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“It’s important. Trust me,” he said. “In fact, it could help you get Ayana back.”

That was all I needed to hear.

We set a time and location, and I hung up.

I stared at my phone, my throat thick with desperation. I tried not to imagine Ayana tied up somewhere, terrified and alone.

Hold on, baby.I’m coming.

CHAPTER49

Ayana

“You look surprised,” Wentworth drawled. “Not who you expected to see?”

I gaped at him, wondering if the sedative had really been a hallucinogen. That was the only explanation I could think of for why the former fashion photographer was pointing a gun at me in the middle of an empty warehouse.

I hadn’t seen or heard from him since he tried to attack me at the Sage Studios shoot. Now here he was, looking a little worse for wear but very much alive.

His eyes glittered as he stared at me. His nose was crooked, like it’d healed the wrong way after being broken—I felt a pang of satisfaction at that—and his hair was longer. A blue cast wrapped around his right hand, which meant he was holding the gun in his less dominant left hand.

“You’re a member of the Brotherhood?” I couldn’t keep the disbelief out of my voice.

I doubted it. The prospect was more absurd than a mob boss being a secret party clown, but I needed to stall while I figured out how the hell I was going to get out of this.

Assassin or not, Wentworth held a personal vendetta against me. A man with a grudge and a gun was a dozen times worse than a detached professional.

“Not a member, no. But you could say we have a mutual acquaintance.” Wentworth’s smile sent chills down my neck. “They wanted Vuk, I wanted you. Luckily, you two are a package deal these days. I only wish I could’ve seen that asshole’s face when he realized you were gone. He must’ve lost it.” He sounded positively gleeful. “We were following you all day. He never noticed because he never left Valhalla. Lucky us.”

I recognized that hyper, manic tone. He was high again.

Great. Like dealing with a vindictive, gun-wielding asshole wasn’t enough; I had to deal with a vindictive, gun-wielding, coked-out-of-his-mind asshole.

I kept my gaze on his as I pressed my right ankle against my ties. The rope gave another fraction of an inch.

“Do you know what he did?” I froze when Wentworth came up next to me. His breath smelled like sickly sweet fruit and whiskey. It made me want to vomit. “He destroyed my hand. Smashed it with a hammer. I’ll never be able to shoot again—not with a camera, anyway.” He waved his gun in the air and laughed at his own joke. “All because I wanted a little kiss fromyou.”

The cold metal of his gun pressed against my temple. Terror staled on my tongue, and I couldn’t suppress a whimper.

“He didn’t believe me when I said you were asking for it, but I’ve seen what you do in the name of ‘modeling,’” Wentworth sneered. “You’re half naked on a billboard in Times Square. If that isn’t an open invitation, what is?”

Hot, eviscerating anger boiled up my spine. My skin flushed, and I bit my tongue so hard, I tasted blood. I wanted to lash out and tell him people like him were everything that was wrong with the world, and maybe Vuk should’ve smashed his mouth in instead. That way, he wouldn’t be able to spew his vile poison.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t antagonize him when I didn’t have leverage. He wasn’t rational. Who knew what he would do if I set him off?

I forced myself to swallow my acidic response and tipped my chin past him instead.Ignore the bait. Keep him talking.“The body. Who is that? Why did you kill him?”

Wentworth rolled his eyes. “No one important. He crossed the wrong person, and that’s that. But I didn’t kill him. I only wanted you.” He smiled again. My skin crawled with the phantom legs of a thousand spiders. “If I had my way, we’d get reacquainted now, but they’ll be very upset if I deviate from our plan. Besides, I want Vuk here to watch. It shouldn’t be long before he finds us.” My surge of hope was dashed by his next words. “The Brothers left him a nice clue on the street. He’ll think he’s onto something, but we’ll be ready. Besides…” He gently traced the side of my face with his gun. “No matter how many people he brings as backup, it won’t be enough.” He stopped and jabbed the cold metal under my chin. “Because we have you, and he’ll never jeopardize your life. Not even to save his own.”

“You won’t get away with it.” I couldn’t resist a reply. I had to keep talking, or I was going to throw up all over Wentworth’s shoes. That probably wouldn’t go over too well. “You’ll never beat him. He’s too smart.”

“We’ll see.”

Wentworth’s blasé attitude terrified me more than a raging temper tantrum. What trap did he and the Brothers have planned?

It doesn’t matter. Vuk will get out of it. He has to.

He was invincible. Mortal, yes, but the idea of anything or anyone taking him down was unfathomable.