Page 38 of Fearless

Sugar? No…no… That wasn’t Sean either. She blinked once again, and Colton Kingsley’s face appeared before her. “What’s going on?” she whispered.

The delight in his eyes told her all she needed to know. She had been hallucinating that Sean had arrived to save her. Kingsley had apparently heard her mumbling his name and decided to play with her emotions.

She drew in a shaky breath. She could excoriate herself later. For now, she needed to get her head on straight and figure out how to beat Kingsley at his own game.

“Where is Sean, Serena? Haven’t seen him in a while, have you?”

He was baiting her. Refusing to answer, she stared at him blankly. Let him think she was too damaged to answer. Maybe he’d let her get some rest, because, quite honestly, she’d had enough.

He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Hey, Serena! You still in there?”

She didn’t blink, never moved a muscle to acknowledge his presence. If he wanted to stand in front of her, yelling like a banshee, that was fine. At least the temperature would likely be moderated while he was in the room. She could use the rest.

Grunting as if exasperated, Kingsley stepped back and placed his hands on his hips. Since she refused to look directly at him, she could only see him out of focus and to her left. “Ah, well. I think she’s done for today. We’ll start bright and early tomorrow. Smith, please take her to her room.”

Even though every cell in her body rejoiced at his words, she maintained her expressionless, stoic demeanor. As her chair began to move, Kingsley called out, “Don’t get too comfortable, Serena. You think today was rough? What’s that saying? You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

She focused on the door, wanting nothing more than to be away from this hellish room and the twisted mind of Colton Kingsley. The instant they were in the hallway, she breathed out a long, silent breath.

“You did good, Serena,” Smith said. “I’m impressed.”

Even though the young man had been kinder to her than anyone else here, she couldn’t bring herself to talk to him. Exhaustion weighed down every muscle. She knew her head would not literally explode, but she was reasonably certain she could not handle much more pain before she passed out. She couldn’t stop the low moan that escaped.

“Shh. We’ll be there in a minute,” Smith said soothingly.

She hated showing even that much weakness. Determined not to utter one more sound, Serena locked her jaw and focused on the view in front of her. Not only did she not want to show weakness, but hatred brighter than the sun was boiling within her. Taking it out on Smith would be unfair. Even though he hadn’t told her his story, she didn’t doubt that he was a victim. He hadn’t been born this way but had been made into this smiling, plastic-like being who followed orders without question.

“Here we go,” Smith said as he opened the door and pushed her forward into her bedroom. “There’s a meal waiting for you. You’re not required to come down until tomorrow morning. Have a good night, Serena.”

With that, she heard the door click, and in an instant, the bands around her wrists and ankles retracted, and she was free. More than aware of the cameras and eyes that followed her every movement, she slowly rose from the chair. Maintaining her stoic expression wasn’t easy. In fact, it was almost as difficult as the hours she’d sat in that stupid chair. Now that she was free, every emotion she’d been feeling was on the verge of exploding all at once. She had to find some kind of privacy as soon as possible.

Once she was on her feet, she almost collapsed to the floor. Her legs felt like melted rubber. She gripped the side of the chair for several moments, and then, grinding her teeth against the pain, she hobbled to the bathroom. As soon as she entered, she closed the door and stripped. If there were cameras here, then shame on them. Either way, she couldn’t keep the soaking-wet pajamas on any longer.

Shuffling into the shower stall, she turned the water to lukewarm. Her body hadn’t yet caught up with the current temperature, and she honestly couldn’t figure out if she was cold or hot. All she knew was she wanted clear, clean water, inside and out. She scooped up a handful and drank a few sips. If she gulped it down, as she wanted, she’d get sick.

Once her thirst was slightly sated, she leaned her forehead against the tiled wall and let herself go. Crying was cathartic, and she felt no shame for giving in to her emotions. There would be plenty of time later to analyze what, if anything, she had learned today, along with the self-castigation for allowing herself to show her vulnerability about Sean. Using her memories of their time together had been comforting and had helped sustain her, but she’d lowered her guard. Whether it had been a hallucination or a dream of Sean appearing before her didn’t matter. Either way, Kingsley had been able to see what made her vulnerable, and he would use that against her. There was no doubt about that.

Knowing she would collapse soon if she didn’t get some sustenance was the only thing that made her move. Straightening her shoulders, she set her jaw and turned the water to icy cold. In seconds, she was shivering, but she was also wide awake and ready to fight once more.

Kingsley thought he’d gotten the best of her. He hadn’t seen Serena Donavan at her best yet. The man soon wouldn’t know what hit him.

When Serena emerged from the bathroom, Colton focused on her demeanor. He’d watched as she’d stumbled into the room earlier, pleased with how traumatized she’d looked. Just a few hours of mild torture, and she was as weak and docile as a kitten.

She had no idea how fortunate she was to not have suffered his full wrath. If he had done what he’d wanted, she’d already be in the ground. Fortunately, he’d listened to that tiny little voice inside him that told him to wait.

His superiors knew he’d nabbed Serena Donavan. He hadn’t been able to keep that accomplishment to himself for more than a few hours. If he killed her so soon after capturing her, he’d have a difficult time justifying his actions.

He was just glad that he’d told them only of her capture, because before he had downloaded what she’d led him to believe was the entire Option Zero database, he had wanted to contact the entire council to tell them what a prize he had attained. They were expecting big things from this situation, and he had been on the cusp of reporting that she had delivered astounding results. But then one of his tech people had discovered a fabricated story, and everything had fallen apart.

He’d tortured her off and on all day. With each hour that passed, a little of his rage had diminished. He couldn’t harm her permanently. She would be no good to him damaged. She had spent a few uncomfortable hours—nothing she couldn’t recover from in a day or two. He’d wanted her to get just a taste of what he could do.

Serena Donavan was a paradox, and he had yet to figure her out. On one hand, she was an incredibly intelligent and gifted computer expert. She had created an impenetrable firewall for her organization that their best techno-geeks had tried and failed to crack. She was an excellent hacker, an expert code writer, and from all accounts, she could kick just about anyone’s ass.

On the other hand, she was a compassionate woman who had more family and friends than anyone he’d ever known. The concept of family and friends was both foreign and bizarre to Colton. He’d grown up in a series of homes, and not once had he had any warm feelings toward anyone. Over the years, a couple of people had tried to get close to him, but he’d seen no point. Even as a kid, he’d had clear-cut goals. None of them included creating any kind of bond with another human being.

His gaze went back to Serena’s face. She was a unique challenge, and while he’d like to play around with her a little more, he needed her cooperation as soon as he could get it. Even though she was likely weak and shaky, and her eyes had the bright gleam of someone who’d been crying, there was a mutinous set to her mouth, and her shoulders were upright, showing no signs of defeat.

It was time to play hardball. Time for the shock-and-awe portion of this program. She thought she could play games with him? Like he’d warned her, she hadn’t seen anything yet.