Page 72 of Wicked Games

“Love, I can tell exactly what you’re thinking.”

“You can?” I asked.

“Send the dogs away, lock your bedroom door, and I’ll tell you. Better yet; I’ll show you.”

“Be right back.”

I wanted to relax and stop thinking about the mission, and he had found the perfect solution. Lucien speaking filthy things to me while we simultaneously jerked off brought tears of pleasure to my eyes. We talked for a few more hours about the most random stuff, and even buddy-watched an Indiana Jones movie until Lucien yawned loudly and said he needed to get some sleep.

“Kick that fucker’s ass and come home to me,” I said, hiding my sorrow and fear beneath the bravado.

“Does Carmen know you’ve taken over her dogsandher home?” he teased.

“Your heart is my home, Lucky.” Man, I was starting to think and talk like a romance book character.

“You’ve got that right, love.”

The silence that followed after we disconnected terrified me, so I located the dogs and returned to Leo and Reed’s world. My fingers flew over the keyboard as their scene unfolded in vivid color in my mind. Angry fuck, indeed.

“He’s going to demand royalties,” I told Hans, who tilted his head like he was giving it serious consideration. Who was I kidding? I might not even finish my Lucien-inspired erotica.

IKEPT REMINDING MYSELF THATgetting captured was part of our master plan. It sounded all well and good until you were the one rendered unconscious from a pistol whip, shoved in the back of a van, and drove out to the middle of nowhere. We’d made a list of properties Banks owned personally or under one of his shell companies and surveilled them all to see which one worked best for torturing and killing one’s obsession. It stood to reason Banks would choose one of his country properties located close enough to the city for him to easily access but far enough away his neighbors wouldn’t hear me scream and beg for mercy.

Of course, I wouldn’t scream and beg for mercy no matter what he or his goons did to me. Had he forgotten the rigorous training I’d endured to become an SAS officer? Or was this all a game to see how far he could push me? The blow to my head rattled my brain pretty good, but I didn’t feel nauseous. I could clearly remember the events before I was struck and the times I came to in the back of the van and when they dragged me blindfolded and gagged inside one of Banks’s properties. While I couldn’t fully rule out a concussion without some tests, I was ninety percent sure I hadn’t sustained serious injury. Banks didn’t need to know it though.

I relaxed in the wooden chair I was tied to and used the senses available to me to get a picture of my surroundings. My nose detected leather, lemon polish, a faint whiff of pipe tobacco, and books. I wiggled my bare toes against the rug beneath my feet and could tell it was woven with high-quality wool. Of course, taking me to a warehouse or putting me in the basement beneath one of his manor houses was too gauche for someone of Banks’s ilk. He’d want to be comfortable during my interrogation.

Because I was in and out of consciousness, I couldn’t be sure how long we’d traveled in the van, but my money was on Banks’s estate in Kent. I not only heard the crackling of a warm fire, I felt its heat chasing away the chill from riding in the van without a coat or shoes. Banks’s goon had naturally assumed those two items would be a great place for me to stash a tracking device. They weren’t wrong, but we were several steps ahead of them. I just hoped they hadn’t scanned my body while I was out cold and located the tiny tracking devise embedded in the button on my jeans. The creaking of a leather chair made me realize I wasn’t alone.

“There’s no need to pretend, Lucky. I can tell by your breathing that you’ve awoken.”

It was all I could do not to laugh behind my gag. Banks sounded like some B movie villain that skipped the theater and went straight to one of those lackluster cable channels or a streaming service. I had no idea if we were the only people in the room, so I didn’t risk testing the ropes securing my hands. Whoever had pulled my arms around the back of the chair didn’t do a very good job because my circulation wasn’t impaired, and with blood freely flowing to my limbs, they hadn’t incapacitated me very well.

I would have responded with a comment, but there was the issue of the gag in my mouth. I shrugged my shoulders instead but limited the movement so not to give my advantage away. The chair creaked again, then I heard footfalls as he walked toward me. Banks jerked my blindfold over my head and pulled the gag free of my mouth, pushing it down to rest around my neck. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room. As I suspected, we were in a beautifully appointed study. There was no one other than Banks in front of me, and I couldn’t detect any movement behind me. I took a chance and wiggled my fingers and rotated my wrists as discreetly as I could. I wouldn’t hesitate to take a few blows to the face and upper body to allow my backup time to arrive, but I drew the line at letting the guy inject me with something, shoot me, or cut me with a knife. The ropes were tighter than I first thought but not debilitating.

“Have you nothing to say to me, Lucky?” Banks asked.

“Have you gained some weight since the last time I saw you?”

Banks narrowed his eyes but didn’t take the bait. Chances were slim that Banks himself was going to rough me up or kill me, which meant I needed to know how many goons he had with him. I was only aware of one man in the van with me, but it was too much to hope that I only had to take down two men to regain my freedom.

“You’re looking a little softer than usual too, but then again, your American lover weakens you.”

I forced myself to look surprised by widening my eyes the slightest bit, but I didn’t say anything. I only needed to bide my time and let things play out.

Banks’s mouth curved into a sneer. “You didn’t think you could fool me, did you, boy? You can’t get anywhere near the guy without losing control. Why do you think I sent you to Cincinnati?”

“I thought you sent me there to fill in for Deverish after his accident.”

“Accident. Yes, that’s what we’ll call it.” Banks removed a remote from his pocket and pushed a button. A flat-screen television rose from a console behind his desk. “How would you like to witness Deverish’s nextaccidentlive?”

I scrunched up my face in confusion. “What do you mean? You were behind his hit and run?”

“He outlived his usefulness. Now, Percy has become useless to me too.”

Banks hit another button, and the television turned on to show live feed from a body camera. The person stood outside a hotel door as if waiting for a command. Banks picked up his phone from the desk and tapped a message. Within seconds, the person wearing the camera unlocked the hotel door with a keycard and let themselves inside the dark hotel room. The intruder raised his hand again and flipped on night vision goggles, so he could see to navigate.

To play my part, I began thrashing in my chair. “Call him off, Banks. Deverish has been nothing but loyal to you.”