Page 9 of Merciless Obsession

“Woof, woof.” He chuckled and stroked his square jaw.

An exasperated breath pushed out of my flaring nostrils. Although I’d never met Ezra before I’d done my research. I heard he was charming and a huge flirt. Out of all of his brothers he seemed like the least serious of the four, yet in the courtroom I heard he could rip you a new one without even breaking a sweat. His track record was remarkable I must admit. If his family wasn’t trash I would have him on retainer in case I ever got caught with my hacking.

“Before we get to that however, let’s talk. Did you enjoy my present today?”

My face balled in confusion. I didn’t remember receiving a rose and note today. It took a couple seconds but it came back to me.

The box.

The hands.

“You psycho! Who the hell sends someone severed hands?”

This smile on Ezra’s face twisted into one that made my stomach tighten with dread. It was anything but nice. His eyes darkened.

“He touched something that didn’t belong to him. I play about a lot of things but my toys aren’t one of them.”

My brows bunched. “I don’t belong to you.” This man was out of his mind.

Ezra ignored me and reached out, touching the crease between my breasts and slowly dragging his finger down. I was wearing a V-neck shirt, causing his hand to land on my skin. For a second my body stilled and my breath caught. His hand on my skin felt like fire. My stomach twisted in a ball of knots, not knowing what he was going to do next.

I attempted to snatch out of his touch. “Don’t touch me,” I gritted.

“Do you know what happens to a Bumblebee after it stings you?” he questioned with a raised brow. Obviously the question wasn’t for me to answer because he answered right away. “They lose their stinger and eventually die.”

Goosebumps covered my skin under my shirt. The hair on my arms rose.

His hands left my body and he straightened his spine. “Get comfy, you’re gonna be here a while.”

Without waiting for me to respond, he turned on his heels and started for the door.

“Hey! You can’t just leave me here! Hey, asshole!” I shouted behind him.

Ezra ignored me and closed the door behind him. I stared at it for a few seconds before throwing myself back on the pillow and releasing a heavy breath.

I couldn’t believe this was happening. For years I told myself to stay alert and always be prepared for anything. I regretted not taking the roses and notes more seriously. I was smarter than that. Knowing what happened to Charlie caused me to look at things differently. To be more alert and aware. I spent the past nine years exposing the predators and scum of Silver Stone. While nothing had ever been proven, I’d seen the Tavarez name come up more than once on forums. There was never anything concrete. Whatever they were into, they made sure to cover their tracks. Still, I knew they were shady people.

In no way did I plan on folding to Ezra Tavarez. People thought I was just some geeky girl who was intelligent and great with computers. They had no idea I was hardened and scarred. Life trampled over me and forced me to learn to survive. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of here, but I planned on giving hell until it happened.

CHAPTER 5

EZRA

“You disabled the cameras?” I asked Emmet, grabbing my driver side door.

He stared at me with a blank expression on his face before opening the passenger door, making sure to grab his book bag before getting out. I chuckled, of course he did. If Emmet was nothing else, he was thorough. Climbing out the car behind him, we walked across the street to Ziora’s townhouse.

She was still tied up at my house. I’d had her for a week now. My Bumblebee was just as I expected, feisty and full of heart. Each time I went into the room, she stared at me like she was prepared for a fight. I knew she took kickboxing and self-defense classes, and while I wasn’t worried about her kicking my ass, it might be fun to see what she was about.

After Nazai stopped by my house and learned I had taken Ziora, I knew it was time to stop playing around and get to business. It was fun to push my brother’s buttons but even he had limits.

I had court this morning, but before I left for the courthouse this morning I made sure to grab Ziora’s phone and house key. She was smart and it was clear she was just as good when it came to computers as Emmet, but I was sure my brother was smarter.

Thankfully the keypad had a key lock for if it malfunctioned, making it easy for us to get inside. It wasn’t hard to get into her house the first time. I had Emmet tap into her alarm to turn it off, then went through her back door. It was a good thing her backyard was surrounded by a wooden privacy fence. I was waiting inside her downstairs closet. I originally planned to take her when she was sleeping but seeing her open the gift I left her and the fear and disgust on her face had me acting sooner than planned.

Once inside the house, I took a second to inhale. It smelled like Ziora. Fresh, citrusy, with a hint of some kind of floral, jasmine maybe?

“C’mon,” I told Emmet, heading for the steps. I was taking him to Ziora’s office. I didn’t have much time to look at it the first time I was here, I just snatched her and her laptop and left. Since her laptop was wiped clean when I took it out of here, I hoped Emmet would be able to get into her home computer.