Page 46 of Professional Liar
Lucien shifted again, his roped creaking behind him. “He doesn’t like them,” he supplied instead of waiting for Prospero to answer.
I focused on the kid. He didn’t look as beat up as either of us.
“Did they get Katherine?” Prospero asked.
The idea of Kat in the hands of these dicks shot a fresh burst of anger and adrenaline through me. Then I remembered.
I remembered. And it hurt all over again.
“No,” I said, and cleared my throat to answer more clearly around my fresh grief. “I wasn’t with her, and I think we’d hear her by now if they had her.”
Lucien snorted. I glared and then shook it off. Defending Kat was no longer my job.
The door opened behind me, and I shifted on my pained knees to look. One of the guys who grabbed me entered first, then another. Finally, the Adam or A-something Dick followed after him. Someone else trailed in behind and closed the door.
“You know I can’t remember your name again, what was it? Something about a sweater?”
Lucien chuckled softly behind me, and the first goon clapped him on the head with the end of a handgun.
“My name is Argyll Aristo.”
“Great. Thanks for clearing that up.”
The goon lingering near Lucien stepped up behind me and wrenched my head back, his hand tight around my throat. It could have been erotic in better circumstances.
Argyll waved his hand and the man let me go. I sagged forward, sucking in air until I could breathe again, well, the best I could with pain slicing up my side. The kicks at my ribs in the bar likely broke or bruised something.
“Here is how this is going to work,” Argyll said, extending his hands as if addressing his subjects. “We are going to let one of you live.”
“The kid,” both I and Prospero called out at once.
Lucien shifted behind me, but kept quiet.
“Noble of you gentleman, but this is a test. I’m going to call a ransom to your family. The first to show up and pay the fee will get to take you home. The other two will die.”
I laughed out loud this time. “You are going to invite my brothers here to get me. You better have a whole hell of a lot more men than this.” I eyed the goon and the other guy monitoring the phone.
My mouth earned me another crack to the skull. Ringing started in my ears, but I shook it off.
“I mean the family who will represent you here. I’ve already placed a call to Mrs. St. James. The others have been made the offer as well. We shall see who cares the most, shall we?”
I hoped Kat told him to go fuck himself. The sight of her here would not be good for my sanity right now.
The men filed back and out, and I toppled onto my ass to relieve the ache on my knees. My pants were ripped and shredded, my jacket long gone at the bar, and my shirt blood stained and dirty. A warm trickle of blood still poured down my face, and I tried to lean and staunch in on my shoulder.
“So what are the odds we get out of here?” I asked my companions.
Lucien didn’t answer. He sat and stared at empty fire grate across the room.
Prospero broke the silence. “I couldn’t say. A power play of this kind hasn’t been seen since Katherine’s father pulled one. I am curious what your wife will do.”
Knowing Kat, she probably had Bianca under lock and key in a safe house somewhere as she contemplated how much I’m worth losing.
The money didn’t matter, but Kat wouldn’t show her face here unless she had the upper hand. I shrugged. “I have no idea what she is going to do. She won’t leave me here, but I don’t exactly know if she’ll come and get me either.”
“A rough patch so soon?” Prospero asked.
I glared through the darkened room. He had no malice etched in his features, and no humor. His face a blank canvas dotted with blood and dirt.
