Chance Encounter (40 page)

“Such a sacrilege, Kacie. How could you let that man do that to you? He was at least forty years older than you.”

Telling him she didn’t
let
Harrington do anything to her would have been a waste of time and breath. It was more than apparent that Vincent was not playing with a full deck.

“You and Molly planned this together.”

“Molly? Oh, you mean Sally? Yes, although you should know that I protected you quite a bit. She wanted to do really bad things to you, and I wouldn’t let her.”
 

“How did you two know each other?”

“I met her when she was just a kid. Did some yard work for the family. We kind of hit it off. Friend-like, nothing romantic, in case you’re worried. She got in touch with me about her pet project. And, well…” He shrugged. “The rest you know.”
 

“But why would you agree to something like this? You don’t look—”
 

She was going to say
evil
but stopped herself. Antagonizing him wouldn’t help her right now. She needed information first.

“I didn’t at first. Seemed like a silly little girl’s plan, but the money was enticing. I got the job at the building, and then I got to know you. I knew the moment we met we had something special. So I told Sally it was a go. She did most of the work. I just helped her out when she needed me to.”

“Like those Rollerblading kids in the park?”

“Yes, I paid them, with Sally’s money. But they promised they wouldn’t hurt you. They didn’t, did they?”

“No…just scared me.”

He grinned. “Good. A little scare every now and then never hurt anybody.”

“You know that Sally’s…gone?”

“Oh yes, she told me it would probably happen. She paid me in advance, just in case.”

“She knew she would die?”

“Yes. She told me all about your affair with her daddy and how it ruined her and her family. She really didn’t want to live. I even offered to take care of that for her, but she wouldn’t let me. Her only goal was to make you pay.”
 

He grimaced as if embarrassed. “I’ll admit, when she told me about you, I agreed with her at first…that you should pay. But then, after I met you and you were so kind and loving toward me, I knew I couldn’t hurt you like she wanted.

“We agreed on a different plan. She would repay you, then she would die. And then, after that, you would be mine.”

She swallowed past the fear.
Keep him talking, Kacie. Let him think this is all okay. Get him to trust you…and then get the hell out of here.

“When you were at my apartment…before you…brought me here, you pretended to be Harrington. You talked and dressed like him.”

“Yes, that was my last promise to Sally. I practiced for days so I could do his voice.” His smile was full of pride. “I guess it’s safe to say I fooled you.”

“Yes, you did. You’re very good.”

“Thank you.”
 

He acted as if he were going to get up, and she wanted to delay whatever his plans were for her as long as possible.
 

“So the photos in my bedroom the other times, did you do those, too?”

“Yes, everything that was done in your apartment was done by me. Molly never even went there, except that one time.”

“Which time?”

Even though he had been acting almost normal, Kacie had never been fooled that he was sane. The look in his eyes when she asked that question confirmed not only insanity but also evil.

“Remember when you had a wisdom tooth pulled, and the dentist gave you something that knocked you out?”

She couldn’t speak, could barely breathe. She nodded instead and waited to hear just how vulnerable she’d really been.

“Sally and I came in and watched you. You were completely knocked out.” An unholy light entered his eyes. “Did you never wonder why you woke up naked?”

Nausea roiled in her stomach, and without any option whatsoever, Kacie turned her head and vomited on the floor. Her mind screamed,
no, no, no,
but her heart screamed for Brennan, who would eventually come for her, once people realized she was missing, but he would be too late.

It was all Brennan could do not to stick his head out the window and shout at the other drivers to move out of the way. He had to get to her, even though a part of him said it was already too late.

Once the decision to return had been made, McCall had been almost scarily efficient. Not only were two SUVs waiting on the tarmac when they arrived, but McCall had called in favors at the police department and asked that her apartment be checked immediately.

A report came back within half an hour that all seemed well. Kacie Dane was not in residence, but her security system was on, and there was no evidence of a break-in or anything else. Brennan tried to tell himself all was well. His gut said different.

When LCR pinged her phone and located it somewhere in her apartment, his suspicions were confirmed. He had lived with this woman long enough to know her routine. She might be unpredictable in many ways, but not in this. Never would she leave her phone behind when she went out.

He weaved in and out of traffic, for once glad for his familiarity with the city. McCall sat beside him, Justin and Riley in the back. Sabrina and Aidan trailed behind in the second SUV.

“I shouldn’t have left her,” Brennan muttered.

“You did what anyone would have done. It was over, Sinclair. We all thought it was over.”

He glanced over at the LCR leader. The man was almost impossible to read, but the tense line of his jaw and set of his mouth told the story. He was as worried as Brennan.

Thirty-two minutes later, in what was probably record time but had seemed interminable to Brennan, they pulled in front of Kacie’s apartment building. Brennan jumped out of the SUV and stormed into the building.

A man Brennan didn’t recognize was at the security desk. He jerked his head up when they burst through the door. Knowing one of the other operatives would question the guard, Brennan raced to the elevator, McCall right beside him.

Seconds later, they were on the sixteenth floor and running to Kacie’s apartment. He didn’t bother knocking. He still had his key and immediately unlocked the door. An eerie silence greeted him.

“Weapon, Sinclair,” McCall said calmly.

Shit, he knew that, knew what he was supposed to do, how he was supposed to act, but this was Kacie. Nevertheless, Brennan drew his gun, and with a nod, he entered with McCall coming in right behind him.

