

“Is that why you were after me?”

He didn’t flinch, piercing me with the intensity of his brown gaze. “I was ordered to kill you.”

I froze, watching him as he studied me.

“You…” I reared back.

“I was ordered to kill you for that same reason. That you would’ve been the person to view that video and know that a body could’ve been moved.”

My jaw dropped. “You want to kill me. You intend to⁠—”

Fuck. I need to get out of here. I’m not safe! Brady! I need to get us out of here now.

It was all a game. An illusion.

“I was ordered to,” he explained, no doubt sensing my immediate rise of panic. “But once I saw you, I hesitated.”