His accent hit her.
“You have nothing to do with Petersen.”
His lips twitched. “No, I don’t.”
“Then who the fuck are you?”
“Tsk, tsk. American women are so coarse. I have no idea what those two see in you.”
She sensed he was from the same part of Ireland that Rory was from, just from the rhythm of his speech.
“So, this has nothing to do with me.”
“In a way it does. You are the one thing they want. The one thing they love in this world. I’m going to enjoy taking you from them…watching their pain.”
She wanted to argue with him. They didn’t love her. When things got tough, they both questioned her intelligence and in a way, abandoned her. But arguing with her abductor would not get her any more info.
“Your plan is to get them to come here?” She shook her head, trying to ignore the way pain sparked through her. “They won’t fall for it.”
The smile he gave her was so evil she knew she was dealing with a true sociopath. “But they will. Where you are concerned, these two will do anything.”
“And you plan on killing them.”
He shook his head. “They killed mine...I will kill theirs.”
So, he meant to kill her not them. All she had to do was get out of there before they got there. “At least tell me your name.”
His smile faded. “You do not need to know.”
“Unless you’re afraid you will fail and then I will tell them your name. I can understand where a coward like you would fear that.”
He said nothing but stepped forward. She didn’t expect the slap. The back of his hand came so fast and hard, she didn’t have time to brace for it. She could taste the blood in her mouth.
“Again I say American women are so coarse.”
His voice never rose. He didn’t show a temper at all. Fucking psycho.
But, he had a temper and she could use it.
“I don’t see what’s so coarse about pointing out the obvious. Apparently, you have some kind of agenda against Rory and Zeke, but you can’t tell me because of fear.”
He smiled. “You want to know? Fine. You will be dead in the next hour, so I don’t see that it matters. Does the name Frances O’Connell mean anything to you?”
“No.”
“That was my brother’s name.”
“Good for him?”
“Your two lovers killed him. Cold blood.”
“I take it this has to do with their time before they were hired by my brother?”
“See, love, your lovers are killers. They like to pretend they aren’t but they are. They killed my baby brother and then laughed over it. They mocked his death, to me, to anyone who would listen.”
“And because of that, you terrorized me, abducted me and now are sitting here hoping they will find me and you can kill them, then me?”
“All of it but the last.” He held up her cell phone. She could barely read it because she had no idea where her glasses were, but it looked like he had called someone. Probably one of the guys. Hopefully they weren’t listening because they would go ballistic. “I want to see their faces when I slit that lovely throat of yours.”
She tried her best not to show her reactions. She knew he was serious and planned to do that. While Zeke would think things through, there was a good chance that Rory would not be able to be contained. They would be at risk and put her at more risk if they showed up there, guns blazing. Her training from her brother kicked in.
Maura knew she needed to be free of the chair. Her arms were tied behind the back of it and she couldn’t get up without a struggle. She had to get him to get her out of it so she could surprise him.
“In review, you abducted me in hopes they would come here. I call that a coward. Why not face them right off? You go after a woman. Coward.” It took everything she had to let her disgust drip from every word.
“I am not a coward.”
“Why was your baby brother killed? Where were you?”
“I was out on a job.”
“Sounds like you didn’t do a very good job protecting him.”
“Shut up,” he said, his voice rising just a bit.
“It seems to me you are more at fault for your brother’s death than Rory and Ze—”
She broke off when he backhanded her again. This time he did it with such force that the chair tipped over. She landed hard on the cement, her head struck it with such force that she saw stars. But, it had done what she wanted. She was free of the chair.
Maura rolled over onto her back. Her abductor was walking toward her and now she knew she had him. He pulled back his booted foot to kick her, but she swung around out of his way. Then, she kicked him in the back of the knee. He stumbled but did not fall down.