Page 74 of My Three Rivals

We have worked too hard for this to be the end for me,I determined, throwing my head back to shake off the haziness that refused to leave me.

I realized that half my problem was the lighting in the boat storage. Most of the fuzz wasn’t even in my head at all.

I blinked several times, refusing to succumb again to the fear and sorrow as I sought anything nearby to release me.

But even as my eyes adjusted, I couldn’t see anything within wriggling reach. If I tipped the chair to the side and wriggled up the floor on my side with the chair…

In the distance, I heard a door open and close, my chin jutting up to look, but I saw no one. I bit on my lip, tempted to call out, but my gut told me to remain quiet.

Breathing heavily, I listened for footsteps, but again, I was enveloped in silence.

Think, Tegan, for fuck’s sake. THINK!

I moved my ass around in the chair, trying to feel for my cell phone, but of course, it wasn’t with me. Either Lou had taken it, or it had fallen out when he’d hit me.

I pressed my lips again, willing myself not to fall into a panic. There was always a way out. Always. I just had to find it.

My mind whirled as I thought of Lou. Maybe I could convince him to let me go. I could promise him the payments would resume.

Then what? If I had been adamant about stopping the payments from Suncrop before, I would go to my death insisting on it now. Fuck that guy.

But it might buy me my life…

Again, I heard a door open, and now, footsteps did walk my way.

“Hi, honey!” Lou sang. “I brought you some water and a pretty little outfit.”

He appeared out of the shadows, his face scruffier than before, making me wonder just how long I’d been fermenting in this storage space.

He showed me a sparkling red dress that wouldn’t cover my ass and a pair of stilettos that would likely topple me the second I put them on. I tried to mask my disgust but failed.

“Don’t worry, babe. You’ll get used to things like this,” Lou chuckled. “They all do.”

“Lou, what if the payments resume?” I blurted out, all my psychological warfare evaporating. “What if I tell the boys to keep paying you?”

Lou snorted and eyed me. “Pretty as you are, sweetie, I doubt you can convince them of anything. Come on, I’m going to help you get dressed.”

I tensed as he neared me, the urge to strike him overwhelming when he untied my hands. I whimpered as blood flowed freely back through my wrists, and he stood me up.

I saw the gun on his waistband and considered snatching it, but I didn’t want to risk him killing me or knocking me unconscious again. I’d need to be fast enough, and I wasn’t sure my head was in the game properly.

“Come on, baby. Take it all off. Let me see what you have under there…”

He reached up to cup one of my breasts, but I slapped him away on impulse. The mask of pleasantness fell off his face, and his hand snaked around my throat, the other bringing the muzzle to my forehead.

“I’m getting really sick of you,” he spat. “I’m not those assholes from Suncrop. Don’t fucking try me.”

I gasped and sputtered, but he released me, the grin returning to his face. “So… where were we?”

He again reached for my chest when I stepped back, shaking my head as something occurred to me, something I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realized before. “No… you’re not the guys from Suncrop,” I said slowly. “You’re only one man.”

Puzzled but irritated, he raised the gun again. “Are you going to give me problems,bella? Because really, I’m not getting that much for you, and I would rather just be rid of you altogether.”

I nodded, excitement filling me as the epiphany landed. “Yes. You. You. You,” I chuckled, half-insanely. “It’s allyou!”

Lou frowned. “What the fuck are you talking about? Are you losing it? I have something that will calm you right down—”

“You’re not working with a bigger organization, are you?” I shot out bravely. “This is all you. That’s why you’re handling everything by yourself and recruiting outsiders. You’re doing this behind the back of the mob.”

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