Page 90 of Betrayed

Frozen with fear and trying to breathe around the hand restricting her windpipe, she saw his long arm sweep down to retrieve her purse, which he promptly upended, the contents pouring onto the ground.

Still pinning her, he sifted through it with his toe.

Growling in frustration a moment later, he demanded, “Where is it?”

“Where is what?I don’t—”

His hand tightening choked off the rest of her words.

“The disc or jump drive you retrieved from the bank the other day.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He leaned down, nose to nose with her and barked, “Bullshit!”

She would have flinched at the spit hitting her face if she could breathe. Her hands curled around his wrists, trying to break his hold, gasping, “Please, don’t hurt me. I’ll help if I can.”

“You will help, or I will hurt you. I’ve already searched your shop and found nothing. So, we’re going to take a little drive, during which you’re going to lead me to where you stashed what you took out of the safe deposit box.”

His hand slid up into her hair. With sweet relief, she sucked in gulps of air, until his hand fisted and he yanked her head back sharply. Now her front was pinned to his long, brawny, powerful frame. She struggled, despite the tears pooling in her eyes as the movement stung her scalp.

He chuckled, easily containing her as his other hand swept along her spine, not stopping until it reached her exposed ass, her skirt having ridden up as she fought him. He palmed a cheek through the thin lace of her panties.

“If you don’t tell me what I want to know, things are going to get more intimate.” To prove how much so, he slid his hand between her thighs from the back, his fingers gliding along the strip of fabric, all that protected her pussy from his assault. “And more painful,” he added as his hand reared back and came down hard, twice against each cheek.

“No, please,” she sobbed, pushing futilely against him. “Let me go.”

A door slammed.

“Hey!” Helen Dyer, the owner of the shop next to hers called out from her rear stoop. “Leave her alone or I’m calling the police.”

“This is not bloody happening.” He growled, releasing her so suddenly that she stumbled. But she didn’t fall because of the hold he kept on her wrist. With breathtaking speed, he withdrew his weapon and pointed it at her would-be rescuer.

Helen screamed and fled inside her shop.Who wouldn’t?But she left Mari with the hope she was at that moment calling 911.

Grumbling about bloody interruptions, he dragged her across the lot to a black SUV, parked in the shade. Had it been there the whole time?Laser focused on wrangling Arturo’s Porsche, she could have missed it when she pulled in.

“Stop,” she pleaded, digging in with her heels, but it made no impact as he hauled her forward. “I don’t know anything about Derek’s side business, I swear. He didn’t tell me about his work.”

He opened the driver’s side door and practically stuffed her in. “Slide over,” he ordered gruffly, but she wasn’t ready to give up, kicking him square in the chest before she turned and tried to scramble across and out the opposite side. But he grabbed her ankle and landed a blistering-hot slap on her bare thigh.

“Any more trouble from you, missy, and I’ll get the ropes and gag I put in the back especially for you. Artie isn’t the only one who knows how to bind a woman and tie her up in knots.”

She gasped. His smile deepened. How could she have ever thought it was friendly? Malevolent was more like it.

“Surprised? I didn’t expect your dom to mention his old friend Ray, but I told you, me and Art go way back. Has he introduced you to his bullwhip yet? Who do you think taught him that crap?”

Squealing tires cut him off as several vehicles sped into the lot. Moving with surprising speed for a behemoth, he jumped in the front seat with her and crawled over her to get behind the wheel.

He left the door open, and Mari scrambled toward the opening, but he got a fistful of her hair, again. With the push of a button, the SUV roared to life, and he slammed on the gas. As he spun the wheel, and the vehicle did a one-eighty, the only thing keeping her from flying out was his grip on her hair.

The momentum of the wildly careening vehicle slammed the door shut, almost on her feet, Mari just barely drawing them up out of the way. When he slammed on the gas and the vehicle shot forward out of the lot, she slid off the seat onto the floor a split second before a bullet embedded itself in the window. Her abusive abductor flinched but recovered quickly.

“Get up here,” he growled while hauling her up next to him and wrapping an arm around her throat. More shots rang out, but no more bullets hit the windows or the body of the vehicle. “Just as I’d hoped. They’re shooting at the tires because of my precious cargo.”

He took a corner, driving one-handed. Mari would have slid back onto the floor if not for the forearm at her throat.

“Must be your French lover boy, unwilling to risk his primo piece of ass taking lead. Dumb fuck. He used to be a good agent. Nothing stood between him and his mission. Especially not pussy.”

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