If they were dealing with a man who would kill his own brother without a second thought or an ounce of remorse, then Dante didn’t like their chances of getting out of here alive.
Not that he was giving up.
Something would come to him.
And if it didn’t, then he would fight with every bit of strength he had to save himself and Sydney.
Which reminded him that she was still standing behind him where he’d put her so at least he knew there was something between her and the beast on the other side of the bars.
Dante turned around and found Sydney staring blankly into space.
She was in shock.
He could only imagine what was running through her head having learned that her stalker had killed her husband. Despite the way Sydney had told the story, he was sure there was a lot more to it than she had mentioned. If James had gone to these lengths to kill her, then he was sure the man had relentlessly pursued her when she turned him down. His ego couldn’t let him do anything else.
“Syd,” he said gently, putting his hands on her shoulders and waiting for her eyes to slowly shift so they met his.
This woman.
There was something about her.
She made him want to wrap her up in his arms and promise her that everything would be okay even though there were no facts to base that on. Anything to wipe away the fear and pain in her eyes, anything to make her smile and ramble incoherently in that adorable way she did.
“You doing okay?” he asked. He wasn’t used to being tender like this. It felt odd, and it didn’t seem to be working anyway. Sydney was still staring straight through him. “Sydney, snap out of it,” he said briskly, giving her a small shake.
That seemed to do the trick and she dragged in a shaky breath. “I’m okay. It’s just … I just … I didn’t know. I thought it was an accident. They said it was an accident. I didn’t know that it was James. I suppose that was stupid of me. I knew that he was obsessed. I knew he hated that I was with his brother. I should have known that it was him, but—”
He knew the drill, he knew that she would continue to berate herself for not knowing what James had done until he put a stop to it, so he did. He grabbed her and yanked her up against his body, dipped his head, found her lips, and kissed her.
He wasn’t sure why he did it.
It certainly wasn’t the smart thing to do right now.
And he didn’t even ask Sydney if it was what she wanted. He just acted on instinct.
She didn’t seem to mind. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him back just as fervently as he was kissing her.
“Sorry,” he murmured against her lips when they both paused to draw in air.
“I’m not,” she said with a smile, and he knew that she was back.
This woman confused him.
He didn’t know what to make of her or of these feelings he seemed to have toward her.
There was no point denying it. He did have feelings for her—they were just feelings that he wasn’t ready to confront yet.
“You trying to undress me with your eyes, or something?” Sydney asked with a giggle. “You’re staring at me so intently, it’s like you want to see straight through my clothes.” She laughed again, nervously this time. “Good one, Syd. That was kind of inappropriate. You just met this guy, and this is hardly the time or the place to be undressing each other and making out. And he—I mean, you—probably don’t even want to make out with me, anyway, sorry, that was very presumptuous of—”
“Do I have to kiss you again to get you to stop talking?”
“Is that supposed to make me stay quiet?” She arched a blonde brow.
“Nope.” He winked, surprised that he was enjoying their banter. “And I was just appreciating the view.” His eyes travelled from her face, down her slender neck, lingered on her breasts, then froze.
Blood.
There was blood on her arm.
He’d been kissing her and thinking about undressing her and making out, and he’d forgotten where they were.
This wasn’t a time for kissing or thinking about confusing feelings. They had both been abducted and were being held prisoner by a man who thought he was a beast and was out for revenge.
A man who could return at any second.
“You’re hurt,” he said.
Sydney’s gaze dropped down to the blood on her arm. “He was angry with me when he brought me here. He had on these weird fake teeth that looked like a bear’s teeth, and he had on these gloves with metal claws.”
“Did he bite you or scratch you?” he asked, as he pushed her down to sit on the ground, crouching before her and shoving up the sleeve of her sweater to see the wound. He hissed as he saw the deep gash in her arm. The edges were ragged and torn. It was still oozing blood and would no doubt need stitches.
“I think he did both,” she said, her eyes fixed on the blood.
“Don’t look at it,” he said, ripping off his shirt and wrapping it tightly around her arm. He needed to stop getting distracted. He needed a plan, and if he didn’t figure something out and get them out of here, then Sydney’s wound would get infected. Without treatment, that could lead to sepsis, and eventually death. Assuming they lived long enough for that. “Tell me everything you know about James. He wasn’t just persistent in asking you out, was he? He made your life a living hell.”
“He did,” she agreed, resting her head back on the rock behind her. “He was stalking me. He would turn up at my work … he’d turn up at my home. He’d get angry when I told him no. When he realized that I was dating his brother, he lost it; he trashed my car.”
“Didn’t you go to the cops?”
“Gee, why didn’t I think of that? Go to the cops, what a great idea.” Fire brewed in Sydney’s eyes. “Of course, I went to the cops. I went at least a dozen times, but most of the time there wasn’t anything they could do. It’s not a crime for him to be somewhere. I work at a library … it’s a public place … James had every right to be there. The time he vandalized my car, he was arrested, but he had a clean record, so he took a deal, paid a fine, and that was that.”
“Only it wasn’t, was it?”
“No,” she said softly. “When he found out I was engaged to his brother, he lost it again. He punched a hole in the door. Mitch was there … we were both afraid for our lives. We got a restraining order, but James turned up at our wedding. He threw a fit, screaming and cussing and throwing things. The cops were called but he was gone before they arrived, and I never saw him again. Until last night, anyway.”
There were more questions he wanted to ask, but Sydney was starting to look worn out. She’d been here a lot longer than he had. She was hurt, and she’d had a huge shock. She needed to rest.
“Why don’t you try to get a little sleep. I don’t think James is coming back for a while,” he said, moving so he was sitting beside her. With only the briefest of hesitations, he slipped his arm around her shoulders and couldn’t deny that he was pleased when she immediately leaned into him.
Making promises he couldn’t keep was a bad idea.
Dante knew he shouldn’t do it.
And yet, he couldn’t stop the words from coming out. “I won’t let him hurt you again, Syd, I promise.”