Page 5 of Adored By Them
“How do you know she didn’t leave through the front?”I ask.
“I was stationed at the front of the church, greeting the guests.Ed thought it best if the guards at the front showed more…polish, I think was his word.”He flashes us a sleek grin.
Everything about this guy screams money, power.If he’s a part of Vorsong Circle, he’s at the top…which makes me think he had nothing to do with Dani’s kidnapping.It simply doesn’t make sense.
Edmund glowers.“You realize, don’t you, that she didn’t run away voluntarily.”
Romano’s smile falls.“What?How?What are you saying?”
“Someone took her, through the east exit.”I picture the side of the church in my mind.Plenty of parking spaces along there, and a long lane for service vehicles to park near a door.“They killed our guards who were stationed there.”
“That is unacceptable.”Romano’s voice is harsh, his gaze lethal.He’s reacting as if someone important to him was taken, but as far as I know, he didn’t know Dani at all.“What can I do to help?I have resources.”
“Nothing yet.”Edmund stands up, signals to the bartender that we’re leaving.He drops a bill on the table for the trouble.“We might be in touch.”
Romano nods.“I’ll be ready.”
* * *
Danica
I don’t know how many hours pass in the creepy office.A while—a long while.My arms go numb.At one point, I start to nod off, but I jerk awake before sleep comes.
“Danica Montrose.”The door swings open and my captor stands before me.Black pants, white shirt.He looks like a food server, like I could picture him wielding a giant tray of crab puffs.I doubt that’s his side gig, though—the dead eyes would make guests fear the crab puffs are full of razor blades.He nods, as if reading my thoughts and confirming them.“I’ll help you to the bathroom.How rude of me to neglect you for so long.”
The last thing I want to do is pee with this guy standing nearby.But peeing myself seems worse.
“Yeah.”My voice croaks from disuse.“Okay.”
He unhooks my bindings from the chair.My arms ache and sting as the blood rushes back through them.He hauls me to the bathroom, where he leaves the door open.
I struggle to lift the flouncy skirts of my wedding gown.His gaze is on me, but not in a perverted way.I feel more like a wild animal being surveyed by a curious human.He doesn’t care—at all—about what I’m doing.He doesn’t care about me.I am a bag of meat to this guy.
Sociopath, I think.That’s what he is.Someone who doesn’t feel emotions or caring in the same way most people do.
The realization causes me to shiver.He could kill me at any point.There’s no reasoning with him.
When he leads me back to the strange room, I go willingly.I don’t want to annoy him.The less he thinks about me, the better.
Something metallic glints on the floor.It’s next to an old desk covered in liquid-filled bowls.At first I think it’s a ruler, but then I realize—it’s an old utility knife.
Holy shit.I need that.
I can’t get it now, though.His hands are bands around my upper arms, maneuvering me around.If I go for the knife, he’ll overpower me in seconds.
Quickly, I look away from it.He must not know the knife is there, otherwise he wouldn’t have left it.Something like that knife could cut through the plastic rope he uses to re-tie my hands behind me.
He finishes tying me up and stands in front of me, hands on his hips.“Do you pray, Danica Montrose?”
“Sorry, do I—what?”
He tilts his head.“I believe my words were clear.”
“I guess I do, sometimes.”
“You may want to start praying more.”He doesn’t smile.His face is expressionless.
It’s the most chilling statement I’ve heard in my entire life.
