Page 264 of Unexpected Hero

My stomach bottoms out. My knees tremble, threatening to buckle.

He knows my full name. How?

Oh. My purse. They must have taken it from me. That makes sense.

His upper lip curls into a snarl. “I know what you’re thinking.”

I stare into his inky eyes, unblinking and resolute. “You couldn’t possibly begin to fathom what I’m thinking.”

He saws out a bitter chuckle.“You are thinking, how does he know my name? And what makes me so special?” He taps the bottom of my chin twice, raising it upward in an unspoken reminder to look at him. “Right?”

“Your men probably have my purse with my identification in it. Not hard to figure out.”

“They do, but that’s not how we know who you are. And it doesn’t answer what makes you special.”

“Doesn’t matter why I’m here. The outcome is going to be the same regardless.” For a moment, I impress myself with the air of defiance and disrespect I lace into my voice.

“Ultimately, yes. But how we get there will be different. There’ll be much more pain for you than for the others. And we’ll take lots of pictures. We’ll use them as gifts for the men who earned you a spot here.”

Confidence sinking, I break. Curiosity wins over my desire to be obstinate. “Fine. Why me?”

“Your father has harmed my family. Your boyfriend too. They’ve caused us to lose quite a bit of money, and that can’t go unanswered.”

My face pinches as confusion wallops me. “What?”

A wicked gleam shines in his dark eyes. “Don’t play me for a fool, Violet Holt.”

“My father is dead. How could he have taken money from you?”

And what about James? He didn’t even know Papa.

This is madness.A mind game.

“Oh, your father isn’t dead. Not yet. I’ll make him suffer first. I promised my father I’d do that for him.” He drags his thumb over my lower lip, tugging it down. “We’re both here because of our fathers, yes?”

“You’re mistaken. My father is dead. I was there when he took his last breath and watched them lower his coffin into the earth.”

An undecipherable look passes across his features, but it quickly turns to steel. “You are a simple fool.”

“And you’re a monster.”

Showing zero hesitation, he sails the back of his hand across my cheek. A fierce jolt of pain causes my posture to falter, sending me backward. He doesn’t let me retreat, roughly gripping my upper arms and yanking me near.

With his face inches from mine, he levels me with a poisoned-tipped gaze. “You have his eyes. Did you know that?” Somehow, his expression grows more sinister.“I was going to take you from behind so I wouldn’t have to look at you. But I think I’ll make you watch me the whole time. That way, I can stare into the eyes of my enemy as I fuck his only daughter. And later, I will tell him all about it. Right before I slit his throat. The video can go to your boyfriend since he likes to watch.”

My skin crawls as if steel wool abrades it. What the fuck is happening?

In Russian, he hollers toward the door. One of his men comes in.

Holding a camera.

Tears surge forth and roll down my cheeks. All shreds of my feigned bravery crumple into a pile on the dirty floor.

My mind continues to process his words and the confusion they bring when he does exactly as he promised — forcing me to look at him with every degrading and tormenting thing he does to my body.

For something that my father did to him.

And James.

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