Take (Deliver 5)

“Do it again.” He moved in closer, crowding her back and breathing in the gentle scent of her hair. “Talk through the conversation you would have with her.”

With a deep breath, she re-acted the call. Every word and inflection in her voice was just as convincing as the first time. She made references to him throughout, praising his good looks and weaving a tantalizing tale of budding romance and exciting adventure.

Her enthusiasm was so persuasive it drew his body tight, heating his skin and tempting him to touch. The strapless dress exposed her shoulder blades, the top half of her back, and all her delicate arches of feminine bone and muscle. He couldn’t resist.

Sweeping her hair to the side, he rested his fingertips on the soft, warm curve of her nape.

Goosebumps rose beneath his hand, but she didn’t flinch or stutter. It was a testament to how badly she wanted this phone call. She was determined to prove she could do it, with or without distractions.

As he feathered his touch down the sinuous line of her spine, he interjected questions that Liv would ask. Kate answered with quick-witted untruths and seamlessly redirected the conversation.

She could absolutely pull this off.

He drew his hand away and stepped back. Anticipation hummed through his body as he stalked to the safe and removed one of the phones.

Keeping her alive introduced new problems and temptations, but the challenge excited him. She excited him.

He locked the safe and returned to her. “If you’re playing me, there will be repercussions.”

“I’m not.” She picked at her fingernail, avoiding his eyes. “Before I make this call, I need you to promise me two things.”

He could guess her demands. “Choose one.”

“But—”

“Only one, Kate.”

Pressing her lips together, she stared at her bare feet. Crossed her arms. Lowered them. Then she lifted her gaze, decision made. “I need your word that Tate will go free.”

“When Lucia finds him—”

“I want a deadline.” She raised her chin. “Promise me you’ll release him if she hasn’t found him in one week.”

“One year.”

“What?” She gasped. “He’s chained in a shack, sleeping on a dirt floor, without a bucket to shit in.”

“There is a bucket.”

“Please, don’t say—”

“To shit in.”

Her neck went taut, and she gritted her teeth. “One month, tops.”

“Six months.”

“Three months.”

“Six months. I’ll keep him fed and cared for. No harm will come to him.”

Her mouth quivered. “Six months is too long.”

“That, or we forget about the phone call and go with option three. What will it be?”

“Damn you.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, inhaled deeply, and dropped her hand. “If Lucia doesn’t locate him in six months, you’ll release him, alive, and never hurt him or touch him again. That includes you or anyone under your command. Promise me.”

“You have my word.”

She gave a stiff nod, set her gaze on the phone, and rattled off a phone number.

He dialed and put it on speaker.

A dulcet, feminine voice answered on the first ring. “Who is this?”

“Liv? It’s Kate.”

“Kate? Oh, thank God.” Movement sounded through the speaker. “Are you okay? We’ve been worried sick. Where are you?”

“I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”

She ran through her spiel, her voice as strong and mesmerizing as her eye contact. She smiled and motioned energetically with her hands, one-hundred-percent committed to misleading her closest friend. “So you can stop looking for me, okay? I don’t want to be found.”

“Wow, I…” Liv released a heavy breath. “I’m relieved to hear your voice, but we really need to see you. Just tell me where you are and—”

“You’ll what? Check things out to make sure I’m not screwing up? Don’t assume you know what’s good for me.”

Tiago clenched his hand around the phone, his nerves on high alert.

“You’re calling from an untraceable number,” Liv said cautiously. “I know I’m on speaker phone. Is he there? Listening to our conversation?”

“You have every reason to hate him.” Kate gave him a firm look and held up her palm, staying him. “He poisoned Lucia, mutilated Tate’s back, and the thing he forced Tate and Van do together… It’s unforgivable.”

“He told you about that?”

“Of course. He tells me everything. I know he has issues. God, they’re never-ending.”

He narrowed his eyes.

She narrowed hers right back. “But we’re working through them. Together.”

“He kidnapped you, Kate, and it’s not uncommon to become attached and feel affection toward your captor. It’s a psychological response, the mind’s way of surviving.”

“Is that what happened with Josh? You kidnapped and tortured him, so his feelings toward you are just survival tools? Marrying you was his coping mechanism for the hell you put him through?”

“Don’t you dare,” Liv snapped. “You were there, and you know damn well what he and I mean to each other.” Her fuming breaths rattled the phone. “Where’s Tate?”

Tiago hovered a finger over the end button and shook his head.

“I don’t know.” Kate pressed a hand against her breastbone. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she kept the emotion out of her voice. “I love you, Liv, but I’m going to hang up now. Don’t look for me. Don’t worry about me. I’m exactly where I want to be.”