Page 40 of King

His voice began to drift off and the door closed behind him. I let out a sigh of relief before I climbed out from under the desk and hightailed it out of there before Betty got back.

I had so many questions but the main thing I felt was fear. I’d never really been too scared of Zane. He was a puppy dog compared to the men I’d dealt with before and yet…I felt fear when I read those emails.

I wasn’t safe anymore.

My phone dinged, waking me from my ever present thoughts. I moved away from the window of my apartment and over to my kitchen bench where my phone was. It was from Rusty.

Rusty: do you have anything to report?

Paisley: not a lot, i’m still trying to find out some stuff but today all I saw were some emails about shipments

Rusty: are you safe?

I thought about the question. Was I?

Just as I was about to write something, I heard my door slam open. I turned to look at it and saw an angry looking Zane standing there in the doorway. I should have answered the question, but now, my phone lay on the floor where I dropped it when Zane came into my apartment. I stumbled back, fearing the anger I could see all over his face. He slammed the door shut behind him and he stalked toward me. My heart was hammering in my chest as he approached me.

“I should have known you came back to spy,” he said, his teeth gritted together. “You little slut. You gave it up for him, didn’t you? Anything for a piece of cock. Well, I can’t risk you running down there again and surprising what I have in store for him.”

He grabbed me by the throat, squeezing. My throat burned as I gasped for air. I clawed at his hand to release me but he only tightened his grip. The skin under his fingers felt like it was on fire. His eyes were dark, and I could feel the anger radiating off him.

“You think I don’t have cameras in my office?” he said in my ear. I could feel the heat from his mouth on me and I wanted to scream. “Your spying is over, little bitch.”

He let go of my throat and I hunched over, trying to get oxygen into my lungs. When I stood again, I looked into those dark soulless eyes, just as his hand raised up and hit me across the face. I fell to the ground, dazed. I was vaguely aware of him picking me up before I felt the darkness claim me.

Chapter Ten

Halen

Rustyranintomyoffice, out of breath, and holding his phone. Both Ben and Cy were standing when he entered, surprised by their brothers’ entrance.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him, knowing instantly it was about Paisley. My heart began to hammer in my chest, seeing the fear in his eyes.

“She’s not answering,” he said quickly. “She was texting me and then nothing. I called her twice but her phone is going straight to voicemail.”

I sat down. He wouldn’t kill her.

No, he’d use her against me. The one thing I was sure of was that he would underestimate her.

She was a survivor, I had to remember that.

“Have you heard from Percy?” I asked Ren. He shook his head.

“No, I’m just getting the runaround from his guys.”

“Rusty, get up to the city and look around for her, Ren go and find some contacts of yours to see what Zane’s up to.”

Both Rusty and Ren left the office. I moved my arm across the desk, my laptop and papers flying off the desk and landing on the ground. I picked up the book ends from my bookshelf and launched them across my room. A chunk of tile chipped off the floor and upended from the impact.

It didn’t make me feel better.

I should never have left her up there. I knew better than to trust my brother and his sadistic ways.

“Fuck!” I screamed, slamming in my fists down on my desk. A large crack formed in the wood. My knuckles ached as I massaged them.

“Boss, tell us what to do.”

Ben was kneeling beside me and I appreciated it but even I didn’t know what to do. How could I be expected to give orders when I was at a loss myself?

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