My stomach dropped. “You said you didn’t know anything about my mother.”
“No. I said your mother wasn’t here.”
“Why does she need to be at a safe house?”
“The same reason you need to be. This is also a safe house.”
“Where are we?”
“Outside the city limits. A mobile home park.”
“Mobile homes are the most unsafe places ever,” I said. “You’d better hope no tornadoes come rolling through.”
“This is an abandoned mobile home park. These homes have been condemned.”
“Great. Should I expect the roof to fall in on me at any moment?”
“Of course not. This place is completely safe. We’ve made sure of it. The rest of the places here, with a few exceptions, are unsafe. Because the park as a whole is condemned, no one comes here.”
“I see.” Though I didn’t see at all. “Colin, are you following all of this?”
“Sort of,” he said, still agitated. “Could you untie me, please?”
“Are you going to run?” Dave asked.
“Where would he go?” I said. “Clearly we’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“We’re closer to things than you think,” Dominic said.
“Who the hell are you? Was it simple coincidence that we met at the gym?”
“Of course not.”
“It was you, wasn’t it? You took the towel with my locker key pinned on it that day.”
“Guilty.”
“But you didn’t steal anything.”
“I needed to know everything I could about where I might be able to find you. Plus, I’m not a thief.”
I scoffed. “Of course not. You only steal people.”
“I’ve been paid very well to get you and Colin to safety.”
“Yeah? The only people with the money to ‘pay very well’ are my brothers, and I know they aren’t behind this.”
“No, they’re not.”
“Who, then? Who would do—”
A cell phone buzzed. Dominic pulled a phone out of his pocket and spoke into it. “Yeah?”
Seconds seemed to stretch into hours as Dominic presumably listened to whoever was on the other end of the line.
“Could you untie my ankles now?” I asked Dave, adding a slight eye-batting for effect. “Please?”
He looked to Alex. She shook her head.
Obviously flirting wasn’t going to work on her.
“Hanging in there, Colin?” I asked.
He nodded, though not convincingly. “My father is behind this. He has to be.”
“If what Dominic says is true, that they’re trying to keep us safe, it’s probably not your father. Unless you’re wrong about him.”
“I’m not wrong about him. I’m just not sure these people are telling us the truth.”
The thought had crossed my mind as well. But Dominic and the others hadn’t hurt us. Other than knocking us out, tying us up, and abducting us, that was.
I had a lot more questions for Colin about his father, but I didn’t want to say anything with Alex and Dave hovering over us.
Dominic finally ended his phone call. “That was CJ. Food’s on its way.”
“Thank God,” Dave said. “I’m starved.”
“How you eat the way you do and stay looking like a scarecrow is beyond me,” Dominic said.
Dave did indeed resemble the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, right down to his straw-colored hair.
“All right,” I said. “Someone paid you to take us. Who?”
“I’m not at liberty to say,” Dominic said.
“Of course you’re not,” I said. “That would make this whole thing too easy. Whatever they’re paying you, I can pay more. I’m Marjorie Steel, remember?”
“Not in this for the money,” Alex said.
“Well, maybe a little,” Dave offered.
“What my sister means is that we don’t need the money. We’re very well off.”
“Why aren’t you sitting on a beach in the Caribbean, then?” I said. “Kidnapping has its drawbacks. Number one, it’s against the freaking law.”
“We have talents others don’t have.”
“You kicked my ass as a trainer, so there’s that. I suppose you’re pretty good at kidnapping. Did I get all your talents?”
Alex stalked toward me. “Dom, I swear—”
“Let it go, Alex. She just doesn’t understand yet.”
“Yeah? Then make me understand. Why are you doing this? By whose orders were Colin, my mother, and I taken against our will?”
Dominic sighed, his dark eyes taking on a kindness I hadn’t seen before. “Your father’s.”
Chapter Seven
Bryce
“You two need to leave,” Booker said. “I don’t know anything else.”
“You know how to get in touch with the Spider.”
“I already told you. He’s not answering me either. I only have the one contact avenue, and it seems to be blocked.”
“Blocked my ass,” I said through clenched teeth.
“I’m sorry about your mom and your sister,” he said to Joe, effectively ignoring me. “But I can’t help you.”
Joe nodded. “Let’s go, Bryce.”
“I don’t believe him,” I said.
“Doesn’t really matter,” Joe said. “He’s not going to tell us anything. He’s made that clear.”
My father might have been a psycho, but I’d learned a lot from him, not the least of which was how to draw my weapon from a hidden holster in a flash.
Like lightning, I was on Cade Booker. “Start talking,” I said in a low voice.
“Bryce…” Joe began.
“You may trust this guy, but I sure as hell don’t. You know something, Booker—something you’re not telling us. I’m not leaving this office until you’ve come clean.”
“Bryce,” Joe said again, “don’t ruin your life here. He’ll have you arrested.”
“No, he won’t,” I said. “Because I can make his lifestyle world news. Right, Booker?”
“You bastard,” Booker said to Joe.
“Damn, Bryce,” Joe said.
“Sorry, Joe. I believe in being trustworthy, and you of all people can vouch for that. But Marjorie’s life is at stake here, and I’ll do anything I have to in order to make sure she gets home safely. If that means telling the world that Cade Booker likes to dabble in bondage, so be it.”
“There’s nothing more I can tell you.” Booker held his hands in front of him. “I’d help if I could. Joe, you know me.”
“He’s not lying to you, Bryce,” Joe said.
“I don’t believe him. If he has the Spider’s information, then he knows who the guy is. And I want to know. Now.”
The phone on Booker’s desk buzzed.
“Don’t fucking move,” I said.
“If I don’t answer, my secretary will get suspicious.”