nothing.
Eating the fresh fruit now, she said to him, “Thank you for this.”
“You’re most welcome. The telephone call I just received concerned Mike.”
At the mention of Mike’s name her pulse quickened; guilt, and yet the realisation that she didn’t want to hear he had been found. Her feelings toward him had changed, from fear and upset over his disappearance to a new ambivalence toward him, due to her growing obsession for this man with her now.
“His car was found last night parked at a Casino in Arizona. The car had been stolen from a property in Phoenix. One of my men tracked down the tenant of that property. A lady called Christina Valdera. She says she was Mike’s girlfriend.”
A look of utter shock covered Tara’s face, her complexion now ashen.
“How do you know this?”
Confusion and disbelief was furrowing her brows.
“It’s what I do. What my company does; amongst other things. Intel. It’s not hard to find these things out.”
“She told you this?”
“She told my men this.”
“Is he with her?”
“She says she hasn’t seen him for a week.”
“Piece of trash.” She was standing, fury radiating through her body. “I want you to find him. I want you to rip his head off. No. I’ll do it for you, just bring him to me!”
She had never been so mad.
“Well, that has been my plan all along darling. Not your part in it; but have no worries, when I do find him...well, I don’t need to spell it out.”
Her temper exploding, she grabbed the plate and hurled it across the room, not even looking at where she was aiming and narrowly missing his head. It shattered against the wall, hundreds of shards flying, closely missing cutting him.
“Stop.”
“Absolute bastard. I’ll kill him. He emptied my bank account.”
The china cup from which she’d drunk tea went flying against the wall.
He sprang toward her, grabbing hold of both of her wrists.
“I told you to stop.”
She struggled against his hands, trying to break free.
“It won’t do you any good.”
“Get off me. Now!”
“This is becoming a bit of a habit,” he said, sardonically, amused at her. “But it seems to be the only way to control you at present.”
This woman aroused him beyond measure. Removing one of his hands from her, he reached for his briefcase on the bed and pulled out some paper.
“The Contract.”
He held it at her.
“You can sign it later.”
He let it drop as he pulled her up from the bed.
He walked her over to the large floor-to-ceiling windows.
At the side of it he undid one of the long sash ropes that tied the curtain back. He looped it around her wrist and secured it.
“Stop it!” She kicked out at him.
He paused and looked at her with a seriousness that almost made her regret having done it. She was unsure how far she could push him, but he had no right to keep doing things like this.
“You have given me no choice. You’re simply uncontrollable.” He was laughing.
He continued to restrain her, as though what he was doing was completely normal. Going to the other sash, he undid that one and held onto her by the arm as he tied it around her other wrist.
She pulled hard on the rope, trying to pull it from the wall.
“Now, I can keep you still.” He stood back, enjoying the sight of her futile struggle, hoping it would calm her down.
She pulled frantically on the ropes, her temper giving her strength but they were attached securely to the wall at either side of the window.
“Let me go immediately, or I promise you, you will regret it.”
“That’s a possibility,” he laughed again, “but I can’t do that, can I. We have an agreement.”
“Clearly I haven’t been scheming with my ‘boyfriend’ to run away with your money, if he has another girlfriend!”
“I don’t know how you run your private life darling.”
“Stop calling me that. He can rot in hell, and so can you.”
“That really isn’t a very nice thing to say to me.”
“I will get you back for
Gretchen Galway, Lucy Riot