Pursued(164)

“But she’s down there now, right? Down on Earth?”

Olivia nodded. “Yes, she is.”

“Do you have the coordinates? The place she’s at? I need to find her right now, Olivia. It’s urgent.”

“Well, she did give me a place I might be able to reach her.” Olivia frowned. “Her fiancé’s house.”

Merrick swore. “And you think she’ll be there instead of her own place? She does have her own place, right?”

Olivia looked troubled. “I honestly don’t know. I think so. Her fiancé has been really persistent about wanting her to come back home, but she’s been so broken up about you I don’t know if she’d spend much time with him. Here, let me get you the addresses she gave me.” Olivia’s face disappeared for an instant and then she returned and rattled off a string of numbers and words that didn’t seem to make sense to Merrick. He fed them into the guidance system anyway and punched in the coordinates.

“This is amazing,” Olivia said from the viewscreen. “Sylvan is going to be so happy!”

“Don’t start the fucking party yet,” Merrick growled. “I have something to deal with first. Something important.”

Olivia looked worried. “Is it Elise? Is she in trouble? I knew I should have gone down to Earth with her!”

“Don’t worry, I’m going to take care of her.” Merrick nodded at Olivia. “Thanks for the coordinates.”

“But—” Olivia started.

Merrick broke the connection. “Hang on, baby,” he murmured under his breath as he punched the red button. “I’m coming.”





Chapter Forty-two




“Well, well, princess…it’s been a long time.” Charles advanced on her, giving Elise no choice but to back away.

“Why are you here?” she asked in a voice that trembled much more than she liked. “Get away from me!”

“I just wanted to see you again, that’s all.” He grinned at her, showing teeth that were slightly yellowed with age. Other than that, though, he looked almost the same as he had that horrible day he’d attacked her. His hair had gone from deep grey to a majestic silver, but it was still thick and full and the wrinkles around the corners of his eyes were barely noticeable.

Probably gets himself Botox or some kind of laser treatments, Elise thought, feeling sick. She was certain that most women would think her stepfather was quite handsome. But the very sight of him so close, even after all these years, still made her feel like puking her guts all over his shoes.

“Well, I don’t want to see you.” She glared at him, still backing away. “So why don’t you just…just go home and leave me alone?”

“Now, now, is that any way to greet me after all these years? And after I went to so much trouble to set up our reunion  .”

“Does James know you’re here? He’s going to be angry when he finds out.” Elise wished she could get around him and run for the door, but her body refused to move when she told it. It seemed all she could do was keep backing slowly away—getting farther and farther from her only hope of escape.

“Does he know?” Her stepfather threw back his head and laughed. “Princess, the roses were his idea. Here.” Without warning, he threw the heavy bouquet directly at her.

Out of instinct, Elise fumbled to catch it, gasping as the thorns pricked and scratched her arms. But she barely felt the pain. All she could think of was that it was happening again—Charles was coming for her again and she was helpless to get away from him. “Leave me alone,” she tried to shout, but her voice came out in a whisper. “You already ruined my life, what more do you want from me?”

“Why, just another little taste.” Charles grinned at her in the awful, predatory way she remembered from her adolescence. “I thought having you that one weekend would be enough—that I could get you out of my system once and for all—did you know that, princess?” He shook his head. “But somehow it just wasn’t. I’ve tried everything to forget you and I almost thought I’d succeeded, until James called me up out of the blue.”

“You can’t be serious,” Elise protested.

“Oh but I am, princess.” Charles gave her a charming smile that made her cold inside. “You see, I had a little piece on the side who looked like you—a little anyway—and I thought I was content. But from the minute I heard that fruity British accent of his telling me all about what you’ve been up to these last ten years, I knew no substitute was going to be enough. I needed to have you again. You and only you.”