Page 5 of Heartless Beloved

I’m the daughter of the present-day majority leader of the Senate, who is mainly known because of his elitist wife. My father was so thirsty for power when he married my mother that he took her billion-dollar last name. They also made sure to give it to me.

I’ve had countless talks about what to do in case of a kidnapping, though I never thought I’d have to put it into practice.

The hand in my long hair tightens, making me hiss from the sharp pain. “Tell him,” the voice behind the light growls. “Tell him how scared you are.”

Trying to take control of my trembling voice, I say, “My father doesn’t negotiate with terrorists.”

The light finally turns off, allowing me to open my eyes and look around the dark room. I’m on a single mattress on the floor, and three men are towering around me while the fourth is crouching next to me.

He lets go of me and gets up, now completely silent.

“Terrorists,” one of them snorts. “A bit extreme.”

They’re still wearing their balaclavas, and the light is too dim in the room for me to make out any of their features. I only recognize the leader because of his physique. None of them are restless or anxious. None of them are taking this too seriously or are scared to get caught.

They’re real criminals who aren’t afraid of the law.

The leader has his back to me now, tapping something on the phone he was using to record me. He takes a while, his gloves probably not helping. His strong back and broad shoulders aren’t even tensing. The man kidnapped me, and he is wholly relaxed about it.

I struggle into a sitting position, my head still pounding from whatever they made me inhale. Settling my back against the brick wall behind me, I look around the room.

“Kidnapping the daughter of a politician makes you a terrorist. My father doesn’t negotiate, and he doesn’t give in to ransom. The moment he knows I’ve been taken, you will have the FBI after you. And when they find me, because they will, you will all be arrested and locked up in a maximum-security prison. The U.S. government doesn’t joke around when it comes to the senators and their families. I don’t know you, and I haven’t seen your faces. You’re better off taking my credit card and letting me go. There’s no limit, and I will give you the pin. All you have to do is—”

“Allyouhave to do is keep that mouth shut.” The leader turns around, his hard eyes on me. “Unless it’s to ask your father to give us the money or beg for mercy on camera, we don’t need to hear your exposé on the U.S. government.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Good luck. Because that man will not be paying one penny of ransom.”

He walks back to me, goes on his haunches beside me, and brings his gloved thumb to my lips. He traces the outline before pulling the bottom one. My heart kicks against my chest, my breath getting shallow. For a second, the headache dissipates. This close, I can see the depth in his brown eyes. I can see the specks of gold around his irises. They literally take my breath away.

“We’ll see about that. Won’t we?” In a swift gesture, he backhands me so hard I fall back on the mattress in a shriek.

I drag air into my lungs and taste blood on my tongue, the warm liquid spilling from the corner of my mouth.

“Sorry,” the leader shrugs as he steps back. “We won’t be taken seriously if you’re not bleeding a little. It’s a whole process. Make sure you add some tears to that.”

He grabs the phone in his back pocket and throws it at one of the other guys. “Go for it. I saved her dad’s number on there before throwing her phone away.”

I’m back on my side on the mattress, and the camera flashes in front of me again. I look up at it but don’t say anything. I will not play into their games. If they get one thing out of me, they’ll know they can get anything.

I shake my head and close my eyes as they film the state I’m in. Curling onto myself, I refuse to say anything.

The flash goes away, and I’m assuming they’ve stopped recording.

“Come on, Elisabeth,” the leader says as he nudges me with his foot against my ass. “If you don’t perform, I’m going to have to hurt you. Why make it hard on yourself when you could go through this entire thing unharmed.”

“Unharmed?” I hiss back. “You took me from my house and hit me. Do you call thatunharmed?”

He rolls his eyes at me and chuckles. “I barely touched you. That could change, though. We’re going to film you again so we can send it to your dad. Let’s try something else, okay? I want you to state who you are and explain that you were taken from your house tonight. And then you’re going to say we want two point four million dollars in hundred-dollar bills. It’ll fit in a twenty-five by eighteen by four suitcase. That’s exactly what I want. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Not even three million dollars. My mother is a billionaire with enough money to last generations. Two point four million dollars is nothing to us.

Yet it’s the principle. My father will not give them that money. I know it. Because he knows no one wants to be the person who murdered the daughter of a senator. And he also knows he can find me.

“Elisabeth,” the leader calls again. I’m sick of hearing my name on his lips. It makes my heart jump and drills a hole of anxiety in my stomach. There’s so much derision in it. He’s having the time of his life while I’m tied up on a dirty mattress, practically naked. He presses the sole of his shoe against my right ass cheek, shoving me again. “Do you think you can remember what I just said?”

“Yes,” I seethe. “I’m not an idiot.”

“That’s still to be proven,” he laughs softly. “Alright, film her again.”

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