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R owena followed Gilder into a gleaming white, one-story facility with a metal roof that reflected the sun so brightly she’d had to cover her eyes. Inside, a hatchet-faced nurse gave her the once over and walked back into another room.

“Dr. Hendrix is ready. He’s through there.” Gilder swept an arm to indicate she should keep moving.

Rowena balked. “I really don’t need an examination. I’m fine.”

Gilder patted her on the back. “You can’t be too careful in these situations. As soon as he gives you the all-clear, we’ll open a bottle of bubbly and celebrate by the pool.”

Because that’s what a kidnap victim wanted most.

Gerrit stood by the door, making it clear there was no way out.

Her trepidation increased, and she had to pack it all inside so she didn’t freak the hell out and run away screaming.

She went into the other room and found the nurse standing beside a middle-aged white guy, tanned, thin blond hair, hunched over, with small beady blue eyes.

He looked like every Nazi asshole she’d ever seen photos of.

Classical music played in the background.

The doctor patted the bed, which also had restraints and metal foot stirrups, the kind used during a smear test. Her heart fluttered, and for a moment she thought she might pass out.

What if she was pregnant? What if the baby she maybe carried was all she’d have left of the man she loved? How would that play with Gilder’s desire for her to somehow help him have more children?

“Come sit.” The doctor ordered. “We’ll do a quick exam and take some blood to test.”

Blood ?

“For what?”

The doctor looked startled by her question.

“The usual. Iron levels. Deficiencies. STDs.”

STDs?

“I wasn’t raped,” she insisted.

The doctor’s expression was condescending while trying for sincere. “There’s no shame in what happened to you.”

“I’m thoroughly aware there is no shame for someone who has been raped. The shame should always be reserved for the rapist. But I wasn’t touched. Kurt Montana wouldn’t allow it.”

She didn’t look at Gilder. She knew her mother would never have willingly slept with this piece of shit. The idea of being the product of rape was painful, but thanks to Kurt’s warning, she was prepared and knew she was strong enough to deal with it.

What was that old saying—“be careful what you wish for”?

Gilder rolled his eyes. “Let them take your blood pressure and run their tests. No reason to be difficult.”

Difficult ?

Wasn’t that always what women who knew their own minds were branded? Difficult . Because having a brain, having thoughts of their own might contradict the fantasy of the all-knowing, all-seeing man-god and that was in- fucking -convenient.

“Okay.” Her voice was like sugar. “I’ll submit to having a medical exam, but I’d prefer to have it without an audience.”

She stared at Gerrit, although everyone in the room was a goddamned stranger. As far as she knew, he was the only one with a gun.

Gilder blinked in surprise and stared at the scowling bodyguard. “Oh, of course. Wait outside.”

Great.

Gilder caught her hands together in his. “I can’t tell you how excited I am. To know that I’m not alone in the world.”

“Yes.” Rowena forced some real emotion. “I finally have a family. I finally have someone to love.” She knew she was laying it on thick, but the man lapped it up.

“Dear Rowena. You, my darling girl, are going to be the answer to all my prayers.”

She kept her expression one of idiotic happiness and watched Gerrit head outside.

The doctor patted the bed again. “You must be very excited to know that you are the daughter of a billionaire.”

She scowled at him, then realized he was serious. “I hadn’t thought about it. I was too busy worrying about survival after being kidnapped.”

The doctor and nurse exchanged sly smiles. “Of course you haven’t.”

They thought she was lying. Who’d care about money in this kind of situation? “I was held captive by a notorious terrorist for weeks . All I cared about was getting out of there alive.” With Kurt . “And going home.” With Kurt .

The doctor and Gilder exchanged a glance she had no trouble interpreting. She wasn’t going home.

She pushed thoughts of Kurt out of her mind. She needed to honor him by escaping. She couldn’t fly a helicopter, but she could surely drive a boat. How hard could it be?

She let them take her height, weight, blood pressure, temperature. She sat on the side of the bed as the doctor used a stethoscope to listen to her chest and heart.

“You are in remarkably good condition. Of course, a low-calorie diet is optimum for longevity. ”

Longevity ?

“We’ll devise a regimen for optimal nutritional health with minimal calories.”

She raised her brows. Yippee. “Exactly what type of doctor are you?”

The doctor and nurse exchanged a glance.

Were they married? Did it matter?

