Page 81 of Sweet, Sweet Jewel: A Sweet Treats Novel

Jewel traveled the entire length of the room in thirty seconds. Wasn’t that hard to do since it was about the size of a broom closet. The walls were made of brick and there were no windows.

She stumbled on a door. The knob turned, but the slab of wood didn’t budge. It was locked from the outside.

Discouraged, Jewel sank against the door and pulled her knees up to her chest. Where had Kross taken her?

And what was he planning to do to her now?

Something rumbled in the distance.

Footsteps.

She scrambled to her feet.

Kross was coming.

The footsteps grew louder. Then stopped entirely. If she listened closely, she could hear Kross breathing, shallow, hasty sounds. Then the shriek of metal clanged through the air.

Jewel ducked and shrieked in fright.

Light flooded the room from outside. She glanced up and saw a cup standing on a square shelf. It was attached to a small grill window in the door. She’d felt it, the jutting square and the unshaven sides, but she hadn’t known what it was before.

“Jewel, I’m not going to hurt you,” Kross said.

She rose slowly. “Yeah, right.”

“Here. You should be thirsty by now. Drink this.”

Jewel slowly approached the cup and slid her fingers around it. The plastic was cold. Rolls of condensation slid down the surface. She steadied her hand, raised it and then tossed the contents at Kross’s face.

It landed. Right in his eye. He hurled out a bitter curse and wielded away from the window to wipe his face dry with his T-shirt.

She was still trapped in Kross’s clutches with no way out, but Jewel counted that moment a victory. Courage swelled in her heart. He was no god, no master. He was a man with weaknesses.

She could get out of this.

Kross dropped the edge of his now stretched-out shirt and wiped his face with an elegant hand. “That wasn’t very nice, Jewel.”

“Go to hell.”

“I see you’ve regained a bit of your fire since we last met.”

“There’s nothing more you could possibly take from me.” She glared at him, staring straight into his cold eyes. “Do your worst.”

“What exactly is my worst?”

Images of him naked and holding women’s throats exploded in her mind. She shuddered but tried not to let it show.

Kross’s dark chuckle made goosebumps clamor over her skin. “You’re scared.”

“I’m tired.” She bit out. “Tired of running from you. Tired of having nightmares. Even when I got away, you were still there, tormenting me. At this point, death would be a gift.”

“Oh, baby. I’m not going to kill you.”

Her heart stuttered. “W-what?”

“When father bit the dust last year and all his people turned against me, I had a lot of time to think about loyalty. About family. About what I wanted in life. I used the money I’d squared away to find a new face, but when I tried to find a new girl… it didn’t work out.”

“Why? Did you kill her?”

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