Page 180 of Ruthless Desires: Vol. One

“Shit. She’s still alive?”

“For now. He wants us there when he kills her.”

“Christ. Elliot, I’m so sorry.”

Despite how much I’d love to blame all of this on Finn, I know that wouldn’t be fair. “It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t’ve thought she’d be safe in her apartment.”

My reasoning was that it’s a fairly secure building. There are cameras, and on top of that, there are plenty of potential witnesses around. It’s not the ideal spot to try to kidnap someone from. But apparently, Jordan is willing to be reckless. Hopefully that means he’s stupid, too.

“We’ll get her back,” Finn says.

“Oh, there’s no question about it.” We’ll find her. And then we’ll crush every bone in that man’s body for what he’s done to her.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Get the info on all of the Williams’ properties. I know it’s a lot, but you can narrow it down to residentials. Wren said in one of the videos that she’s in a house. Our plane is taking off as soon as possible, and then we’ll be home. I’ll have a better plan by the time we land.”

“On it. You guys probably already have some type of plan to make him suffer, don’t you?”

“Trust me,” I say darkly. “He’ll get what he deserves.”

Chapter nine

Wren

A week.

That’s how long the guys said they might be gone for. All three of them sounded like they wanted to get back sooner, but I knew it wasn’t something they could promise. And since they have no idea I’m in trouble, they have no reason to rush things.

I start pacing in my room, my blanket pulled tight around my shoulders.A week.Can I hold out that long? I’m honestly not sure.

Pausing in front of one of the windows, I peer outside. The snow is blinding due to the early afternoon sun, making me blink rapidly. It’s been a couple hours since Andrew gave me my blanket. My hair is still damp, but at least I have something to help my body retain heat.

I need to find a way to escape.

Leaving on foot would be a stupid, dangerous move. I’d freeze. And I have no idea how close we are to civilization, or which direction to head in.

There are two cars in the driveway. If I could manage to get out of this room, find and steal the keys, and sneak into one of them without getting caught, I could have a chance. There are two men who walk the perimeter of the yard together, and they’d definitely be a problem. If I drive off, they’d probably shoot at me.

But if I can start the car and head down the driveway while they’re in the back of the yard, I’ll be out of view. The driveway enters the forest and turns after abouttwenty yards. If I can make it that far, the trees will give me some amount of cover from any bullets they send my way once they realize what’s going on.

It’s the only plan I can think of, and I have to admit, it’s a shitty one. First of all, I can’t even get out of this room. And if I manage, it’ll definitely be noisy. From what I can tell, Jordan always has at least two men in the house plus him. Even if I manage to break out of here, I can’t fight off that many people.

The only option I can think of is trying to convince Andrew to let me out if he comes back in alone. If he’s afraid of getting killed, maybe we could run away together. That’s a big if, though.

I sigh, staring at the cars. They’re so close, yet they’re entirely unreachable at the same time.

The sound of the lock turning in the door fills the room, and I turn. The door flies open so hard it hits the wall and bounces back, knocking Jordan in the shoulder as he marches through.

“I’m sick of waiting. Where are they?” he demands.

“I already told you I don’t know.”

He advances toward me, eyes burning with fury. “This,” he hisses, snatching the blanket from me. “Who gave this to you?”

I don’t even skip a beat. “One of the older guys. The one with the finger tattoos.”

“Don’t lie to me, woman. It was Andrew, wasn’t it?”