Page 95 of Protecting Bianca

“Yes,” Tagert tried to scream, but my hold was too tight. “I went to talk to him and left.”

“Where did you go after your chat?”

“To sit at my desk.”

“If you sat at your desk, you would have seen Towers leave. The cameras don’t show him leaving, but you said when we arrived that he wasn’t here. So, tell us, what the fuck did you do with him?”

I tightened my grip and Tagert clawed at my arms to release him, or at least give him enough air to breathe.

Jake sighed. “Listen, Tagert. This man has been through a lot today and I don’t know what he’s capable of right now. If you value your life, just tell him where Towers is. If you get yourself a good lawyer, you might get out while you’re young. After all, is it even kidnapping if the man hasn’t left the building?”

I knew Jake was trying to rationalize with the guy, but it made my stomach turn, thinking that Tagert would get away with this.

I could end it now. Make him pay for what he did… what he did to B… No! I refused to believe she was dead.

“Where the fuck is he?”

While I wanted to snap his neck, he was still useful to me alive. I didn’t need a weapon to kill Tagert, but he didn’t know that. Perhaps he needed to understand how serious I was. I spotted a letter opener on the desk and grabbed it.

“Jake, no!”

I held the dull blade to his artery. “Don’t fuck with me, Tagert. Tell me where they are.”

He struggled beneath my arms. “I don’t know where Bianca is.”

“But you do know where Towers is?”

Tagert pressed his lips together, and something inside me snapped. Twisting the opener so that I held it like a dagger, I found the fleshy part of his shoulder and pushed it against his skin. Hard.

“Ow! Oh, fuck! Stop!”

I felt his flesh give way and the blade sink into the soft tissue. I knew it hurt like a motherfucker with a dull blade, and I was glad.

I leaned down and whispered in his ear. “I will keep finding places to stick this in you until you tell me where they are.”

Tagert kicked and shoved against me, but my forearm over his trachea didn’t budge. There was no way he was getting away from me. I twisted the blade and Tagert screamed, the sound piercing my ear, but I ignored the ringing and asked again. “Where are they?”

“He’s here!” he finally shouted.

“Where?”

“He’s in his office.”

“I checked his—”Fuck!

I dropped the letter opener and Tagert tried to stand up, but Jake put his hand up. “Uh no. Sit your ass down.”

Knowing Jake wouldn’t let Tagert out of his sight, I raced back to Towers’ office. Will and Christian followed me there. “We couldn’t find anything on the videotapes of a kidnap.”

“That’s because Towers never left.”

“What was that scream back there?” Christian asked calmly.

“You don’t want to know.”

I ran the palm of my hands across the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, looking for a lever or a button to open the door to the secret room in Towers’ office. I’d noted it the first day I got here. I should have thought of it as soon as I realized Towers was missing.

“What are you looking for?”

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