Page 47 of Two Favors Repaid

“Ah, finally, a useful question! I was wondering when you might ask me that. But you’re going to have to wait a little bit to find out. I’m going to go back up and take us a bit further out, make sure we’re safe.” He laughed at his own little joke as his large, lumbering frame disappeared up the stairs, turning the lights off as he went.

Emma shivered in the almost darkness.

Chapter 14

Rob

Rob woke up feeling confused and, without knowing why, frightened. For an instant he didn’t remember what had happened.

Then the last couple minutes before he lost consciousness played back in his mind, like some sped up horror movie, and he felt his panic flare.

Where’s Emma?

Rob opened his eyes and found he could only see properly out of one eye. The other one had something stuck—he remembered slicing his eyebrow open and blood pouring down. He blinked. Some of the blood must have dried while he was unconscious, partly obscuring his vision.

Great.

And then he saw Emma. She was sitting on top of the kitchen counter, one arm held at an awkward angle, tied to one of the handgrips in his kitchen space. Her eyes were closed, but he didn’t think she was asleep.

The light streaming in from the windows told him it was morning already.

How long have I been out?

He twisted his head as far as he could but didn’t see Ford anywhere.

“Emma,” he whispered.

Her eyes opened quickly.

“Rob, you’re awake. Thank God,” she said quietly. Her eyes looked to the stairs so Rob imagined that’s where Ford was now.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked, a lump in his throat.

She shook her head.

Not yet.

“Is Ford alone?” he asked.

She nodded. “I think so. He’s acting like he’s alone.”

The boat lurched and Emma paled. And that was when Rob realized they weren’t at the dock anymore.

“We’re out to sea, aren’t we?”

She nodded, her eyes hooded as if in pain. He recalled Emma hadn’t been on the water since the accident last year.

I need to get her out of here.

“Emma, I …” He wanted to tell her everything was going to be okay but didn’t want to give her any platitudes.

“I know,” she said simply, and behind her obvious fear, her blue eyes shone with tenderness for him. “Me too.”

Rob felt a lump on his throat. He’d been so stupid. He knew there was something wrong with the Mexico story. He should have … but that wasn’t going to help them now.

He tested the handcuffs around his wrists and the ropes on his ankles but found absolutely no give. He wasn’t going anywhere unless he got Ford to untie him first.

“What time is it?” He had no idea how long he’d been out.