Page 34 of Unfulfilled Promises
Rhys stepped forward. “We start at the beginning. Devlin, James, Lucian, call your men and have them meet us at my house. By morning, I want my sister home and those who touched her dead.” He paused then added, “And if anything happens to her before we save her, I swear, I will end you without blinking twice.”
I stepped closer to him and returned, “If she’s hurt, I’ll take care of myself. I don’t need your punishment when I have my own.”
And I meant what I said. If Regan was hurt in any way, I’d take myself out of the equation. She didn’t need someone like me in her life. Not after I caused all this to happen.
Chapter 17
Regan
John pulled the car into a driveway and pressed a button which made a garage door open on the shitty house in front of us. The house was plain, as far as I could tell in the darkness, and when I looked down the street, I didn’t see many houses with lights on or cars in the yard.
“Where are we?” I asked, not expecting an answer.
The garage door closed behind us, and John turned the car off, casting us in silence. Giovanni turned in his seat, and when John opened the front door, the car’s overhead light came on, showing Giovanni’s crazed eyes and feral smile. He ran his eyes up and down over me, and I crossed my arms to cover my chest. I knew what kind of a man he was, but I wasn’t going to give in so easily this time.
But being in the back of a car restricted my ability to defend myself, so I asked again, “Where are we?”
“We’re on the way to easy street,” John remarked from the front seat before he opened the door and got out.
I could hear his laughter as Giovanni silently watched me from his position on the other side of the backseat, and the longer the silence stretched, the more anxiety built inside me. He was unpredictable, and that worried me.
If we were in the Flats, close to Portstill, that meant we were close to Pierce Bluff also. Which meant help was all around me—I just needed to get out of here to find it. Words that I’d heard James say to me after he and Devlin rescued me floated through my head, and I let the power of the statement fortify my resolve.
Never stop fighting. Even if you’re hurt, keep fighting, keep gathering information, and never give up.
“Can . . . may I go to the bathroom?” I inquired, lowering my gaze and softening my voice.
Giovanni reached over and touched a piece of my hair, and it took everything in my soul to not flinch away from him. “I never knew how sexy your voice was, little one.”
Not responding may have been a good idea, but I was going to try and be amenable until I could assess the situation. “Thank you.” Pausing, I asked again, “May I go to the bathroom?”
“You may.” I went to open the door, but he grabbed me by my hair and pulled me back to him before he added, “Don’t do anything stupid, Regan. There’s no escape this time. And I promise, no one’s going to rescue you. Tell me what I want to know and maybe I’ll go easy on you.”
I knew he had one speed, and it wasn’t easy, but I gave him a nod from my restricted position and watched an eerie smile break out across his face. He released me, and I held onto my head, feeling the throb kick my headache back up. Carefully, I reached over and opened the door before sliding out of the passenger side. Giovanni got out the other side and stood between me and a second doorway in the garage.
I assumed that was the way out, but I turned away and stepped through the open doorway leading to the kitchen. Standing just inside the doorway, I kept my gaze down but my eyes roamed around, taking in as much as I could as Giovanni stepped in behind me, pressing the front of his body against the back of mine.
“She needs the bathroom. Keep an eye on her while I check in,” Giovanni demanded.
John was about to take a bite of a freshly made sandwich, and he rolled his eyes before slapping the sandwich onto a plate and huffing over to me. “Let’s go,” he groused before grippingonto my upper arm hard, digging his fingertips into the tender flesh.
He dragged me through the house, and while it wasn’t luxury, it wasn’t basic either. From the quick glances, there were at least two bedrooms, maybe three. When he shoved me into the hallway bathroom, I tried to close the door, only to be met with his hand keeping it open. Picking battles was going to keep me alive, so I walked to the toilet and, with my eyes locked on him, I pulled my pants and panties down, using the front of my shirt as a blanket until I could sit.
John watched me, and my bladder picked that moment to be shy. “Hurry up.”
Briefly, I closed my eyes and focused on relaxing, and within a few seconds, I was able to use the bathroom. After wiping, I pulled my pants and panties up over my knees while I stayed seated, and when I went to stand, I bent over, still using my shirt to hide behind. My virtue was long gone, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for them either.
I flushed the toilet and was able to rinse my hands before John pulled me back toward him. Stumbling over my feet, I struggled to keep up with him as he stormed into the kitchen and practically tossed me into a chair at a small table near a sliding glass door. One side of the window was covered with a piece of plywood, and I noticed a huge dog sleeping outside the glass door.
John picked up his sandwich and took a bite, and at the same time, my stomach grumbled, reminding me the only thing I had to eat was a piece of bread. Placing my hand over my stomach, I turned my eyes away as he ate his food, not believing they cared enough about me to make sure I had any.
“Why did you lie to me?” I asked John as he popped the last piece of his sandwich into his mouth. “Why act like you wereinterested in me when all you were going to do was kidnap me anyway?”
John turned his smug gaze to me as he leaned against the counter. “Devlin paid me to connect with you, so if you want to place the blame on anyone, it’s him.”
“I . . . I don’t believe you. He wouldn’t do something like that.”
John threw his head back and laughed at me as I felt my eyes sting. I refused to cry, but when he began to tell me the plan for the evening, the tears fell unchecked down my face. “He and his brother wanted us to meet, to go out to dinner, and when I stood you up, they were going to stage your kidnapping.” I shook my head, refusing to believe they would do something so hurtful. “They discovered you were the little mouse that Sergey told all his secrets to and they wanted the information you have. We just decided to change the game a little and beat them to the punch.”
