Page 54 of Behind the Shadows
22
KIP
Once I collected myself in the woods, I tossed Holland’s limp body over my shoulder and carried her back to her place.
After placing her on the bed where I could watch her in case she woke up sooner than expected, I searched the room and mentally noted what I would need. I gathered some of her clothes, toothbrush, computer, phone, chargers, and other belongings. If anyone snooped while she was gone, I needed it to look like she had taken time off for a much-needed vacation.
As I packed her bag, I recalled the name of the place she worked and the information I’d found after she’d nearly hit me with her car. I located her phone on the nightstand and used her finger to unlock it. I shook my head with how easy it was. I scrolled through her contacts until I located Howard Blaine, one of her bosses.
Even though it was late, I fired off a text that a family emergency had come up and she’d be taking time off work but would be in touch soon. I pocketed her cell and looked around one last time for anything else she might need on her extended stay away from home. Little did she know, she wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon.
She knew who I was now. And with everyone else thinking she was handling an emergency, I had exactly what I needed—time.
Time to get my answers.
Time to make sure she didn’t turn me in.
Because that? That could never happen.
After I meticulously cleaned up Cooper and the bloody chaos he’d left on the living room floor, I retrieved a body bag from my car and crammed him inside like a sardine in a tin can.
“Good riddance, you stupid fuck.”
The first light of dawn was creeping over the horizon, casting a pale glow across the landscape as I hurried to conceal his corpse in the trunk of my car. Once we reached our destination, I would make sure he vanished without a trace, leaving no clues behind for anyone to follow.
But there was still one more problem to resolve—Draco. Before dealing with him, it was crucial to uncover the reason behind his obsession with Holland.
Hours later,Holland was naked on the cot and chained to the wall of one of Death’s warehouses in Idaho. This one had a remodeled bathroom and kitchenette, which meant Holland and I could stay as long as we needed.
Her eyelids fluttered open, lids heavy with exhaustion, and a soft moan escaped her lips as she tried to shift her position. The chain around her neck clinked and scraped across the rough cement floor.
I stood leaning against the wall, my attention fixed on the woman who had once shattered my world. My anger simmeredbeneath my skin, begging to be unleashed, but my cock had other ideas.
Her gaze followed the chain’s length to where I stood, and I waited for the gravity of her situation to sink in.
“You fucking kidnapped me, Kip?” she seethed.
Her body shook. I suspected it wasn’t from fear but from a rage that fueled my desire to crush her defiance underfoot, and to grind my heel against her pride.
I shrugged. “You left me no other option.”
She looked around the room, at the cinder block fortress I’d chosen for us, at the bottle of water and granola bar on the floor beside her. “I’m not going to help you. And I’m not going to talk.” The chain clinked as she sat up. “Are you going to kill me here?”
“I haven’t decided.” I liked the way the chain made her voice vibrate with every movement, liked the smallness of her in this cold, dark place. Her skin was patchworked with red marks where Cooper had hit her as well as dents from my hands on her neck, which were starting to turn purple. My jaw clenched so hard it hurt. Cooper’s marks didn’t belong on her. No one’s did. The thought of him laying a hand on her made my blood boil, made me want to dig him out of the ground just so I could kill him again, slower this time. She might be chained here because of me, but she was still mine to break, mine to worship, mine to protect. Even from bastards like him.
“You have to let me go,” she said, but it was so hollow it was almost funny. “If you kill me, they’ll find you.”
I smiled, and maybe it was the first time I actually meant it. “Who’s ‘they’? You think anyone’s looking for you, Holland? I’ve been in your place. I know how little you matter to the world.”
She made a sound, a dry laugh, and then spat on the floor. “Then why the fuck do you care so much?”
I crouched down, closer to her level, and waited for her to recoil, but she didn’t. “I want to know why Draco wants you.”
She said nothing.
“You’re going to talk, Holland,” I said, “even if I have to take you apart piece by piece.” I brushed her thigh, slow and deliberate. “You’re not getting out,” I said, and she shrugged.
We stayed like that, silent, and the only sound was the tremor of her chain and our breathing. “You killed Cooper,” she said finally, not a question.
