“I don’t think so,” Luis replied. “I think you’ll work faster if we keep you apart. You seem to lose your focus around her, Professor. Mateo, tie the bitch up and then we’ll escort Professor Hawthorne to the library. I want him to give me a starting point by this evening.”
David shook his head. “That’s not enough time.”
“It better be or your pretty princess here is going to lose a finger. And she’ll lose another one every four hours after that until she runs out and I need to find other body parts you’re more fond of. Do I make myself clear?” Luis had a savage expression on his face, and Tessa had no doubt she could lose a couple of digits if this guy had his way.
David’s stare had gone stony, all of his emotions shutting down. “I get it. I perform or she gets hurt. We should go to the library, and I’ll need Eddie with me. I have questions for him.”
Eddie nodded. “Anything you need, man.”
David looked her way. “Tessa…”
“I’ll be fine.” She would be especially fine if they only left Mateo to watch over her. She was almost certain that despite her bodyguard credentials, he would see her as weak.
“I swear to god if anyone hurts her, I’ll make sure you never find the treasure,” David vowed. “I’ll send you on a wild-goose chase that will end in my family as the ones hunting you. Do I make myself clear, whatever the fuck your name is?”
Luis punched him right in the face. “You don’t talk to me that way.”
It took everything she had not to start fighting.
David merely spat out the blood in his mouth. “I mean it. I find out one of your men laid a hand on her and I’ll go down fighting, and you won’t see a dime.”
How could that man ever doubt that he was the end goal? That he was the man a smart woman would love and never regret giving her heart to?
Stupid tears threatened to fall, and she had to suck it up because he was being her hero.
“Mateo, tie the whore up and make sure she doesn’t cause trouble. And don’t touch a hair on her pretty head or the professor will get mad,” Luis said with a huff. “And be careful in case she really is what she says she is. We know she works for his uncle, but she looks like a secretary to me.”
“I think I can handle her,” Mateo replied. “She’s just a woman.”
Ah, misogyny, her old friend.
“Tessa,” David began.
“Just do what you need to do, Professor.” She used the title she gave him when they were playing. The one she would call him if she was ever brave enough to go to The Club with him. If she was brave enough to let herself love him.
He nodded, and they led him out.
She was left with Mateo and one other bulky man she’d seen walking around the gardens with a shovel he probably used for non-gardening activities. Like burying the bodies of his victims. She should have taken one look at the staff and forced David back on the boat, but no. She hadn’t wanted to upset the sexy professor man who she was going to share a bed with.
Big Tag would kill her. She didn’t need Mateo to do it. Big Tag would do all kinds of things to her entrails because he liked to talk about them a lot. The only thing he liked to talk about more was not thinking with one’s genitals. And he’d said flat out that a pussy could be as dumb as a dick. He was not sexist when it came to doling out lectures on how horniness could get an operative killed.
Mateo didn’t move as his friend handed her a robe.
At least they weren’t leaving her completely naked. She’d gotten caught without her panties, and she would never, ever hear the end of it.
Of course if she died, her coworkers would likely overlook her mistakes. They would certainly be noted in a file somewhere, and she would become a cautionary tale for newbie recruits, but she wouldn’t have to listen to them ragging on her.
She shrugged into the robe and then let the sheet fall to the floor. There were only two of them now, but Mateo had that gun way too close to her head. He would get a shot off, and even if she managed to avoid the bullet, it would alert everyone else, and David would be in the crossfire. She had no idea who was right outside.
“Put your hands together,” Mateo ordered as his friend produced a set of zip ties.
Seriously? They were letting her keep her hands in front of her? She loved misogyny so much. Tessa put her wrists together, allowing them to zip-tie her hands. They were tight, but she could work with it.
“Sit down. Stay quiet and let the professor do his work. If you give me trouble I’ve got something that will make you easy to deal with,” Mateo promised.
She could bet what that was, and she didn’t want a nice dose of either some kind of sedative or heroin. “Like I said, I’m not his girlfriend. I just want to get out of this alive.”
To that end she sat down on the chair they offered and found her ankles tied to the legs. Again, not a problem. The chair wasn’t even nailed to the floor, so she could ease those suckers off.
These were not professional kidnappers. She would bet they were used to shoving some screaming victim into a room and not letting them out until they had the cash.
She was going to be a revelation for them because she would also bet that they would get bored real fast, and once their minds started to wander, she could get to the nightstand and get her gun.
“If you want to stay alive, you’ll be a good girl,” Mateo chided. “I know you think you’re some kind of badass, but I don’t buy it. Americans hire women to please their media. A woman shouldn’t be a bodyguard. You were doing what you did best last night. Stick to fucking from here on out. Maybe get yourself a real man so you don’t end up here again.”
Oh, she could fuck him up hard, but she knew how to play this game. “I’ll be good.”
She sat and waited for the right time.
* * * *
David forced himself to walk away from the bedroom he’d shared with Tessa. He couldn’t force himself to stop thinking about her.
He’d gotten so close to her. So fucking close, and even if they survived this, he worried she wouldn’t forgive herself for not pushing him to leave the night before. She’d known something was wrong. He should have listened to her, but he’d wanted time. Time with her. Time to convince her he was worth taking a chance on.
Now all he wanted was for her to make it out of this alive and whole.
“They won’t hurt her.” Eddie walked beside him, their captors at their backs.
“Sure they won’t.” He couldn’t believe this was happening. He’d known this man for years, trusted him. Tessa was right. He was naïve, and it might cost him everything he’d ever wanted. He’d thought he wanted tenure and a great career, but now he knew it would all be hollow if he didn’t have her to share it with.
“Camila is unharmed, and they’ve had her for three weeks,” Eddie explained.
“So they came to you then? Because Luis has been with me for a semester and a half.” They’d been planning this for a long time.
“And they’ve been infiltrating my house for just as long,” Eddie replied, his voice tense.
Well, good he was fucking tense because he was also the reason they were in this situation in the first place. David shoved his way through the library door. “Did it occur to you to maybe shoot me an email. ‘Hey, David, got a situation down here and need your help. Why don’t you bring the troops in?’”