A Terrible Misunderstanding (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 6)

“The other women threatened that as well, but they haven’t managed it yet.”

“Yes, I know. That is because you are a murderer as well as a kidnapper. But the authorities are on to you. You are going to be put behind bars for the rest of your life.”

The man turned to lift an arrogant brow at her. He was standing in front of a dresser, doing something with an object on it, but with his back to her she couldn’t see what he was doing and was filled with trepidation because of it.

“What do you want with me?”

“I had every intention of keeping you to use you to persuade your father to stop his investigation into the kidnaps,” the man began. “However, we have changed our plans now that a few of our members are no longer with us.”

“Have been arrested you mean,” Clara snorted. “And you think you can get away with what you are doing.”

The man paused and looked at the wall before him for a moment before he resumed whatever he was doing.

“I am going to let you go. I had thought about keeping you. I mean, how wonderful would it be for us to make use of the Secretary of State’s daughter? It would send a very clear message out to anybody who doubted us, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately, you are far too recognisable, and won’t be easy to hide. There is always someone who wants to cause trouble for us.”

“Bring you to justice you mean. That is what my father will do, you know: bring you to justice,” Clara warned. “Nobody is going to allow you to keep taking people and killing them.”

“Your father has problems of his own right now, or have you not wondered why he has not returned to Serpentine to see you? He is a little busy, shall we say?”

“What have you done to him?” Clara demanded. Her voice rang stringently across the silence of the room.

“Your dear father is alive and well. He is, however, not going to be Secretary of State for long. We have contacts even more powerful than him,” the man warned.

“Am I to know who you are?” Clara asked after several moments of thoughtful silence.

When the man turned around, her gaze fell to a gun in his hand. The paraphernalia needed to reload it was still lying on the dresser behind him. Clara briefly wondered if he intended to shoot her. Immediately, her thoughts turned to Niall. She couldn’t focus on anything other than there was so much she wanted to say to him. While she knew he would never reciprocate the feelings she had for him, she had to tell him how she felt. Moreover, she needed to be able to see him again just to know that he was all right.

Now I know why Niall kept warning me not to be so foolish with my freedom.

She made a promise to herself right there and then that if she ever saw Niall again, she would apologise to him for not listening and doing as he had asked her to do. If she had, she would have been at home by now. She wished he was with her now, but knew he wasn’t. He was in Serpentine, probably watching the house without even being aware that she wasn’t inside it like she should be. Clara could only hope and pray that one of his colleagues had seen her leave the house and had followed her, although that being the case, he hadn’t managed to stop her from being kidnapped.

They can’t have seen me.

It was the only conclusion she could come to given her predicament.

“Now what do I do?” she whispered to herself, her voice no more than a mere breath.

“There is nothing you can do,” the man reported. “You are completely at my mercy.”

“God, you just love this kind of situation, don’t you?”

It was there in his voice. He turned and smirked at her, as if to prove that he wasn’t sorry about enjoying his power over innocent people.

“You are a very sick man.”

“I, my dear, am a very successful man.”

“Which is why you have taken to snatching women off the street,” Clara snorted. “That isn’t success. That is abject failure.”

“Really. Well, I have managed to overpower you and get you to do what I want you to do, so does that mean you are a failure too?” the man drawled.

“I was going about my business as any person as a right to do,” Clara reported crisply. “It isn’t for you to think you can behave like a common criminal and get away with it. You, sir, are nothing but a petty crook.”

The man seemed to be enraged by this. He whirled around, his small eyes glinting with fury. He stared at her.

“I wouldn’t be foolish enough to think you can be clever with me,” he growled.

“I am not being clever,” Clara argued. “I am stating fact. It is criminal to accost young woman and keep them captive like this.”