Relentless (Option Zero 2)

“What do you mean?”

* * *

Now it was his turn to tell her what he knew about her last day. The guilt he’d carried with him would never go away, but she deserved to know everything.

“I knew they would use you against me. I shouldn’t have made a connection with you. I should’ve kept my distance.”

The hurt on her face was painful to see, but he had to make her understand that what she went through that last day was his fault.

“When they took you, I could only imagine the horror of what you were going through. A few hours later, one of the men—the British guy—came back. He had a recording. It played for two days straight.”

“A recording?”

“Of your…assault. I heard you screaming and crying. You were calling out for me, and I couldn’t do a damn thing but listen as they tortured you. All because of me.”

“No.”

“Yes. If I hadn’t gotten close to you, you would’ve been spared. I fell into their trap. I knew what they wanted, to use you against me, and I let them get away with it. What you went through was my fault.”

“Listen to me, Liam, it wasn’t.” She held up her free hand to stop him from talking. “They never asked me anything about you.”

“Don’t try to make me feel better, Aubrey. I heard what they did. For two damn days, I listened to it. Even after the batteries ran out, I could hear you in my mind. I know what they did.”

“No, you don’t, Liam. They probably wanted you to think that, but that’s not what happened.”

His frown darker than any she’d ever seen from him, he said, “What do you mean?”

“They put a hood over my head and took me to that same room as before. I know it was the same, because it smelled like garlic, like the first time. I think that’s where they must’ve eaten their meals. Anyway, they threw me around. Mostly to scare me, I think. I cried and screamed. They laughed and called me names. And yes, I’m sure I did scream your name. I couldn’t help myself. You were my only anchor, so I called for Lion numerous times, I’m sure.

“Finally, one of them pushed me so hard against a wall, the blow knocked me out. When I came to, I was on the floor. They were a few feet away from me, talking about what they should do with me. Two of them wanted to sell me to some man in Austria. But the British one thought they should take the ransom that was offer

ed.

“I was dazed, in pain, so it never really hit me that someone was going to pay my ransom. They argued for a while, and finally the British guy convinced the other two that the man in Austria would likely be disappointed that I wasn’t a virgin. He said he wouldn’t pay as much for me, so the ransom money was a safer bet.”

“Are you sure they didn’t ask what you knew about me, what I told you?”

“I promise you, Liam. They never mentioned you. At all.”

“The recording was explicit, Aubrey. I heard them.” Even now, after all these years, he could close his eyes and hear her pleading, crying for them to stop. Hear her screams of pain and terror as she called out for him.

“Could it be they recorded what they did to me that first day?”

“I don’t know. You called out my name. Maybe the recording was from both the first and last days.”

Hell, the bastard had even given him a clue, and he hadn’t caught on. He’d said the recording was his little Cat’s greatest hits, implying it was more than one event. How had he missed that?

What had they wanted with her if it wasn’t to get intel from him?

“There’s more.”

He jerked back to the present. “What?”

“Once they agreed to take the ransom, the British guy said something I’ll never forget.”

“What did he say?”

“He said they were to send me home with a message. Seconds after that, they pulled me out of the corner, and the British guy started stabbing me.”