Or it could be as simple as walking in, injecting her with the drug, and sweeping her into my arms and walking out of her apartment without anybody noticing.
I watch her window from the street, and I wonder if she can sense me here in the darkness. But she shuts her curtain before turning out the light. I wait, inhaling a deep breath, focusing on the job at hand.
When my father sent me out on jobs, I would be confident, didn’t give a shit what happened to me, but this time, it’s not only my life on the line. Perhaps that makes it even more dangerous than it should be.
I head down to the car and start the engine. I planned this over the past few days, and me slipping through her window was a test to see if I could do it. So, I know my way up and the way down. I pull onto a small back road and stop right behind her apartment block.
Thankfully, it’s dark, and there doesn’t seem to be anybody lurking around. The rope and tape, along with the syringe, are all in hand as I ascend the steps. Nervousness sparks through me, and I silently ask for her forgiveness.
When I reach the second floor, I stop, listening for any noise from Vera’s neighbor, but it seems the apartment is dead-quiet. Pulling my lockpicking device from my pocket, I crouch and work the door until I hear the familiar click.
It’s so quiet I can hear my heart beating. The exhilaration of doing something wrong still sparks excitement in my veins. Inside the apartment, I make my way through the darkness, my eyes slowly adjusting to the surroundings as I move.
There’s a lamp shining from inside her living room, which casts the rest of the apartment in a yellow shadow. When I reach her bedroom door, it’s open, and there, on the king-sized bed, is my beauty.
She’s asleep, her eyes closed, her body draped in the sheet, and her chest rising and falling gently as she dreams. I wonder briefly if I’m in those dreams. Am I on her mind as she lies unconscious?
My cock hardens painfully against my zipper when I move closer. Her nipples are hard against the smooth white material of her tank top. I pull the syringe from my pocket and tug the cap off before testing a small squirt of sedative.
When I lean in, I catch her scent, vanilla, and pine. It’s an interesting combination, heady and sweet, yet so familiar I’m painfully aching to be with her, inside her.
The moment the needle enters her smooth, soft flesh, her eyes snap open, and her mouth gapes. But I’m faster, and my hand lands on her mouth, catching her scream in my palm. Her eyes are wide, fear shining in them as she tries to make out what is happening.
When she realizes it’s me, she halts all fight, but I put that down to the drug rather than her accepting it’s me about to steal her. Once her lashes flutter and she’s asleep once more, I scoop her up and take her through to the living room where I lay her on the sofa.
I move quickly, grabbing a rucksack from her closet and filling it with clothes, her laptop, and some personal items from her nightstand, including the bracelet I gave her. She may not forgive me right away, but one day, she’ll realize this is for her own good.
Once we’re in the car, it doesn’t take long for me to head out onto the highway and out of the small town she called home. The cabin is waiting, and I know soon enough, I’ll have to keep her locked up until she comes to terms with her new home.
I can only pray it’s enough to keep her safe.
9
Vera
A loud crash has me shooting up from the soft mattress I’m lying on, and my eyes snap open in shock. My head feels groggy, and my throat is dry as if I had a whole bottle of wine last night.
The room I’m in is not mine. Nothing looks familiar, and I try to figure out where the hell I am. I take in the furniture, which is all oak, not the dark wood from my childhood home or the Ikea furniture from my apartment.
The walls are made of light wooden logs, thick and sturdy, and the small window to the left of the bed I’m on is shut tight. But from where I am, I can tell the view is no longer the small town I’ve come to love. All I see are trees. The forest thick and lush, and the gray sky looming ominously overhead.
Another crash sounds from somewhere, and then last night flashes in my mind. The man, the stranger who is no longer a stranger. It’s Logan. I remembered him the moment he showed me his face. Anger surges through me when I recall his words to me— “The moment you turn your back on me, I’ll follow you, and I will most certainly steal you from your life here.”
The asshole really fucking kidnapped me. Shooting to my feet, I head to the door, twisting the handle, but it’s locked. I slam my palms against the wood, screaming at him to let me out.
“You asshole! I’m not fucking kidding, let me out!” My voice is hoarse, the words scratching against my throat. “Logan fucking Oakridge!” Again, he ignores me, or he can’t hear me because I’m still alone a minute later.
I glance around the room, looking for something I can use as a weapon, but with every drawer I open, I come up empty. He wasn’t kidding, and now I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere with that asshole.
I can’t believe he came for me. When I was ten, I looked up at him, hoping he’d smile at me. Now all I want him to do is walk away from me like he did all those years ago. Guilt is a heavy burden to carry. But no matter what he does, he can’t fix what he did.
Leaning against the wall beside the window, I slide down until my ass hits the floor. The coolness of the room makes me shiver. I don’t know how long I sit there staring off into space when I hear footsteps outside the door. I want to move, to run toward it, but I don’t feel like fighting him right now. Even if I tried, he’s taller, bigger, and stronger than I am.
“Good morning, Beauty.” He smiles, and even though it looks like a genuine grin, anger flares inside me, and I’m on my feet in seconds.
“What the fucking hell is wrong with you?” I shove against his chest, my fists no match for his hard muscles. The man is strong, wide, and tall. I have to tilt my head back to look at him. He’s wearing glasses, the dark rims circling his almost-black eyes. Logan is no longer the young boy who sneered at me. He’s a man, one who’s looking at me as if he’s about to devour me whole.
The flannel shirt he’s wearing is unbuttoned, and I can’t tear my gaze away from his smooth, inked chest underneath. The man is mammoth. I didn’t notice it much when we were at the park, but now that we’re both on similar ground, I can’t stop staring. His dark hair is messily styled, sticking out in every direction. His angular jaw and sharp features look like they’ve been crafted with the finest materials by an artist who loved his work.
“I told you, Beauty,” he speaks, dragging my attention back to the present and to the fact that he kidnapped me. “I won’t let you get hurt.”
“What you did was illegal!”
“It was. But then again, I’m an Oakridge. We’ve been doing illegal things since my grandfather took over from his dad and made friends with the gangs of Chicago.” He shrugs as if this is normal, as if crime should be something to chat about over breakfast. At that thought, my stomach grumbles loudly, and Logan glances over me, his eyes trailing from my stomach up to my breasts then to my eyes.
“I can’t be locked in here all the time.” I don’t know why I’m saying that. It sounds like I’m accepting that this is normal, but the only thing I can think of right now is washing up and trying to find a way to make him let me go.