Page 72 of Constant Risk
An arm wrapped around her waist and slung her back into the far corner of the room.
Bree was breathing hard, blood boiling. She’d never thrown a fit like this in her life and it actually felt a little good. But God, she hoped it was enough. For Penelope and Whitaker to get to Tanner and get him out.
But even if they did, they weren’t going to be able to help her. They had no way of knowing where she was.
The best thing Bree could hope for might be to get Jeter to kill her here.
Jeter shook his head and made a tsking noise. “I’m so disappointed in you, Bethany. Now your would’ve-been fiancé will die much more slowly and painfully, all so you could have a little temper tantrum.”
“What?”
Jeter took a ring box off the table and began tossing it in the air.
“This. Your boyfriend has been carrying it around. Seems like our Tanner was planning on proposing.”
He tossed the ring box to her and she caught it out of automatic reaction more than anything else. She opened it and tried to bite back her sob.
“Oops,” he said. “I guess I spoiled the surprise. But since Tanner will be dead in a few minutes anyway, there’s no real harm done.”
Bree ignored him, reaching out to run her fingers over the ring. This had been Tanner’s mom’s engagement ring. Bree remembered it from when the older woman had shown her over dinner one night.
Had Tanner really been planning to ask her to marry him when she’d been afraid he was going to ask her to move out of the ranch house?
Jeter reached over and snatched the ring out of her hand. Bree bit back another cry.
“Please. You’ve taken Tanner. Just let me keep this.”
Jeter tilted his head and studied her. “You really did have feelings for him, didn’t you?”
Bree was surprised when he lifted her hand and placed the ring box back on her palm. “I will let you keep this. Because someday you will readily give it back to me. The way you just ran your fingers so lovingly over it will be how you rub them over the ring I give you instead.”
Bree forced herself not to cringe. The important thing was that she had the ring.
Jeter crossed back over to the second table Bree hadn’t knocked over. He picked up a syringe lying there and turned back to her.
“I got this from one of the kidnappers in your case. The same one I helped you catch. You didn’t really think she was going to fall for that shell program did you?”
“Actually, no. I was pretty surprised when we got her message.”
Jeter held up his arms. “That’s because it was me. That lady in the bathtub thing would’ve definitely been dead by the time he found her, if I hadn’t killed the kidnapper and sent a message to you. See, I’m not such a terrible guy.”
Bree looked around the room. There’s no way she was going to make it to the door without him catching her and injecting her with whatever was in his hand.
There were no windows and no other way out.
There was nothing nearby for her to throw at him, and if they had hand-to-hand combat, there wasn’t much chance of Bree winning.
She backed farther into the corner, trying to figure out what she could do, and felt her shoulder get snagged on something.
The fuse box.
It wasn’t a great option but it was at least something. No windows meant no power would bring total darkness.
She glanced at the room trying to memorize where everything was. She would have to dive behind the table, crawl and reach for his gun. Of course, he’d probably be doing the same.
Jeter was still talking. The man had always loved the sound of his own voice. “Surely you know we were always meant to be together, Bethany. Tanner said you would run. That you would never come to me, not even to trade yourself for his life. But I knew the truth. You and I, no matter what shape or form these faces end up in, belong together.”
Jeter was staring at the syringe, lost in his own words. She knew she wouldn’t have a better chance. She snatched open the fuse box, and immediately saw the master fuse. It looked like there was some sort of set of wires hanging off it, but Bree didn’t care even if it shocked her.
