Footsteps sounded on the other side. Her pulse skipped when the door jerked open, and she found herself face to face with the man who’d threatened to rape her a week ago. She froze as his blue gaze registered surprise. He shifted to one side, sliding his gaze over as he looked behind her toward the driveway.
A second later, his focus centered back on her. His eyes narrowed as he murmured, “Speak of the devil.”
The unexpected words drew a frown, and it dawned on her that the house had fallen eerily silent. Pinned under Jackson’s intense scrutiny, she realized with a sinking feeling that she’d made a mistake by coming here without reaching Dean first. If he was the one Jackson had been arguing with, no way the argument would’ve been put on hold to answer the door.
But someone was in there. Maybe even someone she wasn’t supposed to see.
She took a step back while darting her gaze behind him. Wanting to see who was there, yet scared to at the same time. “I, um, is Dean here?”
“No. Why would he be?”
Don’t let him see your fear. Gina lifted her chin and met his cold gaze. “Because of the news in the TI briefs.”
A smile curved lips that now revealed his cruel nature. “Saw that, did you?” He shrugged, completely unconcerned. “We’re very excited about the new software release. Now, if Daley wishes to stop by and congratulate me, my lawyers and I would love to have him set foot on my property.”
She clutched her keys in her pocket. His self-satisfied arrogance made her wish she could punch him like Dean had last week. “You’re not going to get away with this, Jackson. Not this time.”
His gaze narrowed again. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You will,” she warned as she backed up another step and turned to leave.
He seized her arm so fast she gave a small exclamation of surprise.
“What does that mean?”
“Let me go,” she demanded, fighting to keep the distress from her voice as she strained against his hold.
“Not until you explain that smug little statement.” He glanced out toward his driveway again, turning his head back and forth as if to make sure no-one was watching. “Come on in, we’ll talk inside.”
When he exerted pressure to pull her into the house, panic rose in her chest. She leaned back, trying to twist away. “No. Let go. I will scream if—”
A violent jerk spun her around, cutting off her words as he shoved her inside with one hand and kicked the door shut. Before she could do more than suck in a breath, he pinned her against the wall and moved so close she could feel his breath on her face.
“Tell me what you meant,” he demanded his voice full of menace.
Stupid idiot! Couldn’t just keep her mouth shut, could she? No, she’d had to let her anger get the better of her and provoke him. Now she trembled as his grip tightened on her arms, bringing back the frightening memory of last week.
Would the truth anger him more, or convince him to let her go before digging his grave deeper? No good alternative story came to mind, and his incensed gaze told her time was up.
“We built a secret code into the software,” she admitted. “Dean will have no problem proving you stole it.”
One dark eyebrow arched. “We? Then you know what it is?”
“I…” Shit.
He jerked her away from the wall and pushed her ahead of him into the living room. “You’re going to fix this, Gina. Now.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You’ll damn well wish you had.”
She wrenched free of his grasp and moved around the coffee table to face him. “What are you going to do, rape me?”
He reached over to open the small drawer of the console table against the wall. Then he withdrew a handgun and calmly replied, “We can start there.”
Her breath seized in her lungs at the sight of the weapon. She didn’t know he owned a gun.
“Jack! What are you doing?”