She’d have my protection, whether she sought it or not.
I eased my grip on her neck, my fingers threading through her hair to massage her scalp in soothing circles. I anticipated tears, possibly begging for her life. Instead, she drew in a soft breath and straightened her spine.
She didn’t shut down or panic. She stood by my side and faced Cristian.
Perhaps she was even stronger than I thought.
She started to ease away from me, but I fisted my fingers in her hair before she could shift more than an inch. She responded to my silent directive, stilling her efforts to get away from me before she’d fully committed to them.
I’d keep her at my side by force, if necessary, but it seemed a firm grip was enough to warn her to behave.
Pleased with her responsiveness, I resumed massaging her. Running my fingers through her copper hair probably soothed me more than it did her, but I indulged myself nonetheless. Touching her grounded me, as did focusing on monitoring her responses and controlling her. Around Cristian, control was something I lacked, and it felt good to have this lovely creature under my power and my protection. To have her on display for him, wearing my collar.
Mine.
“You are Samantha Browning,” Cristian announced. “Andrés is convinced, and I had my people look into your story. You’re a fed.” He sneered the last.
To my surprise, she didn’t shrink away when his lip curled. She lifted her delicate chin, defiant. “So, you’ll let me go?”
“No.” Cristian said the same word aloud that roared through my mind.
“But you have to,” she insisted in a rush. “If you keep me here, my friends—”
“They won’t find you here,” he cut her off, informing her of the cold facts. “One of my shell corporations owns this building. They won’t trace it back to me.”
“They know I was investigating your organization before you took me,” she said. “They’ll suspect you’re behind my disappearance. They’ll follow you until you lead them to me.”
“Then it’s a good thing I don’t come here often. This is my little brother’s home. Besides,” he continued. “It’s not like I’m stupid enough to get out of my car out on the street. And your people don’t have surveillance cameras in our private garage for this building. Which, I’ll remind you, they have no idea I own. So, Samantha Browning, no one is going to find you.”
Her shoulders slumped. I considered pulling her closer to me to comfort her, but my brother wasn’t lying or issuing idle threats; he simply told her the truth.
Her next words surprised me. “You’re going to kill me.” The words were soft, but heavy with defeat.
I firmed my fingers against her scalp, reminding her of my protective presence.
She didn’t seem to notice, or maybe she didn’t care for my protection or my presence at her side.
“No,” Cristian said before I could untangle my thoughts. “You’re going to work for me from now on.”
“What?” she asked on a little puff of air.
“You’re going to erase all the evidence the FBI has on me. You will protect me and my business from them. If you do, I’ll let you live.”
She hesitated for a heartbeat before her eyes flashed. “Okay,” she agreed quickly. “I’ll need a computer.”
I swallowed a chuckle. She really was terrible at deception. My little captive had no intention of helping us if I let her anywhere near a computer.
Cristian didn’t bother to smother his cold laughter. There was no amusement in the sound, only mockery.
“Do you think I’m a fool? You’ll contact the feds as soon as you get online. Now, I could just threaten to kill you if you try, but then you’d be useless to me if you’re dead. So, I’m going to leave you with my brother for a while longer. I’m sure he’ll break you in for me. He’s so good at that.”
I growled at his words. I didn’t intend to break her for him. I’d train her to obey my will. He wouldn’t touch her. Not once I was finished with her training. Not ever.
“She’s mine,” I snarled, the words ripping from my throat in my Spanish before I could think. She wouldn’t be able to understand me, but Cristian would. My fingers tightened in her hair, tugging at the fiery strands so I could yank her closer to my body. “I’m keeping her. I’ll make sure she’s compliant, but she’s mine.”
Cristian smirked, clearly pleased by my agitated state. “All right, hermanito,” he drawled. “You can keep this one. Just make sure she’s useful to me, and we won’t have any problems.”
I didn’t allow myself to take a breath to collect my roiling emotions. In the space of a second, I schooled my features back to a blank mask. I was becoming dangerously attached to Samantha already, and my brother wouldn’t hesitate to use her against me if I continued to sink into this obsession. I wouldn’t put her at risk by making her a target for his cruel games.