Rough Exile

I swallowed, scrutinizing his fierce, dark eyes. “Well, what do you want with me, then?”

“To offer you a choice. Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?”

“Tell me my options, and I’ll give you my decision.”

We stared each other down.

“Accept the contract I’m offering you.”

“Or what?” An ‘or’ was definitely hanging over his statement.

“Or don’t, and we’ll take you anyway.”

Of course. Fucking misogynist assholes.

My anger made me feel overly warm, although I was only wearing a bikini.

I looked around to see if any help might be forthcoming. The other men had all disappeared, leaving me alone with Bron and Ilya. On closer inspection, in the light of day, they looked less like twins. The shape of their eyes and the line of their noses were different. Cousins? Close friends? It was hard to say.

I worked hard to contain my disgust.

“You couldn’t just ask me? Why the kidnapping? Why the theatrics?”

Bron smoothed back my hair, a cruel smile forming on his lips.

“We couldn’t take the chance that you would refuse and walk away. Think on it. For now, we will treat you like a paid captive. If you do what we say, things won’t be any more unpleasant than they can get on the Island. If you are difficult…”

“The entire point of the Island is that we consented to be there—to do those things. This is a real kidnapping.”

He shrugged at my accusations. “Only if you don’t agree to our terms.”

“Why me? Why not grab some random woman off the street?”

“Most other women are not able to provide what we need.”

This didn’t sound like it would be a good time. “And what exactly do you need?”

“You. Specifically, you.”

I glared at him, and he narrowed his eyes, as though in warning.

“How much are you offering?”

His gaze was black ice. “Why would I bother to negotiate with you?”

“Obviously, you’d prefer if I was voluntary, otherwise you wouldn’t have made the offer.” I tried to work at the rope holding my arms, but whoever had tied me knew what he was doing.

He grunted. “I’ve overheard things. I understand you plan to return to the Island for a scholarship for yourself.”

“Yes.”

“We’ll offer you that, plus what—say, half a million?”

I swallowed. An education and enough money to buy a nice house, at least where I was from. How was a girl supposed to say no to that?

“For what? For how long?”

“In exchange, you’ll be our captive for the next four months.”

“Four months! I can’t abandon my family for that long.”

“Your family is busy with their own affairs. Your siblings are in school, or will be after this contract with the Island. You planned on coming right back here for yourself anyway, so what is the issue?”

“There’s a big difference between coming back for a month and being gone for four more months.”

He sighed, as though I was being emotional and unreasonable. “We’ll allow you to make a few phone calls to settle your affairs.”

“What about Lane? I don’t have her number.”

“What about her? We don’t want her, and we suspect the men currently courting her will hunt us down if we try to take her again.”

“I don’t want you to take her. I need to write her a note or something. I can’t let her think I’ve disappeared.”

He rolled his eyes heavenward and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “I’m sure we can make some sort of arrangement for the Island to tell her you’re safe.”

“What exactly will you expect me to do for you?”

“Nothing you would not be doing here.”

“But with the two of you rather than an island full of men?”