Page 16 of Captured

But I’d realized at that very moment that a part of me had awakened from the dead. All I wanted to do was capture her innocence, breaking her into small pieces, fracturing her sweet soul before making it mine. All mine. I knew what I was thinking and what a part of me wanted to do was evil, dangerous even to my world, but I wasn’t certain I gave a damn any longer.

I’d been forced to admit it prior to arriving at the posh campfire site that I’d become obsessed with the woman, so much so I intended on making her my possession.

My mind had been made up before I’d come here, but now wasn’t the time. Not quite yet. I enjoyed the game of watching and stalking, the excitement finally returning. Even now, my cock was completely hard, more so than normal. I even felt pain, but the discomfort was a welcome relief from the deadness I’d experienced inside for far too long.

She was the reason for it.

I had to wait. To have patience. Kidnapping her here would only lead to the kind of questions that I wouldn’t have answers to.

Would not killing her void the contract? Yes, but what the fuck did I care? I had more money than God. Besides, I’d kill the bastard of a father who spawned her instead as a consolation prize. That’s what my client really wanted, to take the rich and prominent Gideon Martin down. The best way to do that was to carve out his eyes with a spoon. I shrank back into the darkness, trying my best to wait until the other women grew tired, retiring to their opulent tents for the night. I had a feeling given their animation it would take a while.

My Emily, my sweet innocent angel was worth the wait.

Before I’d realized, two hours had passed. Two hours of doing nothing but hiding in the freaking woods pretending I was a voyeur instead of an assassin. Maybe I did need a vacation.

Oh, who was I kidding? I couldn’t last a day on some goddamn beach with a frilly drink in my hand.

When I heard a cracking sound from disturbed limbs coming from only a few yards away, I realized just how badly I was off my game. I swung around, snagging one of three weapons I’d brought with me in seconds.

When three men pushed their way toward the fire, I was more than fucking annoyed. Who the hell were these assholes and what were they doing interrupting my space and my time?

Huffing, I slunk further into the darkness. My sweet Emily didn’t have a boyfriend, but the other women did.

“What are you doing here?” the one named Cara yelped as she jerked up, oh-so excited to see the dude who reminded me of some genderless model, the kind of pretty required for magazines. What in God’s name did a woman see in a man like that?

“We thought we’d surprise you,” the sexless dude told her. “Come here, baby. We have some catching up to do.”

I could instantly tell how annoyed my sweet Emily was by the tension in her shoulders. That made me even angrier.

The rage sweeping through me was so fucking intense I could do something stupid like firing off a couple of shots. Exhaling, I backed down, waiting and watching.

Another ten minutes went by, the three couples finally trailing off one by one, leaving my sweet Emily all by herself. I should kill all six of them for that alone. No, nothing that messy was called for, at least not right now.

At least I had a few minutes of basking in her beauty as she remained by the fire. I wasn’t entirely certain how long she’d waited by the dying flames. Perhaps she was enjoying the warmth or thinking of the new life she was headed for in a couple of weeks. New York City. The Big Apple. The place where not all dreams came true.

In my mind, the place was filthy, somewhere only rats deserved to live and there were plenty of them in the boroughs and on the crowded city streets. I understood her desire to leave home. God knew I did, the orchestra she’d been hired to serve arguably the best in the country, but it was too dangerous for someone so innocent and sweet.

She could get eaten alive by predators.

The thought wasn’t lost on my sick sense of humor. I was the ultimate predator.

I hadn’t been prepared for her to jerk up, immediately taking long strides toward her private tent, which was the farthest one away from the fire, the very one enshrouded in darkness. The other three girls had selected the better accommodations, which made me incensed more than I should be. However, Emily Rose Martin deserved the best.

Exhaling, I was sad my night was coming to a close. But I had other business to attend to prior to bringing her to my private island. The Boston estate simply wouldn’t do for my angel.

I was about to turn, heading back the way I came through the woods when I heard something, the sound instantly setting off red flags.

She was struggling with someone.

What the fuck?

No one hurt my girl. No one.

I quietly made my way toward the tent just in time to catch sight of my sweet Emily pitching one of the boys away.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Tyler?”

Tyler. I’d done my research on everyone connected to Emily. She couldn’t know he was a rapist, shielded by his daddy’s wealth.

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