I let my eyes fall over his perfectly styled blonde hair. They fell even further, taking in his light blue button down shirt and slacks. He looked like he had just left an important business meeting, not drugging and abducting me.

He sat down on the bed beside me and held a glass of water to my lips. “Drink it, Lennox. Dr. Stratford says those drugs can cause dehydration if not monitored carefully.”

My tongue felt like sandpaper. I took a small sip of the water he was offering me. No point in making him mad, he was at least trying to take care of me instead of beating me.

The water was cold and refreshing. I took several more gulps, needing to hydrate.

He took the glass and sat it on the table before turning back to me. His dark eyes watched me with no hint of emotion. It confused me even more because I couldn’t read him. Was he mad? Was he going to hurt me?

“Why am I here, Chris?” My tone was filled with anger, but also full of fear.

Finally something flashed in his eyes. It wasn’t anger, it was amusement. He was enjoying whatever he had planned. “As you know, I wasted months of my life lying in a hospital bed that your fiancée put me in. Do you even know how much reconstructive surgery I needed to fix my nose?” He looked at me like he was actually waiting for an answer. When I didn’t answer, he began again. “He needs to pay for what he did. He could have ended my career leaving my face like that!”

Mason had almost killed Chris, yet all he cared about what his career?

“Why am I here, Chris?”

He smiled. “Mason will come for you. When he does, he’s going to watch as I kill you. I want him to know what it feels like to lose everything important to him. To have to live with the constant reminder of how he had it all before it was suddenly ripped away.”

I shook my head, keeping the tears at bay. “He’s never going to fall for that, and even if he does, he will come back for you. You’ll die in this too.”

He wrinkled his brow. “Then after he watches me kill you, I’ll take care of him too.” He motioned with his hand like he wiped it all away.

I couldn’t let him lure Mason in. If Mason was on his way, I needed to get free myself before he had a chance to find me and get hurt.

Chris leaned in, his breath blew across my face as his dark eyes locked on mine. “I should have done this months ago. You never would’ve had a chance to leave me and this whole mess wouldn’t have started.”

He lowered his lips to mine.

His lips were rough compared to Mason’s. He tasted like cigarettes where Mason tasted like mint and a hint of his own unique flavor. Everything felt wrong.

Without thinking, I thrashed against him causing my dress to inch up my thighs. When he didn’t back away, I bit his lip as hard as I could. He stood suddenly, running his hand over his lip to see blood.

“You bitch!” he yelled before backhanding me across the face.

My cheek stung as tears burned my eyes again. The tears weren’t from pain this time. They were from hate and anger. I reared back and kicked him. Landing a solid hit to his lower stomach. I heard the air leave his body before he fell to the floor, landing on his knees.

His shoulders were rising and falling quickly. He was looking at the floor, trying to gain his composure. His blonde hair hung over his forehead, hiding his eyes even further.

He stood upright, towering over me. His nose and mouth were wrinkled while his eyes burned into me. He took the two steps toward the bed and before I could process what he was doing, I was overtaken with blinding pain to my head. My ears rung and I became dizzy, before feeling my eyes close on their own. I was surrounded by blackness once again.

Sometime later, my eyes opened to see the same ceiling above me. My head was pounding, threatening to take me back under. I didn’t know what he hit me with, but it was hard enough to break the skin. I could feel the sticky blood that ran down my face and dried.

I grabbed ahold of the ropes confining my wrists and pulled with everything I had. They didn’t even pop but I was able to pull myself into a sitting position even though my shoulders screamed in pain.

I began looking around, hoping to find something that could help free myself when I heard the door creak open.

The room was bright with sunlight, but the door blocked the light, shadowing Chris. Standing in the dark shadow of the door, his eyes seemed even darker as they watched me.

I used my feet to push myself up the bed until I was as close as I could get to the wooden headboard.

“There is no place to go. Haven’t you figured that out yet?” He walked into the room, slowly.

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and adjusted his watch. “I thought he would’ve been here by now.” He dropped his hands at his side before peeking through the curtains. “Do you think he’s even noticed that you are missing? It was supposed to be a weekend trip, wasn’t it?”

“How do you know that? Did you pay Jessica to spy on me?”

“It’s funny what you can find when you really dig.” He was pacing the floor. “And when you have the money to get people to do what you want.”