Kidnapping His Bride

As if.

“Where is my fiancée?” he asked again, trying his best to keep calm.

“She’s at home. Sleeping.”

Sleeping? How could she sleep at a time like this? The Cat he knew would most likely be pacing and plotting how to get him out of this place. He was surprised she hadn’t come by now. “Why? Is she not feeling well?”

“She’s fine.” Annalisa waved her hand, dismissing his worry. “Stop being such an old man.”

He wanted to choke her. “Tell me you’re here because you dropped the charges.”

Reaching inside his pocket, he fumbled for his cell, pressing the recorder button on. In the police’s sloppy handling of his arrest, they’d somehow forgotten to confiscate his phone.

So he planned on using it to his advantage.

“I have no plans for dropping the charges,” Annalisa said, an odd smile on her face.

Jesus. What was wrong with this woman? “Why not? What have I ever done to you?”

Her brows rose. “Really? You have the nerve to ask that question? What have you done to me? Why don’t I rattle off the list?” She pointed at him, her finger shaking. “First, you ignore me. I’ve had a crush on you for years. Years. I was the one who should’ve been your fiancée, not Catalina. We have more in common, we’re closer in age.”

He said nothing in reply, disgusted by how she turned this entire situation into poor, pitiful Annalisa. Such bullshit.

“I tried to tell you multiple times how I felt, but you never cared. Then at that party, I practically throw myself at you, and you did nothing. Nothing at all! That was it. That was the moment that pushed me to convince Cat you were worthless,” she said with a smirk.

“Didn’t work, did it? She’s still with me,” he murmured.

Her smirk faltered, her eyes dimmed. “Not for long.”

His heart fell into his toes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you won’t be able to get out of this hellhole unless you agree to do what I tell you.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to break up with Catalina.”

Rafe remained silent. He refused to agree.

“You’re going to tell her the reason you’re breaking up with her is because you’re in love with me. That you’ve been in love with me for years and you used her to get closer to me.”

He slowly shook his head. Would Cat really believe that? After everything they shared the last few days? “You’re crazy.”

“Crazy for you. And you’d be crazy too if you don’t agree to this. I have plans, Rafe, if you don’t split up with her. Plans to keep you in here for a very, very long time.”

“Your charges won’t hold,” he tossed at her. “No one will believe you. Cat is a grown woman who left with me willingly.”

“She’s a woman who’s mentally unstable and I’m her guardian. At this very moment she’s lying in the fetal position, drooling on her bed. What woman would do this when her beloved fiancé is locked up in jail? I’ll tell you…a woman who has numerous, untreatable problems.” Annalisa leaned back in her chair, looking smug. “She needs help, Rafe. She’s unstable. Incapable of being a proper wife to you. You’ll see. With all of her problems, there’s no way you could marry her.”

She was sick. A fucked-up, twisted mess, and he needed to pretend he was on her side to get the hell out of this place and rescue Cat before something terrible happened to her. “So that’s all you want? Is me?”

Hope lit her eyes, her smile. “A simple request, don’t you think?”

He nodded slowly, his stomach curdling at what he was about to say. “I need to get out of here, Annalisa. If being with you is the solution, then I’ll agree.”

“So you’ll end it with Cat.”

“Absolutely.” He nodded and shrugged. “You’re right. She’s not the one for me. We do have more in common, don’t we?”

“Yes,” she said eagerly. “Yes, we do. I’m so glad you can finally see it. Maybe being in jail for a few hours was good for you. Helped you see things clearer.”

Yeah, sure.