Tormented (16 page)

“Nolan, untie me.”

“All in good time. First I have to be sure you’re calm. Jones has an angry scratch on his face; I’m not taking any chances.”

Nolan turned on a bedside lamp. I blinked a few times as I adjusted to the light. It wasn’t overly bright, but I felt a headache returning. His back was still turned to me, so I took a moment to survey my surroundings. The room was enormous, decorated in light wood and tropical floral prints. My gaze rested on a pair of praying statues. I’d seen something similar in an Asian travel brochure.

“Where are we? How long have we been here? And most importantly . . . what the hell do you think you’re achieving? Have you gone stark raving fucking crazy?”

Nolan turned to me with a smirk on his face. “So many questions, Eva. And I’m not used to you using foul language like that. You’ve always been such a lady.”

“Fuck that. I need answers. You owe me an explanation.” I sucked in air between my teeth, struggling to control myself and not start ranting like a banshee. I failed miserably. I couldn’t keep the anger from my tone. “You can’t just abduct me and think you’ll get away with it. People will come looking for me.”

The look he gave me was the same one most people reserved for someone asking dumb questions or making ridiculous statements. “I don’t think so sweetheart. I’m not stupid. I took care of those details before we left.”

My blood ran cold. “What do you mean?”

He laughed, genuinely pleased with himself. “For starters, Bill gave me his blessing. I told him I was whisking you away on a surprise romantic holiday since we were rekindling our relationship. Seems the old man was always partial to me. I think he imagines his daughter marrying a senator will be good for business.”

Oh, Daddy. Didn’t you listen to a word I said?

“Ryder—”

“Your darling brother and his woman are in New York. Apparently, they’re signing contracts for the new restaurant with Maxwell. Your stepbrothers send their love.”

I felt all the blood drain from my face. Nolan had orchestrated this whole damn thing. What else was he capable of? How had I never seen this side of him before? I’d been so blinded by what I believed was love that I’d never imagined he could be so controlling and calculated.

“Why, Nolan? I don’t understand.”

“Because you are mine. Nobody says
no
to Senator Nolan Parker.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would you want a woman who isn’t in love with you?”

“Because I’m in love with you.”

“No. You’re not. If you really loved me you wouldn’t have screwed around. Or tied me to a fucking bed.”

“I was stupid. Tempted, because it was just so damn easy. And you were always working or tired. I have needs, babe. If you don’t keep my balls empty, I need to find another way.”

“Your hand fall off?”

“I see you still have your sense of humor. You must be feeling better. I’m glad. Fuck, for a while I thought I’d lost you.”

I sucked in a breath. “What do you mean?”

“You went into shock. Seems the boys overdosed when they injected you. They didn’t take into account that you are a woman and that you weigh a lot less than the men they usually target.”

I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. The implication was they hadn’t done this to other women, which was good to know. But what game were these men playing? Going around sedating people was insane if anything, regardless of the reason.

Nolan started messing with the drip that was attached to my arm. What was in there other than saline solution?

“And by the way, your
boyfriend
won’t be rescuing you either, if that’s what you’re hoping for.” The smirk that twisted his lips was filled with self-satisfaction.

“Why do you say that?” I had to be careful how I worded things with Nolan. I couldn’t afford to provoke his jealousy by seeming to be too invested in Harrison. But anyway, the cop didn’t really count, since he’d taken off before Nolan abducted me.

Ignoring my question, his laugh had an evil twist to it. “Rest a bit, darling. I’m hoping you’ll be able to come play with me by tomorrow.”

I was on my own.

Think, Eva, think.

There had to be a way out.

Fuzziness took over my brain and my limbs felt heavy. Whatever was in that drip robbed me of any coherent thought or will to move. Nolan’s voice faded away, and my body was sucked into the mattress once again.

W
ith an empty feeling, I made my way to the waiting airplane. I felt as if I had unfinished business with Eva, even after my decision to get out of her life like Bill had suggested fucking doing. But the coward in me had reared its head, and I guess it was just easier to get the fuck out of the US for a while as I thought things through.

