I didn’t have to wait for long before my door opened again, and Jae entered with Cyryl guarding the door once more.
“Jae,” I sobbed, hugging my knees and cowering in the corner. My skin was decorated in bruises from Sam’s visit, and my throat felt tender. “Please tell me, why are you doing this? I’m not rich, no one will pay my ransom.”
The handsome Korean man glanced over his shoulder at Cyryl, then closed the door to lock us in. Or maybe to give us some privacy?
“Danny, we know you’re not who you pretended to be,” he said softly, crouching down near where I cowered. “We know . Kai found your comms device, then your friend chased after us and killed Mauricio. Sam wants you dead, as vengeance for Mauricio.”
His voice was pained, his jaw tight as he spoke. The conflict in his eyes was clear as day. They’d picked him to play “good cop,” and he was well suited to it. I doubt he had the stomach to torture me if—when—it came to it.
Hot, wet tears streaked down my face. “I didn’t have anything to do with that,” I whimpered. “This is all a mistake. First, Kai assaulted me, then I get knocked out and wake up here , and Sam beat me the hell up. He nearly killed me, Jae! Look!” I pulled down the neck of my loose T-shirt, confident Sam’s handprints would be evident around my throat. I could feel the dull ache from the bruising already.
Jae’s brow creased and he looked to the floor for a moment. “He’ll do worse if you don’t tell us who you’re working for. Who your friend was that killed Mauricio. Why you targeted us.”
I gave a cry of dismay. “I don’t know what you want to hear, Jae. I never targeted you. Mo approached me . Kai dragged me into that old house. None of this was me… it was all on you guys. I’m not this super spy you all think I am. Would I still be here if I was? Wouldn’t I have escaped by now?”
Jae gave a small huff. “You couldn’t, even if you got out of here. Unless you’re a fish.”
Interesting. We were on an island, then.
“Not really the point, Jae,” I argued, sounding panicked. “Wouldn’t I have stopped Sam trying to kill me? I don’t even know how to throw a punch, but I’m, what? CIA? Do you even hear how insane that sounds?”
He winced. “You could be acting.”
I laughed internally. “Acting? Jae… look at me. I’m beaten to hell and less than half Sam’s body weight. I’m no fucking Wonder Woman Amazonian, and I seriously doubt women as small as me would make good CIA agents.”
Lies. We made spectacular agents because we were so often overlooked for our stature, not to mention how valuable women like me were in the intel gathering game. Half the time, my marks never even knew who’d lifted their sensitive data—usually too blinded by post-coital bliss. The other half never lived long enough to tell tales.
Jae, though, the sweetheart was swallowing my bullshit whole. He was my strongest case for the fact that Kai’s crew wasn’t in the interrogation game. They were merely opportunistic businessmen with good marksmanship. Yes, they had killed a lot, but it was a very different thing shooting a man quick and clean versus getting up close and personal as you inflicted excruciating pain. It took a really twisted individual to hear someone howl in agony and feel nothing.
That wasn’t Jae… but it could be Cyryl. And it could easily be Eli. I could take it, though. I’d trained for it.
“Danny,” he said on a groan, running his hand over his hair. “How do you explain the comms device? Why the hell would you have that if you’re innocent?”
I blinked up at him with huge eyes. I had him on the line already. It was almost too easy.
“I didn’t ,” I insisted. “One minute, Kai was, um, you know.” I forced a blush to my cheeks like I was embarrassed about the fact that I’d been enthusiastically choking on Kai’s thick cock before he found the device.
Jae’s brow creased. “I do know, he sent me a picture.”
I forced that blush harder, a skill that had been harder to learn than the fake crying. “Right. Well. One minute, we were doing that , and then he, um, finished… then he picked something up off the floor and went all psycho. The next thing I knew, I woke up here and Sam tried to kill me .”
Uncertainty crossed Jae’s face, and he stood up abruptly to pace the room a little.
“You believe me, don’t you?” I asked in a small voice, giving a little hitch at the end.
He scrubbed his hands over his face, turning back to face me with a tortured expression. “Yeah, I do. I’m so sorry, Danny. I’ll… I can talk to Kai. I’ll try and get him to think objectively about this. Someone could have easily planted that device on you in the club and it fell off.”
He paced a few more moments, then spun around to face me with a deep frown. “How do you explain the guy who chased Mo and Sam? The one who killed Mauricio?”
I sniffed, letting more tears spill. “You guys don’t have any other enemies? I’m kind of getting the impression you’re mixed up in some bad shit. Would someone else want you dead?” I held his gaze and let my lower lip wobble. Fuck, I was good at my job.
Jae blinked down at me, like that idea hadn’t even occurred to them. They’d been so fixated on me being the guilty party, they hadn’t considered whether someone else could be responsible. Which, all things considered, was rather narrow-minded of them. I was far from the first mercenary to receive a contract for Malachi Arden.
“Shit,” Jae breathed. “I’ll talk to Kai, okay? But just… if Sam comes back, try not to piss him off.” He rapped on the door with his knuckles, and Cyryl opened it for him on the other side.
“Me?” I squeaked. “He’s a psychopath! Please don’t let him hurt me again, Jae. Please!”
Jae gave me a pained look but left without offering any empty promises. I’d already worked out that he and Sam were roughly the same rank within their inner circle. Which meant Jae didn’t hold the authority to order Sam to stand down.
I needed to win Mo over. She was Kai’s second in charge. If I won her, I’d be as good as free.
22
J ust my fucking luck, Mo wasn’t the next one to visit my cell. Not even to deliver food and water—that was Eli’s job this time—and several hours later, right when I needed to pee again, Cyryl came to play.
Instead of taking me to the bathroom like Eli had done, Cyryl just slammed a bucket down on the floor and nodded to it with his arms folded.
Oh that was cute, he was trying the humiliation technique. Luckily, I didn’t give a flying fuck who watched me pee, so I just faked a bit of embarrassment and got about my business. Much to his disappointment.
When I was done, I waited for him to leave, but he just stood there with his arms folded, squinting at me.
“Whatever you want to know,” I said in a tired, defeated voice, “just ask me. I have nothing to hide.”
Cyryl huffed a short laugh. “Sure, you don’t.” He grabbed the chair from the side of the cell and plonked it down in the middle of the room. “Sit down, Danny. Let’s chat.”
Meekly, I did as I was told and perched on the chair. Cyryl stood close enough to make me tip my head back, playing up the physical intimidation by towering over me. Typical fucking man didn’t consider the fact that I was five foot three. Literally everyone towered over me, including my best friend. I was well used to it and confident in the knowledge that size did not equal strength.