Page 31 of A Light in the Darkness

“You need to stay out of sight,” I tell the woman next to me. “Over there.” I gesture behind a gaudy vase filled with fake flowers set up on a marble pedestal, and she glowers at me but goes. “Don’t move until I tell you it is safe.”

Kent shakes his head a little as he watches her go. She certainly isn’t the traumatized and terrorized prisoner we expected, and I’m grateful for that. I never did well comforting any of the women in my life before, and I don’t have the time or energy to give them any effort right now. “Where’s Natalia?”

“Hopefully, still bleeding all over her pretty floral sheets,” he grunts. “The only thing worse than a man who treats women like animals is a woman who enables them.” He slips open his jacket pocket and passes me a pistol. “And look what I got out of it.”

“She was packing this?” I ask dubiously. That black skirt looked a bit too short to be hiding a gun, even a small one like this.

“No,” Kent laughs harshly. “She pulled it on me the minute I got her out of those clothes… not that I was going to try and pass myself off in them, but it was fun watching her give me her dignity, knowing how many she’s helped strip it from.”

“Dead?”

“As a doornail.” He nods, not looking the least bit remorseful. And I don’t really feel bad, either.

I want to ask how he got the guard’s uniform, though, and if he has any idea where John went, but the door opens, and we fall silent, dropping our heads.

Time to dance.

Chapter nineteen

Claire

When Rhea said she rented us a house, I should have known better than to think it would be anything normal. She rented us a mansion—secluded, serene, and the sort of place you can get lost in.

But it’s not the sort of place I can get lost from.

I’d entertained the idea of a beach packed with bodies and so many people to occupy their attention that I’d be able to slip away. This isn’t that.

“We really needed this massive mansion for our week stay?” I ask her ruefully as we stand on the other side of the door, waiting for someone to come open it. Of course, even on vacation we are staying somewhere with a full staff. How incredibly awkward.

“I wouldn’t say weneededit.” Rhea shrugs. “Actually, I didn’t tell you the whole truth about what we’re doing here.”

Next to me, Moose glowers at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“So, I didn’t actually rent this house. We’re sort of… staying with a friend.”

“A friend?” Eli asks suspiciously, at the same time I groan.

“Rhea…”

Moose decides he’s had enough waiting and rings the doorbell three times in quick succession. He’s raising his fist to start beating on the door when it opens to a half-naked man with his shorts hanging low on his hips and a red plastic cup in his hand.

“Ray!” He slurs, pulling the door open further and practically falling into her as he wraps his arms around her neck.

I study the man’s face, looking for any indication of whether I know him. When he disengages himself from my best friend, his sloppy smile widens for me. “Claire!”

I don’t get a chance to wonder how he knows me, because the man treats me to the same welcome as Rhea, throwing his weight onto me until my knees buckles and I struggle to stay standing. His drink sloshes onto my toes as he sways with me, but it doesn’t last long, because Moose pulls him off me in an instant, shoving him backwards.

As he straightens with a sheepish grin, I recognize him.

Austin.

“I’m glad you guys could make it!” He says, beaming as his eyes flicker from me to my best friend. “Even if you did have to bring the muscle.”

The muscle in question glares at him as I try to comprehend what the hell is going on. Austin was great up until he handcuffed me to his bed for my jackass bodyguard. Would he have done that for anyone willing to pay him for it? And is he really expecting me to pretend that didn’t happen?

“Well, come on in!” Austin chuckles, gesturing us forward. He swings the door open wider, letting us into the house.

It’s beautiful in a cold way… marble floors and pristine white walls that stretch up high over our heads. The music coursing from speakers somewhere is some kind of rap, and it doesn’t help the sudden headache I have.