Her body crumbled, and as the darkness took her, her last thoughts were of Cole.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“DANIELLE? WAKE UP.”
Her head pounded. She tried to open her eyes, but it felt as though someone had sprinkled sand in them and glued her eyelids together. All the moisture had dried from her mouth, leaving behind a bitter, acidic flavor, and she could’ve sworn her tongue had swollen to twice its size.
She turned her head toward the voice, and nausea slammed into her, bile burning her throat. Everything seesawed, and she tried to hold onto something, but she couldn’t move. Swallowing, she cracked her lids to a blurred view.
As she rapidly blinked, her vision cleared. A dim lamp swung from the ceiling, and the yellowish paint was peeling from the walls. They were in a wooden shack or a cabin of some sort. The coppery scent of blood was overpowering in the small space. Danielle lowered her head and realized the reason she couldn’t move was because she was tied to a chair with rope.
Her heart jumped at the sight of her stepmother sitting next to her. She was similarly bound with bruises and scratches on her cheeks. A blood-stained bandage covered the part of her hand where her ring finger had been.
She was alive.
“Tasha.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Oh, thank God. I thought I’d never see you again.”
“Danielle, I’m so glad you could make it.” Smiling as if greeting her for dinner, Anthony Rinaldi stepped out of another room. “I must apologize for the accommodations. It’s not up to par with what you deserve, but it’s been very convenient for my purpose.”
His calm demeanor scared her more than the fact that she was tied to a chair. “What purpose? Why are we here? What did we ever do to you?”
He dragged a chair over to her, its metal legs scratching the hardwood floor along the way, the grating noise like nails on a chalkboard. He placed it backward in front of her and casually straddled it. “Your father got me into a mess with some dangerous Russians. He owed them quite a bit of money, but rather than pay it back, he turned himself in to the Feds and hid that money overseas, leaving me on the hook with the Russians. He thought we wouldn’t find it, and I admit, I almost would’ve believed the money had all been lost in the stock market if it weren’t for the information I got stating otherwise.”
“What information?” The rope around her wrists chafed her skin as she wiggled her hands to test the strength of the restraints. Without the GPS, there was a good chance the FBI wouldn’t be coming to save her, which meant she was on her own.
Tasha whimpered, tears rolling down her cheeks. With glazed eyes, she silently pleaded for Danielle to stop talking, obviously trying to protect her.
“Sorry, dollface,” Rinaldi said, glancing at Tasha. “Not my story to tell.”
“You killed my father,” she said, keeping him talking to distract him from her attempts at loosening the ropes.
“I did no such thing.” He sounded offended. “James Walker was a coward. Rather than face prison, he took his own life and left you to fend for yourself.” His hand reached out toward her face. She flinched, prepared to feel its sting. Instead, when he tenderly stroked her cheek, she tamped down the strong urge to bite him. “A beautiful girl like you should be treasured.”
The fear whipping through her had nothing on the anger and disgust she harbored for this man. “You got your money. So why didn’t you release Tasha? Why am I here?”
He hurdled to his feet, kicking away the chair with a crash. “And deprive myself of your company? No, Danielle.” Crouching in front of her, he slid his hands up her thighs. “Since the night in your bedroom, I’ve been waiting for you. You’re aware I’m a sadist, but lately, I haven’t found the same pleasure in inflicting pain while at Benediction. Cole’s constant monitoring of my activities limits how far I can go and hasn’t afforded me the ability to test my newest creations.” His eyes were wild, and his pupils shrunk into pinpricks as his fingers pressed into the flesh between her legs. “Did you know you can run electricity through a knife? Double the pain, double the pleasure. By the time I’m done with you, Danielle, you’ll beg me to kill you.” He licked his lips. “Just like the others.”
“No, please,” Tasha cried. “Let Danielle go and keep me instead.”
Rinaldi jumped up and leaned over Tasha, wrapping his hands around her throat and squeezing. “You misunderstand. I have no intention of letting either of you go. But I’ve had my fun with you, and I’m ready for a newer model. It’s been a pleasure.” He laughed. “Well, at least for me. When you see your dead husband in hell, don’t forget to tell him I said hello.”