Life had a way of fucking with me. Every time some semblance of happiness came anywhere near my way, everything went for a ball of shit. First Amy and now Eva.

“Hey buddy, wait up. You left your phone on the table and the fucking thing is ringing.”

It was unlike me to leave my phone anywhere. “That’s what sleepless nights do to me.”

I swung around and took the cell from Savage. I’d ignored Eva’s messages and calls for days, but instead of things getting easier I was on the verge of caving in. Desperate to at least hear her voice before I headed off on my most dangerous mission to date, I pressed the phone to my ear.

It wasn’t the voice I wanted to hear.

“Hey, Summers. Can you talk?”

What the hell did Ryder want from me? It was enough that I was acting civilly to him lately, but for both our sakes, I hoped he wasn’t trying to build a fucking friendship. It just wasn’t going to work in this lifetime.

“Yeah, make it quick. I have a minute before I board a plane.”

“Fuck. Figures.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” The hair at the back of my neck stood up. Ryder was always going to rub me up the wrong way.

“Eva. Something is wrong, and I wondered if you knew where she was.”

Coming to a grinding halt, I sucked in a breath. “I don’t have a clue. I haven’t spoken to her in days. Your old man—”

“Listen, there isn’t time for bullshit. I just spoke to my old man, and he told me something . . . disturbing. At first I thought nothing of it, in fact I was quite relieved, but Jade convinced me it was off. I’ve tried getting hold of Eva, but I’m in New York and I can’t reach her. Her phone keeps going to voicemail. It’s not like her at all to not return my calls.”

“What does Jade think is wrong?”

My sister had sharp instincts. If it weren’t for her, both of us would have been shot in the crossfire that had killed all our friends. Although I’d ignored her lately, believing that she was making the mistake of her life being with Ryder, my gut told me I needed to listen.

“Apparently the senator called Bill and told him he had plans to take Eva on a romantic getaway.”

My world started spinning. Sweat broke out on my forehead, and I felt sick.

“You okay, buddy?” Savage said, as he gave me a strange look.

I nodded and waved him ahead. Takeoff was in ten minutes and everyone was getting jittery, including my partner.

Savage scraped past me. “Hurry up, okay?”

I patted his back, and he started climbing the stairs to the plane.

“And Jade thinks there is something wrong with that?” I said, clutching at straws. It felt as if someone had kicked me in the balls. Of all things, I’d never thought Eva would go back to Parker that easily. But what the fuck did I know about women? Apparently, not much other than how to make them scream.

“Yeah. Jade is convinced Eva hates the senator’s guts.”

“Women change their fucking minds all the time. You should know that by now.”

“This is different. Jade says that Eva is not in love with Parker.”

“How would Jade know that?”

A long silence ate up the few seconds I had left before boarding.

Ryder sighed. “Because she’s in love with you, dickhead. Jade is convinced.”

Holy fuck. It couldn’t be true. Jade was mistaken.

I laughed out loud. “Tell my sister her imagination is running away with her.”

A snarl came my way. “Listen, asshole, do you think it’s easy for me to tell you this shit? I’d rather see my sister with anyone but you. So when I call you to tell you something is wrong, you fucking take me seriously. Unless I was right about you all along and you were just using her to get to me.”

I stopped laughing. Ryder wasn’t fucking around.

“No. Just for the record, I never used Eva. I care about her. You gotta believe me.”

“It doesn’t matter what the fuck I believe. If Jade is right and something bad happened to Eva, we gotta find her. We’re at the airport on our way back to LA. I’ve called Cobra and the boys are going to help me get to the bottom of this. I just thought you’d be interested too, and I was hoping you could give me a lead . . . a starting point.”

Savage stood scowling in the doorway, beckoning for me to come. He pointed at his watch. It was time to go.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you. I’m being deployed on a mission. I’ll call you when we land back on US soil.”

I wiped my brow with the back of my hand and started climbing the stairs.

The timing was off. Way off.

I had a mission to focus on. I couldn’t afford to be distracted, especially if it turned out that Eva had run off with her fucking ex because that was what she wanted.

