Her back throbbed, and she could feel the wetness of her blood soaking her shirt. “And if you come at me again,” Rachel told him, “I’ll kill you.”
He laughed. Adam didn’t seem to care that blood was coming from his nose or that she had a gun aimed dead-center at his heart.
“Get your hands up!” Rachel shouted.
He slowly lifted his hands. “A fighter,” he whispered again, and he sounded pleased. “But I guess you had to be, right, Rachel? Once a marine, always a marine.... A core of steel hidden beneath the silk.”
She stiffened. “Who are you?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve got quite a few names....”
She was in a nightmare.
“Most folks just call me Jack,” he said, as his eyes narrowed on her. His fingers slid into the pocket of his jeans.
“What are you doing? Stop!”
But he didn’t pull out a weapon. He pulled out what looked like...a playing card? He tossed it toward her. The card landed at her feet.
The Jack of Hearts.
Her fingers were trembling. That card... Two cards just like that one had recently been found at the scene of two murders in the area. One of the dead had been a witness in the Langam murder case. The other had been Quincy Langam’s ex-roommate.
“I’m surprised you’re able to stand now,” he continued as he rubbed a hand over the line of his jaw. “I hit you with enough sedatives to keep you out for a while. I’d thought about even killing you while you were unconscious...” He hesitated then shook his head. “But that just didn’t seem right.”
“You’re insane.” She needed a phone. She had to call the police and get help.
“No.” Anger flared in his eyes, turning his gaze into green fire. “I’m the man you need to fear.”
Her gaze darted around the room. Where were they? The place—it looked like some kind of old, abandoned factory. The room was huge, cavernous, and she was terrified.
But a marine didn’t let terror stop her. She just kept marching forward.
“What are you going to do?” Adam asked her. “Shoot me?”
“I’m going to call the authorities. You’re not going to hurt anyone else.”
His eyelids flickered. “So noble. Trying to do the right thing, but you should know...no prison will ever hold me. If the cops come blazing in, then I’ll escape, and I’ll come back for you.”
The words were chilling in their certainty.
“You’re mine,” he told her. His hands lowered to his sides. “Either mine to kill or mine to love. The choice is all on me... I knew it from the beginning.”
“Put your hands back up!” Rachel yelled.
He didn’t. He took a step toward her.
“Stop!”
“You can’t do it,” he said, his expression certain. “I know you can’t. Because I got to you. I made you feel, didn’t I, sweetheart?”
He’d lied to her. Used her. Drugged her. “I can. I will.” Her finger tightened on the trigger.
“It’s not loaded,” he said.
Rachel paused. Her gaze darted down to the gun.
And in that instant, he bent down and yanked a second weapon from his ankle holster.