Page 7 of Twisted Empire

My heart skipped a beat. If I wanted to, I could slide my bindings right off now. I’d be free.

Other than the closet door and the woman with the gun waiting between me and the outside world.

I sank onto my butt to rest for a moment and consider my options. I could have called Yvonne’s bluff and yelled for help, but even ifshewould have risked someone hearing me, I couldn’t believe a huge crime boss like Doom’s Seed would have let her keep me here if there were people nearby who’d hear a loud shout.

I couldn’t count on anyone coming to help me. My guys wouldn’t have any idea where she’d taken me.

To get out of this mess, I could only count on myself.

I had two tools at my disposal: persuasion and force. I wasn’t sure either would be enough, but starting with the one less likely to get me killed seemed like the best idea.

First I wanted to scope out as much of my surroundings as I could and see if I could add any tools to my limited arsenal.

I pressed my face against the doorframe and used the friction to tug the blindfold back over my eyes, so she wouldn’t realize I’d been able to dislodge it. Leaving my hands in their silky restraint, I scooted a little back from the door.

“Hey!” I hollered. “Are you still there? I need to use the bathroom. Unless you want me to pee in here on your stuff.”

Yvonne’s footsteps quickly tapped across the floor to the closet. It’d obviously been long enough that she could believe I genuinely needed to go—and I did feel a real twinge in my bladder.

The door clicked open. “Come on, then,” Yvonne said brusquely, grasping the side of my arm to tug me to my feet. “Let’s be quick about it.”

I couldn’t make out anything other than the hardwood floor as she escorted me down a hall and into a tiled bathroom. The boards in the hall gleamed with polish, not a mark on them—like they’d recently been laid down. That didn’t help me with my escape, though.

Yvonne followed me right into the bathroom. “Can I get a little privacy?” I protested as she loosened my jeans.

“I’m making sure you don’t get up to anything you shouldn’t. You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before.”

I had to restrain a flinch as her cool hands dragged my jeans and panties down my thighs. She pushed me down on the toilet, an awkward fit with my arms bound behind me. I forced my pelvis to relax so I could actually go and keep up my story, my skin itching with mortification.

So much for searching the place. She wasn’t giving me a second alone to take a peek at my surroundings or grab anything. What I wouldn’t have given for something as simple as a pair of nail scissors…

But there was no point in moping about the impossible.

“I’m done,” I said when I was sure nothing more would come out.

“Then stand up. I’m not wiping you.”

I guessed I’d rather that than have her reach right between my legs. Even the thought made me shudder.

I got to my feet, and she yanked up my jeans. She was using two hands, I noted, which meant she wasn’t holding her gun right now. But she probably had it in her pocket within easy reach. I didn’t like my odds of getting out of my bindings and making it to the door before she was ready to shoot me.

Not while she was still so alert, anyway.

Time to give persuasion a try.

As Yvonne hustled me back to the closet, I couldn’t help wishing I’d managed to absorb more of Slade’s easy charm. I was good with facts and problem-solving, not so much with cajoling people into getting my way.

Maybe I should start by getting some facts, then. See if I could understand how both of us had ended up in this awful situation.

“Why are you doing this to me?” I asked as she pushed me ahead of her into the closet. My shoulder brushed the hanging shirts and dresses. “You know that Logan cares about me. You know how upset he’ll be if something happens to me. He’ll never forgive you.”

“Then you’d better behave so that it doesn’t come to that.”

“You’re really going to let me go at some point? That’s not how stories like this usually end, and I think you know that.” I didn’t want to let on that I’d overheard Doom’s Seed’s threats, but she had to realize the likely outcome was obvious.

Yvonne simply let out a huff but didn’t answer. I pressed harder. “Don’t you care about your son at all?”

Yvonne prodded me farther into the closet. My back hit the clothes along the far wall with a jangling of the hangers. I half expected her to storm off, but she stayed in place. I could sense her standing there a few feet away—not close enough for me to reach her, but not leaving either.

---