Page 263 of Heart of Frost and Scars

I search his indiscernible features, begging his blue eyes to tell me.

He shifts his position to run his gaze down the length of me. Holding his phone in one hand, he fists the blanket with his other. Then he drags it completely off me.

Cold air sweeps in, biting along my nude skin.

He leans closer, and I shrink inside my paralyzed body.

“Don’t be shy.” He reaches out, gently sliding a finger between my legs. “We’ve already been intimate.”

My heart rate bursts into horrified tremors, and my stomach churns violently as he lifts a come-soaked finger and rubs it across my limp tongue.

“When I carried you out of the hospital in my duffle bag, I drove you to my bush plane at the Sitka airport, put you in the cargo hold, and…” He wags his head. “I couldn’t wait. You weren’t awake, but goddamn, you looked so beautiful and vulnerable, I had to have you before we took off.”

He swipes the screen on his phone and turns it toward my face.

A photo of me.

Naked, eyes closed, head lolled, legs spread, and a dick shoved up inside me. A dick with blond pubic hair.

My gaze flies to his blond head.

He raped me while I was unconscious.

Nausea surges, a stabbing, sickening agony that floods my mouth with saliva, compelling me to hurl. But even that simple reflex is denied to me. I can’t retch. There’s no relief from the roiling churn in my gut.

I scream in my head, sobbing and wailing without sound as my body ignores me, leaving me helpless and confined.

“You felt so fucking good, Frankie.” He fingers my pussy, pressing his vile digits inside, molesting me until my mind fractures amid the shrieking screams of my trapped pain. “I sent that photo to the Strakhs.”

No!

Oh, God, no! That would destroy them. It would cut them so deeply there will be no way to stop the bleeding.

And they’re coming here?

Rhett must know that he’ll have an army of bloodthirsty, murderous fiends charging in with claws and fangs unsheathed.

He would’ve prepared for that.

He’s going to kill them.

I fight to control my thoughts, to quell the meltdown splitting my skull.

“I sent the photo to all of them with a link to the instructions to find you.” He removes his hand from my body and returns his attention to his phone, swiping the screen. “When they opened the link, spyware downloaded to their devices. The instructions advised them I was watching and listening and included threats against their security team if they involved them. Threats against the lives of anyone they involved. They followed my instructions, made no phone calls, took the yacht to Sitka, boarded the bush plane I left for them, and smashed their phones when they took off.”

They’re alone. Walking into a trap.

“Once they were in the air,” he says, “I sent the coordinates for the cabin to the avionics GPS in the plane. The communication system is disabled, but I can see where they are through the GPS system.” He glances around the cabin. “This place is special. It’s our safety from the world. Our home. I don’t want anyone to find it.”

Maybe they found a way around his instructions without his knowledge. His confidence in his plan makes my blood run cold, but Monty, Leo, and Kody are smart. They’re survivors.

I have to believe they’ll outsmart him.

“I’ve been watching them the entire way.” He gestures at his phone. “They haven’t deviated from the flight path. Haven’t made any stops. They have no advantage. No way out unless they turn back in the next thirty minutes. If they do, I’ll activate the bomb on board.” He squints at me, his expression chilling. “Turns out you were right. They are willing to die for you.”

The backs of my eyes catch fire as tears swarm my vision. I blink them away and shift my focus to the closed door. No help there.

Then I look at him and blink hard, two quick blinks, a desperate Morse code for no.

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