Page 44 of Deceptive Lies

“No big deal,” Cooper said, lifting his arms so his hands were held palms out in a sign of surrender. “The lady’s body is covered in bruises, I wasn't going to let her get tossed about, and she’s still cuffed.”

Somewhat cautiously, the four men approached. When they were close enough, two of them reached out and grabbed her shoulders, yanking her from Cooper’s hold.

Willow clamped her lips together so she didn't cry out a protest at being taken away from him. It wouldn't do any good, and if the men suspected there was anything more between them than just that Cooper had rescued her, they would use it to their advantage.

There was more, wasn't there?

She wasn't imagining it?

No, she couldn’t have. After all, he had kissed her first. There was something there even if she wasn't sure yet what it was. All she knew was that something on a soul level drew her to Cooper, and she absolutely would do everything within her meager power to get him out of this alive.

That helped her steel her spine as she was dragged out of the van. Her muscles protested every single movement, having stiffened during the drive. The pain in her potentially broken arm was almost unbearable from the awkward way her arms were pulled behind her back and bound.

But complaining or crying about it wasn't going to help so she shoved the pain away and tried to focus. As she was walked toward a large sandy-colored house that blended in with all the desert sand, she scanned the area. Wherever they were it was remote. There was one road that she could see, then the long driveway they’d come down.

Instead of entering the house, they were led around it and toward alarger structure at the back. It kind of looked like a large warehouse or storage shed, and when they reached it, and she was shoved inside, she saw that it was completely empty save for a table and chairs down one end near a scant kitchenette and two lone chairs sitting in the middle.

Unfortunately, Willow didn't need a vivid imagination to figure out what the purpose of those two chairs was.

Behind her, Cooper was also led into the room, and they were both taken to the chairs. The men weren't gentle, but they weren't overly rough with her either as she was pushed into one of the chairs.

A hand on her back, between her shoulder blades, pushed her forward and she felt the slight scrape of a knife as it cut through the plastic ties. As soon as they fell away and her arms drooped forward, excruciating pain seared through the limbs as blood flow returned.

Determined not to show weakness by crying, she pressed her lips together and scrunched her eyes closed. Breathing through the pain as best as she could, eventually, it began to ebb, and once it did, she lifted her head to find that she’d already been cuffed, wrists and ankles, to the chair, as had Cooper.

His gray eyes reminded her of a thunderstorm as their gazes met.

In answer to his unasked question if she was okay, she gave a single nod. She was as okay as she could be given their circumstances.

Turning that stormy gaze on their captors, Cooper stared at them, waiting for them to make whatever move they intended to make.

Likewise, Willow also shifted her gaze from Cooper to the half dozen men surrounding them. Thankfully—or maybe not—Professor Mahmoud didn't appear to be one of them. Not that there was any doubt why she’d been taken. They knew her, knew she was the journalist after the professor, well the young men had known, and she assumed they had called in the professionals.

Wasn't like there were any other options. Were there?

Was it possible this was to do with Cooper’s search for answers about his mother instead of her mess?

It didn't matter either way, they were in this together.

Together.

The word settled in her mind, pushing a calming strength through her body.

If they were in this together, she couldn’t be the weak link. She had to hold it together just like she had before. If she could do it then, there was absolutely no reason why she couldn’t do it again now.

One of the men that she recognized as the leader stepped up in front of her. Beady black eyes stared down at her, but she forced herself to stay still, not shrink under the weight of that stare.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” the man eventually said. “You tell us who you already sent your intel to and handle it, or things are going to get messy. Bloody,” he added in a threatening voice.

Okay, so about her for sure.

She’d told the professor that if she got away, she’d see to it that she destroyed him, and it seemed he’d taken her at her word.

Meeting the man’s gaze, she held it. “It’s already too late for Professor Mahmoud. I suggest you let us go if you don’t want to be taken down along with him. At least let Cooper go, all he did was rescue me, he doesn’t know what I have on the professor or why I followed him to Egypt.”

Even though she didn't look at him, Willow could feel Cooper’s frustration rolling off him in waves. He didn't like her trying to protect him. Well, too bad. He’d risked everything to help her, and she would absolutely do the same thing.

Casting a suspicious glance at Cooper, the man then returned it to her. “You need to undo what you did. Contact whoever you told and tell them you were mistaken.”

---