Page 68 of Taking

I tucked the quilt up beneath her chin, and she didn’t shift. Her steady breaths didn’t disrupt thanks to the chamomile tea I’d made for her an hour earlier.

When this is over, I’ll feel something. I’ll have words for you then.

If she even allowed me to speak to her after drugging her a second time. She’d wake like a bitch from hell, hungover and pissed off at me, but at least she wouldn’t be tied and blindfolded.

I slipped from the bedroom, leaving the door open behind me. A fire roared in the fireplace. It’d taken a couple hours to heat the cabin, but by dinner we’d been comfortable. Since I’d drained the water lines and put antifreeze in the toilet and down the sink traps before we’d gone into town, none of the pipes had frozen in our absence.

Something Twinkie and I had learned in our studies about living off the grid.

I’d also filled the wood bin to overflowing since I would be gone for a few days. Couldn’t have my princess breaking a fingernail by having to haul in wood to stay warm.

There was no way in hell Addilyn would have let me go on my own, and keeping her locked up in the dead of winter for longer than a few hours wasn’t possible.

But I could leave her without a vehicle, stranded until I returned.

I placed a note on the table, telling her I had things to take care of on my own that I didn’t want her to have any part of and that I would be back in two days.

On March twelfth.

Her twenty-first birthday.

And I would come bearing gifts.

I retrieved a second throwaway phone I’d hidden and placed it beside the note. It couldn’t be traced, but if she had an emergency or if I didn’t make it back to her, she would have a means of finding help.

Checking on her one last time showed she still lay like a corpse thanks to the crushed pill I’d slipped into her tea, unmoving except for the slight rise and fall of her chest.

I wanted to crawl back in bed with her. Hold her soft skin against mine, try to explain the feelings she brought to life inside me. Warmth and sunshine.

Not just obsession…belonging.

That I would go above and beyond to keep her safe, rage against anyone and anything if it meant staying by her side. My fucking princess—mine, goddamnit.

But duty called.

And I would erase every threat that stood in the way of our continued happiness.

Steeling myself, I turned and strode away. I had a two hour ride ahead of me.

And some sweet revenge to dish out.

* * *

I’d become one hell of a pill cocktail maker—and kidnapper. My adrenaline still pumped from nabbing my latest victim when I drove down into the seediest neighborhood in Anchorage. The one where the skanky cunts hung out hoping to swallow a guy’s cum and make a few bucks.

The last known address of a girl I hadn’t seen in a long fucking time, the stupid whore who didn’t bother with privacy on social media and revealed to the world which street corner she used to pick up johns.

A lone streetlight flickered down the block, barely illuminating the dark, chilled night. Quiet settled over me where I sat in my car, the hum of the engine and heater enough to keep me company. I’d accomplished the first part of my plan for the night. Fingers crossed the second would arrive shortly.

Another twenty minutes passed before she hopped from a truck, waved to the guy, and sauntered up the sidewalk.

Free for the taking.

Adrenaline leaking into my bloodstream, I put the Subaru in drive and made my way toward her.

She sauntered, swaying a skinny ass tucked into tight jeans. A bulky jacket covered her upper body, but she turned as I slowed down alongside her, revealing a gaping zipper, her fake as fuck tits spilling out of a white tank top.

I crawled to a stop, putting the passenger window down, and I leaned to my right, tipping my baseball hat back so she’d see my face. “Jenny? Is that you?” I asked, forcing surprise into my voice and making my dimples pop.

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