“It’s a guest room,” he laughed. “My own bedroom doesn’t have a sliver of pink in it, I assure you.”
A guest room. Of course. For female guests. Which he probably had a lot of.
Jealousy speared its ugly head into my flesh.
What did I have to be jealous of? Reid wasn’t mine. Would never be mine, no matter how attracted I was to him. I was a mess, and getting involved with the son of one of my tormentors wouldn’t help me heal.
Still, I couldn’t help getting snippy. “Not all women like pink, you know.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “Of course they don’t. I have another guest room.” He picked up my suitcase.
I sighed. How immature I was being. Pink wasn’t my favorite color, but I had nothing against it. He was offering me a place to stay in this amazing apartment for free.
“This room is fine,” I said.
“You sure? There’s another, but it’s closer to my master suite. I thought you’d feel safer being farther away from me.”
“Why would you think that?”
“You seemed so…apprehensive about being near me,” he said. “I want you to feel protected.”
“Actually,” I replied, “I think I’d feel safer if I were closer to you.”
He smiled. “Good enough.” He picked up my suitcase and led me down a hallway to another door and opened it.
This room was decorated in black and white—the furniture was black lacquer, and the bedding was zebra-striped. I gasped again. The room was roughly the same size as the other, but the view was even more spectacular from here.
“Is this better?” Reid asked.
“This is fine. Thank you. Where’s your room?”
“Right across the hall.”
Curiosity rolled through me. What might Reid Wolfe’s bedroom look like?
He set my suitcase on the floor and led me to the bathroom, which was even more decadent than I could have imagined. “There are robes in the closet for your use. Lots of shampoo and conditioner and body wash. Towels and wash cloths. Everything you’ll need, and if there’s something else you need, just let me know. Lydia can get it for you.”
“Lydia?”
“She’s my housekeeper. Head of staff.”
Staff? “Oh. Okay.” I imagined a shapely woman dressed in a black and white French maid’s uniform.
“Just push this button.” He indicated a pad on the wall that looked like an intercom. “Lydia will come.”
“She’s not here now, is she?”
“She’s off duty, but the night maid is here. Her name is Monique.”
Monique. Yeah, definitely the French maid mini-uniform with black fishnets. “I don’t want to bother anyone.”
“They’re paid to see to my guests. It’s not a bother. What do you need?”
“Maybe just some water.”
“Not a problem.” He pushed the button. “Monique?”
“Yes, Mr. Wolfe?”
“We have a guest tonight in the second bedroom. She’d like some water, please.”
“Right away.”
I was still mesmerized by the view when someone knocked on the door.
Reid opened it. “Good evening, Monique.”
I turned.
And nearly burst into laughter.
Monique was lovely, but she was an older woman with silver hair à la Helen Mirren, and she wore black slacks and a white shirt. Hardly a French maid’s uniform.
“Here you go, Mr. Wolfe.” Monique held out a bottle of Fiji water.
“Thank you, Monique. This is Zee. She’ll be here for a few days.”
Monique nodded to me. “Ms. Zee.”
“Just Zee is fine. Thank you so much for the water.”
“My pleasure.” Monique smiled. “Is there anything else?”
“No, thank you,” I said.
“All right. Good night, then.” Monique left.
“Please make yourself at home,” Reid said. “If you need anything, just buzz for Monique.”
“She seems very nice.”
“She’s the best. I only hire the best people.” Reid smiled.
I returned his smile shyly. “Thanks for all this.”
“You’re very welcome. Get some sleep, and we’ll talk in the morning.”
I opened my mouth to tell him not to go yet, but the words stayed stuck in my throat as he closed the door behind him.
I was alone.
I hadn’t slept alone in a bedroom for years.
Part of me was scared silly.
How long had I been in the room with no windows? Someone in a mask had brought me food five times now, but without a clock or daylight, my internal clock was all messed up.
The meals were good, oddly. Whoever had kidnapped me didn’t want me to starve, at least not yet.
Strange.
I gobbled up every morsel each time they fed me. After all, I never knew if it would be the last meal.
I slept and I ate. I went to the bathroom. I washed myself in the small sink.
And I waited.
Waited to…
To what?
Women didn’t get kidnapped to just exist in sterile rooms and be fed. Something would happen. Someone would eventually come and beat me. Or rape me.
Or kill me.
One of those things would happen. Probably all three.
I existed on edge. Eating the meals they provided and always frightened of what would come next.
Why? Why had this happened to me?
I was supposed to be starting college. Orientation week.
Parties and mixers. Classes and new friends.
All that I’d looked so forward to.
I’d stopped crying a few days before. I had no clothes, no tissues. Only toilet paper, and I needed to save that. I had no idea if they’d replenish it, and the thought of not being able to…
Yuck.
I simply existed. Existed in a perpetual state of fear, my flesh crawling with invisible fingers, my mind numb yet always racing.
Racing with all the torture that could be coming my way.
But when it finally came, what actually happened to me had never crossed my mind.
24
Reid
It was late, but I called Rock. “Any news on the Nieves front?”
“None,” he said. “I’ve tried to get in touch with her.”
“What’s up with Leta?”
“She’s still in the hospital,” he said. “Someone knocked her around pretty good.”
“Any idea who?”
“The guys are looking into it. She knows something, and someone doesn’t want her talking.”
“She’s already talked.”
“Right. That might be the problem.”
“Maybe you should go back to Montana and check things out,” I said.
He harrumphed. “No can do, brother.”
“Why?”
“All of us, including Lace, have been told not to leave the state of New York.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Nope. I just got that news while you were in flight. I was going to tell you first thing tomorrow.”
“How are we supposed to do our work?”