Page 45 of Deceptive Lies

“Yeah, I'm not going to do that. Why would I?”

A slow smile took over his face as he reached out and placed one of his hands on the forearm of her possibly broken arm. “Because if you don’t, I'm going to make things very unpleasant for you. Easy way or the hard way. Your choice.”

There was no choice.

She had to do whatever it took to convince these men that Cooper knew nothing and was no threat to the professor. Even if that meant enduring more horrific pain.

Chapter

Twelve

July 12th

3:40 P.M.

A sharp intake of air was the only sign Willow gave that anything was wrong.

But he’d heard it.

Heard the slight snap as one of the delicate bones in her finger was broken.

Rage, unlike anything Cooper had ever experienced, flooded his system. These men would pay for hurting Willow. Pay with their lives. Every single one of them. He would hunt them all down and rip them to pieces with his bare hands.

It wasn't until he heard laughter that Cooper realized he was growling at the men.

“Seems like he cares a little too much about a simple broken finger,” the man said, clearly amused.

“Because he’s a good man,” Willow said, her breathing heavy, but determination flashing in her turquoise eyes. His little fighter wasstill standing, and while he absolutely hated that she was trying to protect him when it should be the other way around, he was so proud of her.

Again.

Even when he thought he was already as proud of her as he could be, she went and upped the bar again, proving that she was every bit the warrior he had trained to be and without the grueling training he’d gone through.

It was just who she was.

“He’s a thief,” their tormentor said. “He took something that didn't belong to him, now he has to pay the price for that.”

“I don’t belong to Professor Mahmoud,” Willow snapped, sounding completely offended by the insinuation. “He kidnapped me, held me against my will, and beat me daily.”

“You thought you could take him on, and he proved to you that you lost,” the man said with a shrug.

“Only I didn't lose, did I?” Willow said, goading the man even though she had to know that would only make things worse for her.

“Seems like you did.” The man pressed down on the hand that was still on Willow’s almost definitely broken arm. Her face tightened, pain bracketing her lips as they were pressed into a thin line, but she didn't cry out in pain, and the determination in her eyes only grew.

“Because now you kidnapped me?” Willow asked. “Doesn’t change anything.”

Annoyance flared in the man’s black eyes. “Tell me what you did.”

“I'm sure you can figure it out,” Willow shot back.

“You were only gone a few hours, less than a day, you could not have done anything drastic,” the man said, although there was a thread of doubt in his voice.

Willow rolled her eyes.

Straight up rolled them like she wasn't cuffed to a chair, littered with bruises, with a freshly broken finger. Cooper didn't know if he wanted to cheer her on for her bravery or spank her pretty little backside for being so irresponsible as to invite their attacker to cause her more pain.

“Yeah, because there’s no such thing as phones and the internet. I already did what I needed to do,” Willow told their abductor.

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