Page 50 of Protected from Reprisal
I’ll never see Ace again.
We won’t get to watch the new season ofBattleBotstogether.
I’ll never get to kiss him again.
I’ll never know if thisseeing where things gocould turn into something deeper.
Something that lasts for months, years, maybe even a lifetime.
It hurts so badly, this loss of something I only just began to let myself dream of.
And Ace. I heard the faint knocking at the door upstairs. And then nothing. Did he turn around and leave, thinking I’d changed my mind about him? That I was too cowardly to tell him my real feelings, so instead, I ghosted him?
Or.
A flicker of hope sparks.
Does he know something’s wrong?
Ace isn’t just a regular guy, after all. He was a Green Beret, and later, Delta. Now he works for one of the most respectedsecurity companies in the country. Of anyone, wouldn’t he notice if something was off?
And heknowsme. He knows I wouldn’t just blow him off like that.
I hope.
Oh, I hope.
I don’t care about doing it myself this time. I don’t need to prove anything. Not here. Not now. All that matters is getting out of here.
“Do you know what they did to me?” Davis asks. His voice pitches up again. “Doyou? They weren’t concerned about the Geneva Conventions. Nope. Not whereIwas being held. Maybe you got to walk away scot-free, butI didn’t.”
He removes the knife from my neck and replaces it in the sheath at his waist. Then he pulls up his sleeve, displaying his right forearm, covered from wrist to elbow in burn scars. “They did this to me, Yara. Did they do anything like that to you? Hmm?” His hand dives into his pocket and comes out with a lighter. “Maybe we should see how you like it? What do you think of that?”
My chest constricts until I can barely take in a breath. Though I don’t want to show any fear, it’s hard when that lighter is right there, inches away?—
Davis flicks the lighter, and a tiny flame emerges. “What do you think of this, Yara?” His face contorts into a crazed smile. “So many ways to torture you. That’s why I waited, you know. I was there, in the parking lot. Watching you scurry to your car like a frightened little mouse. I could have killed you right then and there. But that would have been too quick. Too merciful.”
The flame dances dangerously close to my arm. “This way,” he continues, “I can take my time. Since you live alone, no one will even realize there’s a problem until you don’t show up for work on Monday. Although…” He waves the flame across myskin, singing it. “I could send a text, telling them you’re sick. So your body could be here for close to a week before anyone realizes.”
Terror takes over. In my mind, so real I can feel the heat of the flames, I see myself on fire, unable to scream, unable?—
“Get away from her!”A voice filled with rage echoes throughout the basement.“Now.”
Davis’s face jerks with shock.
The lighter clatters to the floor.
Relief sweeps through me so quickly I’m lightheaded with it.
Ace.
He’shere.
From the laundry room side of the basement, Ace emerges. His expression is hard. Angry.Dangerous. He looks more giant than man as he advances on Davis, his gun trained on my captor’s chest. “Back. Away. From. Her.”
Ace’s gaze flickers to me. First, there’s horror. Then guilt. And finally, fury.
“Get away from her,” he repeats, sounding more deadly than I’ve ever heard him. “Before I shoot you.” He cocks the trigger. “Or maybe I will anyway.”