While McCall handled punching in the code on the security panel, Brennan said, “I’ll take the upstairs,” and ran up the stairway. He went to Kacie’s bedroom first. The door was partially opened, and he pushed it farther. At first glance, nothing was out of place. Kacie wasn’t a neat freak, but neither did she leave clothes lying around. Everything was in proper order. The bed was made. He checked the adjoining bathroom, as well as the walk-in closet, and again saw nothing wrong.

Taking his cellphone out, he punched in Kacie’s number again, heard a ring. Standing in the middle of the room, he slowly turned, trying to locate the ringing phone. The closet. Brennan returned to the closet and stuck his head inside. Kacie had about a dozen purses lined up on a shelf. The phone must be in one of them.
 

He hit redial on his phone, waited for the ring, and then zeroed in on a small black purse on the second shelf. Grabbing it, he looked inside, and the rapid thud of his heart skidded to a halt.
 

Striding out of the closet, he met McCall’s eyes as the man came into the room. “Everything looks fine downstairs. You got anything?”

“Yeah.” Going to the bed, Brennan upended the purse. Kacie’s phone, wallet, and keys tumbled onto the spread.

A multitude of emotions swept through him at once, but the overwhelming one was absolute, mind-numbing terror.

Looking over at McCall, Brennan finally said the words his gut had known all along. “She’s been taken.”

As tenderly as any loving caretaker, Vincent unlocked the ring that attached the cuffs at her wrists to the chain connected to the floor. What would he do now? Punish her? Rape her? Kill her?
 

Scooping her into his arms, he carried her into a bedroom. Kacie had stopped breathing the moment he touched her. Now, her body, stiff and terrified, lay in his arms. She had promised to fight, and she would, but her hands and ankles were still cuffed. If she tried to hit him to get away now, she wouldn’t be able to run, only hobble. He would catch her, and then who knew what would happen?

As much as she hated it, her best bet was to act semi-compliant. No way could she act as if she were onboard with being kidnapped and held hostage. Vincent might be insane, but she didn’t believe he was stupid. He’d never buy her immediate acquiescence. She would play it his way until she could take him down and get away.

“There, there,” Vincent said. “I know throwing up upset you, and I’m sorry. You’re probably suffering from first-night jitters.” He grinned down at her. “First dates are always the scariest.”

Settling her onto the bed, he took her cuffed wrists and attached them to a chain hanging from a brass rail on the headboard.

“Vincent…really. You don’t need to chain me up. We can talk this through, together. We can figure something out that’ll work for both of us.”

“Now, Kacie. You know we’re not that far into our relationship. Trust must be established, then we’ll go from there.”

Even knowing what his answer would be, knowing it went against her plan to fool him and made her seem weak, Kacie couldn’t prevent the plea that tumbled from her mouth. “Please, Vincent. Don’t do this. Please let me go.”

He sat beside her and smoothed strands of hair off her forehead. “Why on earth would I let you go when I’ve worked so very hard for us to be together?”

She forced herself not to flinch at his touch. So far, other than knocking her out with a Taser and kidnapping her, he had been non-violent and eerily kind.
 

“Now, you’re probably not hungry, since your tummy is upset, but I could make you some tea and toast. You spilled yours earlier.”

She vaguely remembered the splatter of hot liquid. When she didn’t show up for work tomorrow, they would call. Eventually, someone, perhaps the police, would go to her apartment. Would there be any evidence of her abduction? The tea would dry quickly. Had he taken the photographs down?

“What’s got you looking so concerned?”

The question was so incredibly asinine, it was all she could do not to laugh in his face. “I was just thinking about the tea I spilled in my bedroom.”

“Don’t you worry about that. While you were sleeping like a lamb, I cleaned that up and even washed the cup. Took down those nasty photos, too.” Triumph curved his mouth. “When they search your apartment, they won’t find a thing out of place.”

He went silent, staring down at her as if waiting. Having no real clue what he wanted, Kacie went with her instincts. “Thank you. I appreciate you cleaning up the mess.”

“You’re welcome. Don’t you know I’d do anything for you?” He bent closer, and Kacie couldn’t help herself, she shrank as deeply into the bed as she could.

Disappointment twisted his face for a moment, and then he sighed. “You’re still shy, which is completely understandable.” His finger touched her nose in a gesture of teasing affection. “We’ll go slow, I promise. We’ve got our whole lives ahead of us.”

Standing, he said, “I need to clean up the puke before it sets and smells up the entire house. Rest for a bit, and when I’m finished, we’ll take that bath I know you’re dying to have.”

The minute he walked out and closed the door behind him, Kacie tugged on her cuffs, bruising and tearing her skin painfully. There was no give, no escape.

He’d left the light on, so she took a moment to familiarize herself with the layout of the bedroom. A large window to her left was plenty big enough to crawl through, but iron bars covered the glass on the outside.
 

The bedroom was just as minimalistic as the other part of the house. A dresser on the other side of the room held nothing on its surface. The nightstand beside the bed had an unopened bottle of water. That was it, the entire contents of the room.

Her head bounced back against the pillow as she fought the defeat that permeated her being, threatening to crumble her insides to dust.
 

No…hell no. She would not give up. She would not allow this to happen twice in her lifetime. She was strong…a fighter. And today…right at this moment, she was no longer Kacie Dane, beautiful model with a perfect and charmed life. She was once again Kendra Carson, rape survivor. She had fought a monster once before and won.

She would win again.

Chapter Forty

Half an hour later, the bedroom door opened. Vincent appeared with that same smile she’d once thought so sweet. “Everything’s in order again. I’ll draw your bath water so you can take a nice, long soak.”

He paused and waited. Kacie already knew what he wanted and figuring this was her best shot for surviving, she gave him the words he wanted to hear. “Thank you, Vincent.”