Page 54 of Lethal Torture

I become increasingly tense with every mile closer to my apartment. By the time he pulls into the basement I’m a quivering mass of nerves.

What happens now?

“Christ.” Any trace of Luke’s smile has disappeared as he looks around the dimly lit garage. “Tell me you don’t normally get dropped off in this basement,” he says as he draws the car to a halt.

I shake my head, a little taken aback. “Not usually. Charlie pulls up out front.”

The truth is that I’ve never liked the basement garage, even during the day. I keep my own car at Mayfair Pigalle, not that I use it often.

There’s a faint clatter somewhere close by, and I flinch involuntarily.

“Don’t move.” Luke is out of the car before I can answer. I twist in my seat, trying to see where he is, but he seems to have disappeared into thin air. I sit in frozen silence for several minutes before his face suddenly appears at my window, startling me so much I visibly jump.

“Sorry,” he says, not sounding it at all. Pulling my door open, he virtually lifts me out of the car. His grim expression does nothing to alleviate my already stratospheric level of tension.

“Do exactly as I say.” Luke tucks me beneath one mammoth arm and almost carries me into the elevator. He hits the button, standing in front of me as the doors close.

“Is there somebody here?” I ask tentatively when he doesn’t speak.

“I don’t know yet.” His voice is curt. “Stay quiet. And behind me.” The elevator glides to a halt. The doors open, and Luke gets in between them, peering into the dim corridor. He hits a switch and floods the entrance with light. Putting a finger to his lips, he pushes me into the bathroom to the left. He puts his mouth against my ear. “Lock the door.”

I do as he says, the adrenaline that’s never far from the surface kicking back into sickening gear.

How long am I supposed to wait?

I put my ear against the door, straining to hear what’s happening on the other side, but I can’t even hear Luke moving around.

What if he’s already been knocked unconscious?

Except somehow I know he hasn’t been.

It would take a fucking tank to knock him down.

And I’m willing to bet that even then he’d face the thing head-on and give it a run for its money.

Eventually there’s a knock on the door. “All clear.” Luke’s voice, calm and reassuring. “You can come out.”

Swallowing hard on the panic I didn’t expect to feel, I unlock the door and stalk out, doing my best to maintain what little dignity I have left. “Why the panic, then?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Zinaida.” He folds his arms. “Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that someone seems pretty intent on killing you.”

A long silence ensues, filled with all the things I don’t know how to say.

I drop my eyes first.

“Go on, then.” I hear the rather sulky note in my voice, but I’m helpless to stop it. “If you’ve got something to say, just say it.”

I raise my eyes to find Luke staring at me, eyes narrowed, his expression as inscrutable as I’ve ever seen it. But calm as he might appear, I can tell his massive form is poised like a lethal slingshot, every muscle taut with preparedness.

That’s the savage, right there.

The mask is still in place, sure, along with his superhuman control.

But I can feel the riptide surging beneath it, fierce and barely contained.

“That basement carpark is a fucking nightmare.”

He snaps the words like the basement is a personal insult.