The doc ignored the question and pulled out a syringe along with several vials. Damn, did they want to bleed her dry?

She let him draw blood and label the tubes with F1.

F- fucking -1?

Was she a fruit fly?

He pulled out his clipboard. “When was the date of your last period?”

She sat up. “I beg your pardon?”

He glared at her. “When did you last menstruate?”

“What the hell does that have to do with you?”

“Don’t be embarrassed. I’m a doctor.”

But he wasn’t her doctor. He was Gilder’s doctor.

“I’m not embarrassed. I’m trying to figure out why you’re asking such an invasive personal question.”

“Medical.” Gilder licked his lips. “The female reproductive cycle is part of your overall health, wouldn’t you agree?”

Rowena did agree, but she didn’t think that was why they were asking.

She didn’t want them to know she might be pregnant.

They’d find a way to terminate it. How she went forward with that choice was her decision.

Not theirs. “If you must know, I started my period the day before yesterday.” She hoped it would keep the questions and the chance of a physical exam at bay.

The doctor’s eyes lit up and went to Gilder’s. “That is perfect. We’ll start with the injections immediately. If the blood results suggest disease of any kind, we can wait a month.”

Wait a month for what?

“Injections of what?”

“Nothing to worry about.” The doctor patted her arm in what was supposed to be reassurance and felt like a threat. “Nurse Leslie. Bring the syringes. Let’s put her out first so she’s not uncomfortable. We’ll do a quick pelvic ultrasound to check your ovaries first.”

“My ovaries ?” And then she got it. They wanted her eggs. Gilder’s desire to live forever flashed into her mind. He wanted to use her to help him beat basic human mortality. She hoped he got run over by a damned bus.

Nurse Leslie carried over a metal tray with two syringes in it.

“You want to help me, don’t you?” Gilder leaned down to stare at her with his creepily similar shade of eyes and obsequious turn of his lips.

“Of course, I want to help you, Daddy dear.” She was so grateful for all the times Kurt had shown her how to fight.

She grabbed the syringe in one hand, the metal tray in the other. She sank the needle deep into Gilder’s side and depressed the plunger. His surprise and horror were comical even as he slumped immediately to the floor, unconscious.

She smashed the tray as hard as she could into the temple of the doctor who was trying to grab her.

He toppled like an oak. Nurse Leslie began to run for the front door, and Row grabbed her arm and thrust her against the wall, shoving her arm high behind her back.

She pushed her into a supply closet and closed the door, locking her inside.

Row prayed Gerrit didn’t hear the commotion. Wagner’s Valkyries were taking flight on the speakers, and that helped muffle the sound.

The doctor was coming around, so she hit him over the head again. She’d turned into a feral animal. She didn’t care.

She didn’t know how long the doctor would be out and knew she had to run, now. This was her one shot. She headed through the back of the building and thankfully, there was a back exit. Yay for fire codes!

Once Gilder caught her, there would be no more pretend Mister Nice Guy. She’d be strapped down and prodded and raped by medical practitioners who believed they had the right to access her body with or without her consent.

Outside, she looked around, relieved not to see anyone. She ran away from the house and the gorilla, along a wide, white path lined with palm trees and incredible flowers. She heard shouts behind her and increased her speed. She headed for the ocean in the hopes she miraculously found a boat.

There would be no real rush for Gilder and his men. This was a private island, and they presumably knew every inch and potential hiding place.

Her breath sawed in her chest, and she wished she’d drunk some water before she’d legged it.

She didn’t know where she was going, but she ran flat out as far and as fast as possible.

She came to the end of the manicured grounds where the tiled path turned to sand.

She heard the sound of approaching rotors.

Dammit. A helicopter. She ducked as it went overhead, and then she veered right.

Up ahead was a small cove with a sandy beach but no boats and nowhere to go. Left was a headland.

Sounds of pursuit were getting louder.

She headed toward the beach. She wasn’t giving up. She wasn’t letting them take her without a fight.

The helicopter pilot refueled without meeting another merc at the pumps.

Their luck was holding. So far. They weren’t far behind the insane billionaire. Half an hour at most.

A lot could happen in half an hour, but Kurt forced himself not to worry about it.

He’d find Rowena, and they’d get out of here.

And maybe the odds were stacked against them, and perhaps he wasn’t doing what he should do—wait for the troops and plan for a prolonged hostage rescue effort—but the things that man could do to Rowena during that time …