Page 7 of Entangled in Them

“Then they’ll probably kill me,” I replied.

He flinched. “Who will? The Capellos?”

I shook my head. “No, the ones who came before them.”

He dragged his hand through his blond hair. “Fucking hell.”

“What are we going to do with her?” asked Kodee. He looked to Dillon. “How long is she likely to be here?”

Dillon shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Do you know?” Kodee asked me.

Ryan stepped in, not giving me time to answer. “She doesn’t even know her own surname or birthday. She’s not going to know what the Capellos’ plans are.”

He was right.

“I could go back and ask,” Dillon muttered.

“I don’t think the Capellos appreciate being questioned about their plans,” Ryan said.

Dillon’s lips thinned. “Well, we can’t leave her sitting on the floor.”

“I don’t want her anywhere else,” Ryan snapped.

Kodee reached out to the other man and touched the back of his arm—not a pat or a tap, but a distinctive stroke. My gaze darted between them, trying to read their faces. That wasn’t the touch of one guy to another, that mock punch or brisk handshake or even the firm hug with the pat on the back. No, that had been a touch of affection, a way of showing concern, but also taking pleasure and comfort in the hard ridges of biceps and triceps.

Ah, so it was like that, was it? That was why they weren’t all jumping on me like a bunch of horny hyenas. What about the third one? Just a friend, perhaps? Certainly not a brother, or any other kind of relation—I could tell that from both their appearance and the accent. But then the black guy fixed his sights on Dillon, and something passed between them that sparked my curiosity. Was there something going on there as well? Did the blond know about it? Were all three of them together?

“Come on.” Kodee motioned with two fingers toward me. “Get up.”

Cautiously, I unfurled and got to my feet. I didn’t trust these men—I didn’t trust any man—and I remained tense and prepared to take a blow, should it come. It wasn’t unknown for a man to hit me simply because he could. Some men had some serious issues with women, or maybe it was just that they had issues with themselves, and being cruel to a woman for no reason made them feel better about themselves.

Now I was no longer on the floor, I cast my gaze around what I could see of the apartment. The place was open plan, with a breakfast bar dividing an expensive, chrome kitchen, all modern, sleek lines, and not a door handle in sight, with the living area. Normally, I’d have expected to see a large, flat screen television mounted on the wall opposite the U-shaped arrangement of leather couches, but instead there was a whole wall of bookshelves. I turned my face, the wall of books intimidating me.

This place was nowhere as big or fancy as many of the places I’d been delivered to in the past. Plenty of the men who’d owned me had lived in entire mansions, or in big, rambling homesteads. Though this apartment looked expensive, and clearly wasn’t in the price-range of the regular working man, it wasn’t flashy as some. I wondered what these men did for a living. I would put money on it not being anything legal, so what was it? Drugs? Money-laundering, perhaps?

“Go over there.” Kodee motioned to the couches. “Sit down and stay there while we figure out what to do with you.”

“And don’t touch anything,” snapped the blond.

I wasn’t a thief, if that was what they thought. I felt like telling them so, but I didn’t think they’d believe me, anyway. In their eyes, I was pond scum, and I wasn’t about to disagree with them.

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