Page 22 of Captured Pawn
“Oh, come on. You can’t leave me hanging,” I said as I took another bite, hopeful my sudden cooperation might convince him to finish his thought. When he still stayed silent, I pressed, “I deserve to know why my brother died.”
“Does it matter?”
“If it caused my brother’s death, it sure as hell matters.”
“Fair enough. I’m dealing with it,” he tried to reassure me, but failed miserably.
“And how long is it going to take you to deal with it?” When he didn’t answer, I pressed my luck. “Do you think it will be in time to get back to working at my security business?”
“It will take as long as it takes. Finish your food.” He pushed to his feet as he finished barking his order.
“You can’t leave me in this damn room all day. I’m going to go crazy.” I had to shout it to his back as he was beelining it to the door.
“I’ll tell Stevie and Pops you are allowed to go to the pool, but you’d best behave yourself. If you try to escape again, I’ll leave you tied to the bed indefinitely.”
He was almost out the door when I remembered to shout at his back, “I need my phone! I have some calls to make! I need to check in with Tricia. She is going to be worried about me. It would serve you right if she called the police and reported me missing!”
He paused, just long enough to begrudgingly say, “I’ll get you use of a phone today, but only if you behave.”
He didn’t wait for me to reply, but instead just slammed and locked the door, leaving me alone again.
I had no interest in lying around next to the pool, but if it got me out of the room, I’d deal. After all, I needed more information on the layout of the mansion. Only getting intel would help me figure out how I was going to escape once and for all.
The niggling voice in the back of my head tried to warn me that escaping would do no good if I wouldn’t be able to resume my normal life, but then again… with Matty gone, nothing would ever seem normal again anyway.
CHAPTER10
Nick
“Dammit, do what I asked. Now!”
With nothing left to say, I hung up on Robert for the third time that day. My gut told me that my foreman at the docks wasn’t the leak in my organization, but that didn’t stop me from taking my frustrations out on him.
I’d spent the last four hours in my office with my head buried in paperwork. Even under-the-table businesses like I ran had to keep books, though they weren’t any version the IRS would ever see. I’d spent the morning poring over receipts, looking for something unusual… A traitor had to leave a paper trail behind, and I was determined to find it.
Finally pushing to my feet, I stretched, letting my thoughts float as I wondered what Sophie had been up to all morning. The fact that Pops hadn’t interrupted me told me she’d behaved herself. Curious, I went to the tall windows facing the courtyard, pulling open the heavy drapes to let in the bright May sunshine.
It took all of two seconds to find her, stretched out, sunning poolside on one of the lounge chairs. That she wasn’t trying to escape pleased me, but that was the only thing that made me happy.
She was naked. Not one stitch of clothing on. Normally, I’d be all for the show of skin, but I counted no less than five men loitering around the courtyard—not one of them even trying to hide the fact that they were staring at her like she was their next meal—two gardeners, one security guy, the pool cleaner, and Pops, all standing around as if they had nothing better to do than drink in the show.
Scratch that.Six. I watched as Nathan, still in his business suit, carried a small tray in her direction, as if he were some kind of cabana boy waiting on her. I had no clue what he said to her as he placed the tall, iced beverage on the small table next to her, but I could see Sophie’s wide smile as she shaded her eyes from the sun as she looked up at him.
Unlike earlier in the bathroom, she didn’t even bother trying to hide her body from my damn brother and for some reason, that pissed me off the most.
What the fuck were they chatting away about? And since when was Nathan Mister Social? He hated chitchat so much he refused to date women, preferring to rotate through his contact list when he decided he needed female companionship. And by companionship, he meant dominance. The way he treated the women who entered his life made me look like a boy scout. Surely it was just concern that he might unleash that side of himself on my innocent guest that had me wanting to stomp down there and punch him in the face.
When my cell phone rang, I was tempted to ignore it. The only reason I didn’t was I glanced down to see it was the call I’d been waiting for.
“Angela.”
“Nicholas. You rang?”
“Yeah. I need to see you,” I spat, keeping my eyes on the spectacle playing out next to the pool.
“And here I thought you told me we were through.”
Her snapback annoyed me. “This isn’t personal. I have a job I need your help on.”
