He moved closer to her and then yanked her over his lap.
“Don’t do this, Jimmy. This isn’t what you want,” she said, trying to keep the fear and disgust from her voice.
“Haven’t you figured it out, little girl? I can do whatever the hell I want to do.” He stopped talking, but only because he had mashed his mouth against hers, thrusting his nasty tongue inside.
Gagging again, Grace fought him with all her strength, but it did her no good. Her hands were tied, her head was pounding, and her fear was growing by the second. He yanked the hem of her shirt as he pushed her to the ground, and her arms screamed in pain as he pushed down on her with his full weight and crushed them beneath her body.
“Please stop, Jimmy. I’ll give you the money,” she cried out when he released her mouth so he could pull at her shirt.
“I know you will, but since I don’t have my whore lover or my sweet little fiancée anymore, I need someone to help with my needs.”
“You don’t have time for this, Jimmy. If you want to get money from me, you’ll have to hurry. Cam will already be tracking me. We have plans for today,” she told him. She kept her tone calm, her eyes on his, so he wouldn’t think she was bluffing.
“He can’t find you here,” he said, but he seemed unsure.
“Yes, he can. They’ve known someone has been after me for a while now. They’ve been watching me, have placed security all around me. If you don’t think he’ll find me within a few hours, you’re sadly mistaken.”
The more she spoke, the stronger her words became. She needed to believe what she was saying, or there was no way she would get this monster to believe it.
Unsure, he stopped tugging against her clothes as he sat back, looking thoughtful. Grace twisted sideway and then sat up, her fingers tingling as blood rushed back to them. Tears were fighting to break free but she couldn’t fall apart. If she did, she would lose everything.
“Just get the computer. Let me give you the money and then we can both be free.”
“Free? I’ve been a slave my entire life. My entire life!” he screamed.
“I’m sorry, Jimmy. I know that must be hard,” she said, trying her best to sound sympathetic.
“You don’t know anything about it. You grew up rich. I had to fight for everything I ever wanted. I deserved so much more than you and your stuck-up parents. I had to bed your mom for years to earn money. At first it wasn’t so bad, but she kept getting older . . .” His face was filled with disgust.
“You can get the money from me and never have to do anything you don’t want to again,” she told him.
“Shut up!” Reaching out, he slapped her hard enough that she tasted blood and felt her vision blur. She couldn’t pass out again. She had to focus. “Just let me think.”
Grace decided to be quiet as she pulled at her bonds. If she could get free, she’d grab the nearest thing to her and clobber this bastard, take his car and get away, call Cam, and get rescued. And Jimmy could spend the rest of his days as a kept man—in a state prison.
“People like you always think you’re so much better than me. You think your money makes you someone special, that you can buy whoever and whatever you want. But you’re wrong. Yeah, we all need money—it’s what makes the world go round—but I’m smart, Grace, real smart, and I know I’m better than you.”
“You’re right, Jimmy. I know you’re right.” She’d say anything at all to get him to stop this. He stood up and grabbed his gun, and all the blood washed from her face, a tingling sensation taking its place. She was going to die. This would be how her story ended.
“I gotta get that money, Grace. I need it. But if I leave you here alone, you might get out of the binds, and you might run away,” he said, pacing back and forth in front of her.
“I won’t run away, Jimmy. I promise. I don’t know where we are. I would get lost and then I’d never be found,” she said.
“I know you, Grace. I know you,” he said before turning back to her, his eyes wild as he pointed the gun straight at her. “I’m not gonna kill you, though, just shoot you in the leg so you can’t run away. But don’t move, okay? I’m not a real good shot, and I’d be awfully upset if I killed you before I got my money.”
“Please don’t do this, Jimmy. Please,” she begged.
“I have to,” he said before smiling. “But don’t worry. I’m going to enjoy it.” He cocked the gun and Grace finally allowed a tear to fall.
“Has anyone seen Grace? We were supposed to get coffee, but she’s been gone for half an hour now.”
Cam turned, immediately focusing on Sage. “What do you mean?” he asked as he glanced quickly around the hospital waiting room.
“I had to talk to the nurse, but Grace was going to meet me in the cafeteria for coffee,” she said, and then concern filled her eyes. “She’s safe, Cam, right? You solved the problems with her being harassed.”
“Nothing has happened for a couple of weeks, but I don’t like this,” Cam said, and his brothers immediately tuned in to what was going on.
“Let’s find her,” Jackson said. “Something’s wrong.”
“Sage and I will check the back areas,” Spence said.
“Hawk and I will check the south exits,” Cam said.
“I’m going to talk to security and see if the cameras picked up anything,” Jackson told them before moving in that direction.