“I’ve given you something that causes temporary paralysis. So you can’t run away. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
One of his hands moved up, stroking my arm. The touch sent a shiver through my body, only my body couldn’t shiver anymore.
“You can still feel this, can’t you? You can feel my hand?”
“Y—yes,” I said.
“Good. I’m glad you can still feel things.”
“Rien. Please. Listen to me. I’m not Mrs. Steadhill.”
“No, you’re not, are you?” Rien said. His voice sounded absentminded, as though he was far away. His hand still caressed my arm slowly, sending those slow thrills through my body. He cupped my elbow for a moment, his warm palm holding me as though measuring something, then went back to stroking. His hand moved from my fingers up my forearm, trailing up to where my navy dress stopped at the shoulder. Susan’s navy dress.
“Please,” I said. “I don’t know who that man is out there, but I’m not married to him. He hired me as an actress. My name is Sara. Sara Everett. I hadn’t even met that man before today!”
“Is that right?”
I breathed in deeply. My panic receded a bit, now that I wasn’t lying next to a half-dissected Gary. I tried to think clearly.
“He hired me to act like his wife.”
“Is that what you were doing when you flirted with me?”
I stared up at Rien’s eyes. In the dim light, his irises looked like tigereye. Deep brown with a ribbon of gold floating within. His expression was blank even as his hand kept caressing my arm. One long stroke after another. In a way, it was soothing.
“I was playing the part.”
“Did the part call for kissing someone other than your husband?”
“You were the one who kissed me!” I cried.
“You didn’t stop me.”
“I tried to. I did. Anyway, she thought you were attractive.”
“She?”
“Susan. My character,” I stammered. “That is, I thought she would think you were attractive. I wanted it to be realistic. He told me that his wife flirted with lots of other men.”
“That’s what he told you?”
“Yes.”
“So you were only playing a part.”
“Yes.” I breathed out a sigh. “So you see, I’m not the person you want to kill.”
“No,” he agreed. “I can’t kill you.”
I almost cried with relief. He wasn’t going to kill me. He understood. This was all a mistake.
“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you. I just want this to be over.”
“Oh, it’s not over,” he said.
“I—what?”
“This isn’t over at all,” he said. He raised one hand to my face and caressed my cheek.
“It’s not over,” he repeated. “Not for you, anyway.”
“You said you wouldn’t kill me,” I said. Panic choked my throat. “You said—”
“I won’t kill you,” Rien said. “But I can’t let you go.”
CHAPTER TEN
Rien
She looked up at me with such horror that I almost laughed. Oh, yes, she was a problem. A terribly sticky problem. But I always dealt with problems. I didn’t doubt my ability to figure out how to deal with this particular problem.
In the meantime, I had a new toy to play with.
“I’m sorry. Is the paralysis still working correctly? You can feel my hands, right?” I touched her temple, rubbing in a slow circle.
She nodded.
“Y—yes. I can feel everything.”
“You are a beautiful young woman, Sara,” I said. My hand moved alongside her jawline, memorizing the softness of her skin. Her eyes followed my fingers as they moved. “A very interesting young woman. An aspiring actress. Trying to get your big break, yes? And somehow you managed to end up here.”
“What are you doing?” she asked. Her voice trembled.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I won’t kill you.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
I smiled.
“You know something, Sara?”
“Let me go,” she whispered. In her eyes I could tell she was beginning to understand that she wasn’t getting out of this room.
“I’ve never made anyone feel good before. I always torture them.”
She stared at me wordlessly. I ran my fingers through her hair, spreading the long dark locks over the couch. Her hair was the same shade of brown as the leather.
“Like your fake husband in the other room there,” I said. “I woke him up before beginning to cut. Then I cut right along the hairline as he screamed and screamed. You didn’t wake up. I peeled his skin back with forceps as he screamed.”