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Chapter Five

Oliviaslippedaglanceat Marek, who reclined in the comfortable leather seat diagonal from her, his long legs stretched out in dark jeans.

How did she end up here? Sitting in a multi-million-dollar private jet on her way to LA with a beautiful vampire? A vampire, who, despite kidnapping her, made her body come alive with an inappropriate amount of desire…

After he forced his partnership on her, they waited until after sunset before leaving the hotel. Marek had locked her in her bedroom and told her to sleep.

She didn’t think she could fall asleep, not with everything that had happened. Betsy was a witch? And she had worked with others to blow up the Ruins? Her bracelet had somehow shot magical beams of light at Marek to protect her? What had she gotten herself into?

For a second, the urge to curl into a ball and hide until everything went away almost overwhelmed her. A stupid impulse. Something she’d promised herself wouldn’t happen again. After her parents passed away, she’d hidden in her room, crying in bed until she had no tears left.

Her parents hadn’t magically come back alive. No, it had been up to her to raise Betsy and ensure they stayed together, instead of losing Betsy to the foster system.

This was no different. She’d find a way to escape Marek and help Betsy, all on her own.

Like she’d always done.

Before she could form a plan, days of working late and the stress of everything had caught up with her. She’d fallen into a fitful sleep. It had been dark by the time she woke up, gasping from a dream of running from something. She touched her bracelet out of habit. It lay dormant on her wrist, no burning. Just a normal bracelet.

Had the bracelet always been magical? Well, there had been trivial things where she thought she’d been lucky, like the short-lived teenage rebellious phase when she’d shoplifted but hadn’t gotten caught once. Had it saved her from the accident? Her chest squeezed at the memory of escaping unscathed while Papa had almost died.

Nothing else came to mind. She refused to believe the bracelet had something to do with her PhD. She’d earned it because of her blood and sweat, not because of some magic.

“Would you like something to drink?” the flight attendant asked, drawing Olivia out of her musings.

“Yes, some water, please.”

Her gaze was inevitably drawn to Marek as the attendant placed her drink on the table and a glass of red liquid for him.

“Is that blood?” she asked.

His smile had her skin tingling. “Yes, what else?”

She scowled even as her cheeks warmed. Her physical awareness of him disturbed her. She wished she had her phone to research Stockholm syndrome because she must be experiencing it. After all, she willingly went along with her kidnapper’s plan and found his arguments reasonable. Not to mention her ridiculous amount of attraction toward him.

“I can almost hear your brain working,” he said with a teasing smile. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Olivia considered staying silent, but maybe she could get something out of this conversation. Hmm, what did she wish to know?

“Why did you pick me?” It’d been bothering her. “You must have waited outside Zylotech while the police were there. There were other people leaving the area, so why me? Unless you also took others? If so, why not keep us together?”

If she hadn’t been watching him so closely, she would have missed the slight tick of surprise. It was gone in a heartbeat and his expression was neutral when he answered, “You’re the only one, no others. I sensed something different about you. It turns out my instincts were right.”

He was hiding something from her. What else was new? Did she really think he’d tell her the whole truth?

He hadn’t even told her his identity.

Another reason she wanted her phone back. To discover his identity. The detective from LA on Betsy’s case had listened to him and gave Olivia the details, which meant he was somewhere high up in the vampire hierarchy. Now the fear and adrenaline had abated, he looked familiar. Or was her brain playing tricks on her? If she’d seen him before, surely she’d remember someone with his stunning looks?

“Can I have my phone?” No reason not to ask.

“No.”

Well, she hadn’t really expected him to say yes.

“Why did you choose to specialize in VB research?”

She tilted her head. “Why do you want to know?”