Page 134 of Sin With Me

Chapter6

Eric

Emma satacross the table from me. Part of me wanted to dive right into my past. Another part feared what that meant. I hadn’t had nightmares for a while, but the guilt would always remain inside me. There was no way I’d be able to let that go – ever. I hadn’t shared this with anyone, so deciding at which point to start and how much exactly to tell her was a challenge.

“I… I haven’t told anyone aboutthis.”

She reached forward and took my hand into both of hers. Her pale skin stood out against mine. The gesture startled me, but the calmness and understanding in her eyes seeped right into me, giving me that desperately sought courage.

“It’s all right, Eric.”

And so I went into the details – most of them – of what had happened to me and my sister when we were barely teens.

* * *

Gagged,I felt helpless as the bulky man put a cloth against Annabelle’s mouth. With my hands tied behind my back and feet bound with rope, I moved toward him along the carpet like a caterpillar. Max barked outside, but no one could hear our German shepherd. Tonight our parents had gone on a rare night out to the town dance. It looked like the bastard, whose face I couldn’t see, had timed his abduction perfectly.

I kicked my feet forward, getting him right in the shin. Letting go of my sister, he swore and swung back at me, hitting me over my head. The sound of oscillating metal echoed in my ears as I fell to the ground. The last thing I remembered seeing was Annabelle’s limp body on herbed.

When I woke up it was pitch black, and for a moment I wondered whether I’d actually opened my eyes. The smell of wet dirt permeated the air. With my feet and arms no longer bound, I sat up against an earthen wall, immediately wondering where I could be. I thought about wells, excavated dungeons, unfinished basements… never in the world would I have guessed the place where the bastard had taken me. And what had happened to my sister? Was she evenhere?

My wrists and ankles itched from the rope burns. Those had been removed and replaced with a tighter bind around my arms and torso. It made getting up and moving around a bit more difficult, but not impossible. The room was cold. If I could see anything, I’d be able to see my breath in front of my face. As I made my way around the misshapen room, trying to figure out its size, I bumped into somethingsoft.

“Annabelle? Annabelle, are you all right?” I asked, but she didn’t respond. She wasn’t tied up but remained unconscious, probably from the chloroform he’d sedated her with. I sat back against the wall beside her and maneuvered myself close to her so that I could ease her head onto my lap. Her breathing was steady. Relieved she was alive, I leaned my headback.

* * *

“You didn’t tellme you were both kidnapped. The files…They had nothing onyou.”

“I know. I wasn’t going to tell you this. I kept the other files at my ranch.” While this was partly true because I needed bait to lure Emma out of the city, as I’d been asked to, I couldn’t help but feel guilty for it now. I didn’t want her to get hurt. Not by me, and not by anyoneelse.

“Why?”

“Because I haven’t told the complete story before. Not to anyone who mattered, at least. I’m not looking for pity, and I’m not worried about myself. I just need to know where the asshole is, so that I can know Annabelle issafe.”

“How old were you?” Emma asked. “And before I continue, please tell me your sister is safe and alive.”

“I was fifteen. Annabelle was eleven. Yes, she’s alive - although I’ve been questioning to what extent. What we went through has severely affectedher.”

Emma was still holding my hand in both of hers, rubbing her thumb over my knuckles. The caress of her fingers over my skin pulsed through me in waves. I’d never had such a feeling before. It was new, welcome, and confusing at the same time. I hadn’t expected that fromher.

“I can almost guarantee you it did. Traumatic experiences like those aren’t easily forgotten.”

“What makes you say that? Have you been through anything likethat?”

“Not exactly.” She paused for a moment, and I knew I’d hit on something there. Maybe Emma had never been kidnapped, but whatever had hurt her, had hurt her deep. “But my brothers have. It sort of comes with the job for them. That’s why they’ve been so overprotective.” She rolled hereyes.

I cocked my head to the side. “Don’tro…”

“… okay, okay. It’s a habit. I’m sorry. I’ll try harder not to roll them. It’s just that my brothers don’t really let me experience life on my own, so I have the urge to do so without their knowledge. Otherwise they’ll butt in all the time. I find the need to prove myself drives me to crazy town more often than I’dlike.”

“Like stripping at a bar?” The memory of her dancing nearly naked there worked like Viagra for my cock. It would be some time before I could think about the night I’d met Emma without all my blood rushing to my groin.

“Yes, among other things. They get in my business too much. I need to lead my life on my own. I can protect myself.”

Shit! This wasn’t good. Okay, so maybe not being completely honest with her as to why I’d ended up at Cross Enterprises could be a problem in the future. But there was no way Emma would find out about our connection, was there? Yet the cautious side of me knew what a good investigator she had to be. There was no doubt in my mind she’d eventually find out, so it would be my goal over the time to come to tell her the truth before shedid.

Knowing how protective Julian and Tristan Cross had been, I wished I could have been that kind of brother. Perhaps I wouldn’t have let my sister down. I wouldn’t had failedher.

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