“I don’t know.” She tries to curl away from me, but the weight of my body prevents her escape.
Grabbing her wrists, I pin them back above her head.
“I don’t care what you lost or what you will lose. All I know is that you are here to help me solve this case. Then when I find the other girls, I will return you all to Igor.” I push down on her wrists like my words can be driven deep into her skull.
I release her and get off. “Go to your room.” She stumbles from the bed but pauses and gathers her clothes. Her cries linger behind her for far too fucking long.
CHAPTER SIX
EVIE
There is this type of pain in my stomach that I’ve never experienced before. I manage to get the piece of paper out of my jeans pocket. It’s soaked, and I unfold it carefully. I’m searching for a radiator to place it on.
My mind is foggy from Lucca’s touch, from Lucca’s harsh words, from my own outbursts. My gaze blurs, and the room tilts. I have to pause and close my eyes and try to find my center again. When I open my eyes, I feel more like myself.
I find a hairdryer tucked away in one of the drawers and use it to dry the page.
In my eagerness to ring home, I forgot to add the prefix that allows me to ring another country. It hit me last night that If I found a phone book, I could ring home and maybe someone would answer. 011 353 is what I needed to put in front of my parents’ phone number. I’m staring at the page as I continue to dry it. I don’t need it anymore, I realize. That number will be forever branded into my memory. I turn off the hairdryer and take the piece of paper into the bathroom. I’m surprised he let me keep it. I’m surprised he let me leave that room.
His threat of having me had elated me and caused a ripple of fear through my system. I’m trying not to think about his hands on me as I crumple up the page and drop it into the toilet. I flush and watch it disappear.
He had touched me, and I didn’t want him to stop. There were moments where my brain kicked in, and I half tried to leave, but his touch gave me release from the situation. His silver eyes had soaked up arousal, and his own had pressed so heavily against me.
Even when he was threatening to take me fully, with his groin pressed against me, fear should have been all I felt, but I couldn’t deny the attraction I felt towards Lucca.
His body was defined perfectly—the outline of his muscles, like gorges in the landscape.
I flush the toilet one more final time before leaving the bathroom and making my way into the bedroom, where I put on dry clothes. I find the darkest ones, which this time are gray. The skirt is very dark, but it touches the floor, and the top has a small red and yellow beaded design along the arms.
It’s pretty, not as pretty as what I have grown up accustomed to.
I hate the thought that settles in my mind. I might have gotten the full number for my parents’ home, but I could never risk ringing them now. I could never risk Lucca tracing their number. He still might. My only hope is that he forgets about it.
I fall asleep on top of the covers after a few hours of twisting and turning. When I wake, it’s odd not to hear the girls’ chatter or feel the heat from the sun that always shone directly on my lower calves. I sit up and take in my surroundings. I’m in the Handler’s home. Something told me he didn’t live here full time because there is nothing personal in the penthouse, and it just has the feel of a hotel. I get off the bed and go to the bathroom. Each time I think of last night, my buttocks clench at the memory of each slap. The pain had frozen me for a moment. But it was the heat of his hand, the feel of skin on mine, that made a completely different reaction in my body. Embarrassment had torn through me by the thought of being spanked turning me on. My mind wanders a little further to how he touched me, how I had wanted him to touch me.
I wash my face and pause. There’s something different. When I look up and meet Lucca’s gaze in the mirror, my heart stalls, and a half scream lodges itself in my throat. My heartbeat picks up a new beat that’s wild and unwilling to slow.
“Breakfast is ready.”
The silver shirt that covers his wide shoulders is nearly the same color as his unusual eyes.
I hold my head high, hoping he can’t see how flustered I am. “Thank you.”
He doesn’t leave, and my stomach hollows out the longer he’s looking at me. I can’t hold his gaze, so I look away and place the towel back on the rack. When I look around, I’m alone again.
Breakfast is fresh fruit and cereal. He’s set the breakfast up at the breakfast bar. Straight away, all I can think about is how unladylike it is to climb up on a high stool. I have to lift the gray skirt to get up. Lucca is already seated and doesn’t hide the fact that he’s watching me.
He eats his cereal
