Page 98 of Bravo

“You’d better think hard. My associate is counting on this being what he’s looking for. And if you don’t have the information I need by the time he gets here, he’ll make everything I’ve done look like a walk in the park.” Alexander pushes back from his seat.

“Why did you kill her? She was your daughter.”

“She wasnotmy daughter,” he replies. “And she proved to be just as much trouble as her mother—if not more.”

Olivia had told me that her mother committed suicide. That it was sudden and she still harbored anger over it. In fact, she struggled to even tell me that much. But the way he’s speaking—“Did you kill Olivia’s mother?”

“Not personally,” he replies. “I have people for that.” He walks around the desk then stops in front of me and leans back against it. “People you’re going to meet a lot sooner than planned if you don’t get me the information I need.”

“I don’t have the information you need,” I insist. “Why would I knowingly walk in here with a useless piece of metal? Why trade my life if it wasn’t going to do any good?”

He studies me. “I’m honestly not sure. Stupidity, perhaps? Olivia wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. It seems fitting she’d run with someone just as dense.”

“Olivia was the smartest person I knew,” I growl. “She was ambitious, friendly, and you ruined her!” I scream it, so furious that I don’t even see the hand before it cracks across my cheek.

Pain sears the side of my face, and copper fills my mouth.

“You’ll do good to remember who you’re speaking to.”

“I won’t,” I reply, hoping it comes across as a threat rather than compliance. “So, tell me,Senator,what is it you’re wrapped up in? What about this lifestyle wasn’t enough for you that you had to go and get into something so illegal it’s worth killing over?” I consider mentioning that I know they’re shipping logs, but if I do that, he’ll know that I had the real thumb drive at some point. So I keep my mouth shut and hope he believes Olivia gave me the wrong one.

“I only have this lifestyle because of the generosity of my associate. He gives me support and status, and I make sure he can do his business unbothered.”

“Dirty politician. How original.” I spit on the floor, blood splattering onto the white rug. “Oops,” I say. If he’s going to kill me, which he’s made clear he is, I won’t go out without a fight. Even if it’s just bravado.

God, if You can hear me now, I’m ready. Please help me find my way to You. I need You. I won’t survive this alone. Please, God.

“What, you’ve got nothing else to say?” he asks.

“Nothing that matters.”

He shakes his head. “You act as though the cards are in your pocket. I could have that entire ranch wiped out before breakfast, and there’s not a single thing you can do about it.” He considers. “There’s a thought. If you don’t give up the information I need, then perhaps that’s the route we’ll go. Youcan watch them all die in HD.” Alexander gestures to the TV on the wall. “It’s where I watched your old cabin go boom.” He grins. “Think about it. I’ll be back.”

At some point,I must have drifted off because, as I open my eyes, the sunlight that had crept through the closed curtains is gone.What time is it?My entire body aches, my neck stiff from being in the same position for who knows how long.

Fear creeps up my spine. How longhasit been? Have I been out only a few hours? Or an entire day?

The door opens behind me, and I jolt in my seat. “So this is the troublemaker, then?” a deep voice booms as a man I’ve never seen steps into view. “She doesn’t look all that intimidating. Pretty too.” Reaching forward, he runs his finger along my cheek. I try to pull away, but he grips my face, holding it hard enough that I know my cheeks will bruise.

If I’m alive long enough for that to happen.

Wearing black jeans and a leather jacket, he looks every bit like someone willing to tear me apart for the information he wants.

“Hi, darling, it seems we need to have a talk.” He releases my face, slams both hands down onto my strapped-down forearms, and squeezes.

I wince, tears burning in my eyes as pain shoots up both arms. “I already told him, that’s the drive Olivia gave me.”

He flings me backward, chair and all, and my head hits the ground with a hardcrack.Pain explodes behind my eyes. He comes into view above me. “I don’t play the same games Alexander does, something he should have warned you about.”Walking around, he grabs a fistful of my hair and jerks, setting my chair back up.

Some hair rips free, and I scream.

“There we go. Now we’re getting somewhere. So I’ll say it again. We need to have a talk. And I’m not leaving here until you’ve given me every answer I need.” He slips out of his jacket, revealing a large gun sheathed in a shoulder holster.

Crossing his arms, he leans back against the desk across from me.

My blood goes cold, and that fear turns to panic.

But even as it tries to overtake me, a sense of peace settles in its place. A thick blanket telling me to just hold on a little longer.

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