Page 53 of Vicious Captor

“Then jou want me to wait for jou to return?”

“I highly doubt Rowan will believe I’m having daily cravings for your food. No offense.”

“None taken,” he says, then adds thoughtfully, “The next time jou come, I’ll have a phone for jou.”

“In the meantime, if you learn where the shipment is coming through, make a plan. I want it stopped before it reaches its destination. When you intersect, leave two pennies.”

“Pennies?” He frowns. “We haven’t done that with the others.”

“He still doesn’t suspect I’m involved in those heists. This will throw him off the trail more.” I don’t elaborate further, and he doesn’t ask. “I should get back to the table. I’ll figure out a way to get back in touch soon.”

Ricky goes into the kitchen and peers out the narrow window. When the coast is clear, he calls me out. “He’s distracted. Go!”

“Thanks, Ricky.” I move quickly to the hall.

I’m not two steps in when I hear, “Miss Duran.”

The voice so close to me has me nearly jumping out of my own skin. “You startled me, Declan. I thought you were in the car.”

“I came in to help carry the food and Rowan sent me to check on you. It was taking you a while.”

Frowning, I say, “I wasn’t aware there was a time limit on powering my nose. Next time, I’ll know.”

He glances over my head toward the kitchen, then back to me. “I think it’s time you and I have a little chat.”

My heart pounds furiously in my chest. “About what?”

“You want Rowan out of your life.” He gives me a grin and I’m not sure if it’s that his face wasn’t made for it or because he never smiles, but seeing it sends a chill up my spine. “I have a proposal that might finally give you what you want.”

18

ROWAN

Axle and Declan sit across the desk from me, going over daily business tasks—account balances, deliveries, and other shit that could have been done without me.

“Reaper is delivering a kilo to Sean William’s place today. That will bring in an extra eighty.”

“He paid eighty?” Axle asks him.

“It’s the good stuff,” I say absentmindedly. “Not that diluted shit my uncles sold.”

Without looking up from the documents he’s going over, Declan asks, “If it’s so good, why don’tyoudo it?”

I don’t bother answering him. It’s the same reason he doesn’t touch cocaine or heroin. Not even weed. We can’t afford the vulnerability that comes with being under their influence.

“Sean Williams will pay today?” Axle types something on his laptop.

“If he doesn’t, you have your orders.”

“Yes, sir.”

Declan adjusts his little glasses and moves on to the next order of business, and I let my mind wander back to the place it’s been since I came into the study. The place I wish I could be in physically, and not just in spirit—naked, tangled up in warm sheets and an even warmer woman.

It was hard to drag myself from her side this morning, especially when she was snuggled close, pressing her ass into my crotch. When I wrapped my arm around her and cupped her breast, she moaned.

Louisa has always been receptive to my touch, but something has changed in the last few days. I see more and more glimpses of the girl she was before—sweet glances, smiles, and even laughter.

Though she’s yet to ask me the question that I know has been on her mind since the day she arrived here, it’s coming. With these changes in her, I know she’ll finally be ready to hear and believe what I tell her.

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