I’d never understood women, and now wasn’t the time to start trying. Everyone on this mission depended on me. If I screwed up, I was risking more lives than my own.

F
ive minutes into takeoff, I replayed everything Ryder had told me, running all the possibilities through my head. What if I was purposely being disposed of?

The timing for this mission was perfect but it sucked at the same time, depending on how one looked at it. It was just perfect for somebody like Senator Nolan fucking Parker. Or William Ryder. Jade was right. My instinct screamed inside my head once I allowed myself to listen to it. How in fuck’s name was I going to get to the bottom of this?

Ever the skeptic, as soon as the seatbelt sign went off, I jumped up and grabbed my phone from the backpack I’d chucked it into before takeoff. I scanned through the pages I’d saved until I found the document I was looking for.

I read through it slowly, looking for clues. Nothing seemed any different than any of the missions I’d been on before.

“You’re acting all weird since that phone call. Are you going to tell me what’s up?”

Savage knew me better than anyone, including my family. We’d spent so much time together that we could read one another without words.

“Something weird is going on. I don’t know what yet.” I relayed the whole story to him, including my meeting with Bill and how I’d been ignoring Eva’s messages.

Savage screwed up his eyes and mouth as he listened. “You’re a fucking asshole, Summers. When are you ever going to learn?”

“Thanks for the compliment, but I gotta figure this out.”

Savage screwed up his face. “Fuck, I’ve just remembered. I had a missed call from Eva.”

“What?” My jaw dropped and I sucked in a breath. “Why are you only telling me now?”

His shoulders lifted in defense. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”

I nearly fucking punched him. “It’s not like Eva calls you all the fucking time is it? Why didn’t you mention it?”

“Listen dipshit, you’ve just admitted that you didn’t take Eva’s calls, so don’t you fucking be pissed off at me.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m sorry, it’s just that all of a sudden everything is going to shit. A few hours ago, we knew nothing about this mission. It’s just too convenient that it came up now and that we had to leave on a moment’s notice.”

“It’s happened before.”

“Yeah, but I feel it in my fucking bones that this is a way to get rid of me. A few weeks back, the general considered it too risky, and now he’s signed the papers himself? I don’t know, man.”

“You could be right. It’s too fucking weird to be co-incidence.”

I slipped back into my thoughts. The only part I hadn’t told Savage was the part that was doing a loop in my head and fucking with my mind even more now.
Eva is in love with you. Eva is in love with you.
Again and again.

How could I not have read the signs? I was a fucking expert at reading body language and micro expressions, yet I hadn’t read such a simple emotion.

Or was it that I hadn’t seen it because I didn’t want to. That would mean complications I didn’t want to get into. Decisions. Choices. All the things I’d avoided for all these years would have to be addressed.

I’d have to explore my own heart. Discover my own feelings. I wasn’t ready for that. Maybe I’d never be.

“Fuck, I’m confused. I’m not sure about anything right now. Eva or the mission.”

“I’ve always admired your courage. But ignoring Eva’s calls is you acting like a coward. You can try to run away from your feelings, but that doesn’t work, because guess what? They go with you wherever you are because they are inside you. There is no fucking escape, buddy. When are you going to do the math and realize you have it so bad for Eva, you are just fooling yourself?”

Tell me about it. Nothing worked for me anymore. I couldn’t escape the feelings running around inside me.
Fuck knows, I’ve tried.
I’ve drunk myself to a stupor just to wake up with a hangover from hell, a parched throat and an aching body, but still the feelings remained.

Maybe it was time I changed my ways. Just maybe Savage was actually on to something valuable. Something that would take this ache away permanently. “I’m pretty much fucked. How am I going to do anything about it now we’re leaving?”

“You’re a smart fucker. Work it out.”

I narrowed my eyes, the cogs in my brain churning at a hundred miles per hour.

“Are you suggesting I abort this mission?”

Savage looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. “I’m not suggesting anything. All I’m saying is get your priorities straight. What matters most to you? Once you’ve got the answer to that, the rest is easy. You’ll make the right choices when you know what’s important.”