Page 14 of Accepting His Name (The Sartoris 1)

“Good grief, girl, did you try on any of it?”

She snapped her fingers. “I know my size. I rarely need to try on anything. Let me hold your keys so I can run to the car. I saw another shop I want to check out.”

Shakarri shook her head. “I can’t keep up with you. If you spend your rent money, don’t come crying to me.”

Nay sucked her teeth. “I’ll just do a bunch of overtime to cover it.”

“Gotta feed your habit.”

She laughed

. “Whatever. Be right back.”

Shakarri wandered around the store a little more then took her purchases to the register. Nay hadn’t returned yet, so she was pretty sure her friend like a little child had gotten caught by the glitz of another store on the way back from the car.

With her stuff paid for, Shakarri left the shop and headed in the direction of the parking lot.

“Mrs. Sartori.” The voice sounded familiar, but before she could turn around, something pressed into her back. “Keep your mouth shut, and you won’t get hurt.”

Fear crawled along her spine. “It was very stupid of you to come out by yourself. Did you think no one would notice?”

She looked up into the face of the man who she assumed had tried to pick her up. All along, he’d known who she was. Fear took root. She swallowed, trying to keep herself from throwing up as the man led her toward a car parked at the curb.

“You’ve got the wrong person,” she said, her voice shaking. Was it a gun he had pressed to her back? Terror kept her from fighting.

He grinned as he unlocked the car door. “Of course. You’re not the new wife of mogul Ezio Sartori. I’ve mixed you up with another couple, huh?”

Her heart sank. The man stuffed her into the car, and she looked around to see if she could spot Nay. Her friend was nowhere in sight. Maybe she should scream for help and leap out of the car before he could get to the driver side.

The man bent down in front of her. One of his hands was inside the pocket of the jacket he wore. She should have noticed it being such a hot day. “He made a stupid mistake in not setting someone up to protect you. It works in my favor.”

She shivered. A couple months ago she was an ordinary woman. No one would think twice about kidnapping her off the street because she was so poor her checking account at the time was in the negative. As Ezio’s wife it was another story. Images of herself lying dead in a gutter somewhere kept popping into her head.

Get a grip, Sha. Just fight. You’ve always taken care of yourself. Do it!

He wiggled his jacket. Something was definitely in there. Fear almost blinded her. Shakarri had a middle class upbringing. She’d never seen a gun in person that wasn’t behind a glass case in a store. Her heart threatened to explode in her chest. This was stuff for the movies.

“Let’s go before your friend comes back.” His grin went from being ingratiating, as it had been in the store, to threatening. Shakarri had to fight. Ezio didn’t love her. He loved his money. He might not pay if there was a ransom. He’d move on to the next wife, who wouldn’t be stupid enough to get herself kidnapped.

She threw her bag in the man’s face and shoved him as hard as she could. He stumbled backward, but he grabbed hold of her, jerking her to him. This time she felt the hard steel in her belly. No mistake about it, he had a gun. She cried out, but he popped her with the back of his hand across the mouth. Her lip cut against her teeth, and she tasted the metallic flavor of blood. Tears flooded her eyes.

“Hey!” someone shouted. “What do you think you’re doing?”

The man shoved her into the car and climbed over her. She heard the jingle of his keys as he struggled to get them into the ignition along with keeping a strong hold on her arm. Shakarri tried to get out of the door, but he yanked her backward and shut it. The engine turned over. She saw her last chance to escape disappearing.

Fight, Sha.

She spun to face him, but the gun was visible now, and he pressed it into her side. “I will shoot you. Try me.”

Her throat dried, and all the fight disappeared. Tears slipped down her cheeks. They pulled into traffic.

“You’re going to be my ticket to a nice comfy life, so just sit back and deal with it.”

“Ezio won’t pay,” she managed around the lump in her throat. “You’re going risk jail for nothing.”

He pressed his foot down hard on the accelerator. “You’d better hope that’s not true because if he doesn’t, I’ll kill you.”

She covered her mouth and cried harder. No amount of trying to convince herself to do something worked. The gun scared the crap out of her. Everyone said they would do this and that, but in the face of such a situation, she felt paralyzed and most of all—alone.

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