Page 30 of Violent Truth
He already has two glasses waiting: whisky for him and wine for me. I wet my lips with the red liquid. I don’t drink any of it. Just like with Dice, if Mr. Harry wanted to, he could have hurt me years ago. It would have been easy to slip a drug into my drink while I was dancing. And he could still drug me right now.
What am I doing here? This has to be a trap.
My chest tightens. All I need is confirmation. Is Piper here? Ineedto know. Then Pipe and I will get the hell out.
Mr. Harry takes me to the living room. The electric fireplace is roaring, and I sit on the leather sofa. Purple carpet. White furniture. Two sliding glass doors leading to the desert darkness, and plenty of hallways and doors that may or maynotlead out of the house.
If Piper tried to run, how would she escape?
“Come closer,” Mr. Harry says, scooting toward me. He reaches around my shoulders and pulls me in. “I’m not going to bite.”
My nerves tingle at his touch, every alarm ringing in my head. What if everything he’s told me is a lie? What if he’s a kidnapper and a killer?
What if he killed Piper?
I can’t panic. I need to get him out of the room so I can explore the rest of the house.
“I’m not feeling the red wine tonight,” I say shyly. “Do you have any white?”
“Sure,” he says. “Anything for you, sweetheart.”
He disappears into the kitchen, humming to himself. I quickly pace down the nearest hallway. The first door opens to an office and the room opposite that is a guest room. When I get to the third door, it’s locked. I jiggle the handle.
A female whimper comes from the other side.
“Piper?” I whisper. “Piper? Is that you?”
“Lily?” she asks.
My stomach drops, every hair on my body standing on end.She’s alive.That’s all I need to know right now.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” I say.
“No! Run away!” she cries. “Get out of here while you still can!”
A throat clears. I come face-to-face with Mr. Harry. He keeps his hands behind his back. My pulse throbs.
“Giving yourself a tour?” he asks.
The accusation vibrates through me: “What’s in the room, Harry?”
“You know what’s in the room.”
Then he bangs the back of a gun into my forehead, knocking me unconscious.
CHAPTER14
DICE
The next day,I get into the SUV with Niko and Tomo. Ronin is already seated in the back, and my world shudders to a halt.
Am I seeing things? Did Ronin have the nerve to drop his orders already?
“You’re supposed to be guarding Lily,” I growl.
“She got home safe,” Ronin says, puffing on his cigarette. He ashes into a dish. “There were other tasks.”
I ball my fists.
