I glanced at her quickly, feeling a rush of satisfaction at her words.
“That’s as official as it gets,” I said as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her. “Now get out of my car before I change my mind.”
She smiled bright. “Night, Sorin.”
I watched her walk up the porch, the warmth in my chest as I watched her still not new but also not unwelcome. She waved at me, and I could see her smile from the porch, and when she finally closed the door, I left, not even caring about how much I was looking forward to seeing her again.
* * *
Esther
I leaned against the door again, thought about how I needed to replace it for a moment before I came in and thought about Sorin, how burying my face in the pillow smelled of him was a poor substitute to having him in my bed.
Today had felt easy, right, like the pieces fit. And in a way, I supposed they did. As crazy as it was, we might just work. I finally pushed myself off the door and moved through the house, noticing how empty it seemed without him. But as I glanced around the familiar room, a shiver of fear went down my spine.
Something wasn’t right here. I couldn’t say what, but I wasn’t going to wait around to find out what. I turned and sped back toward the door, reached to open the chain lock, but a voice stilled my hand.
“Drop your hands. Slowly.”
The voice was low, accented.
The shiver of fear broke out into a full-blow shudder.
* * *
Sorin
“Not on your fucking life,” I said on a laugh as the phone rang.
“Familie,” Nicki, the ancient bartender, said when he answered. He waited and then slammed down the phone.
“Who was it?” I said.
“Didn’t say anything,” he said. “You sticking around?”
The restaurant was mostly empty, and in a second, I made a snap decision. I shook my head. “No,” I said as I left.
She’d sent me on my way, and here I was, headed back just hours after I’d left. And I didn’t even want sex. Or just sex. Seeing her would be enough.
But as I approached her house, I felt a terrible sense of foreboding. I couldn’t place it, but I knew enough not to ignore it. I rushed up the stairs, moving by memory and not by sight. My heart dropped when I saw that the door was slightly open. I wanted to call out, but held my tongue as I stepped through the portal, hoping that I could catch whoever was inside by surprise.
But it was me who was surprised.
“Sorin, we have business to discuss.”
Sixteen
Esther
I hadn’t given much thought to how I would die, but I’d never imagined it would be like this.
I shivered from the cold, fear, and tried to dial the phone yet again. Someone had answered and then hung up. Probably hadn’t heard me, but when that phone had clicked, it had been as though my fate was sealed. I tossed it aside when the low-battery indicator came on.
The person who’d brought me here had left and as the minutes had ticked by with each second, my panic had increased.
I tried to gather all of the bravado I could, but even that was failing me. Every awful thought I could imagine was bombarding me at once, most prominent among them was the fact that the person who’d taken me hadn’t been worried enough to take my phone.
I tried to push that thought away, focus on getting out of here, but the ice-cold ground against my feet—the dick had taken my shoes—made it more and more difficult.
I was in some kind of warehouse, and I jumped when I heard something jangle, and I stood when the door opened.
The last ember of hope died when a huge figure entered. So large, he completely blocked the doorway. He walked toward me, his night-dark eyes unblinking, his face set in a grim scowl. I wanted to cower, to turn away from his gaze. Only the determination not to die simpering kept me from looking away.
He looked me from my bare feet to the top of my head, stepping ever closer until he came to stop in front of me. I looked at him, noticed that he was tall, even taller than Sorin. I bit down on the soft flesh inside my cheek and kept my eyes on his.
“Let’s go,” he said in a gravelly voice.
Of all the things I had expected, this was not one of them, so I stood still, shock holding me in place. He tilted his head toward the door, but before I could move, another figure entered, and I immediately recognized him as the man who’d taken me.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he moved toward the other man.
“I’m trying to save my brother’s life,” he said calmly, looking at the other almost scornfully. “Let’s go,” he stated again, this time looking at me.
I was ready to move this time but didn’t make it far.