“I searched everywhere! I looked into every record for something to use as leverage but everything came up squeaky clean! Do you have any idea how boring your life has been up until now?”
Rachel glared at Jacob as he paced in front of her saying nothing. It was three months since he showed up in Ermernia, drugged her, bound her, and dragged her out to the middle of nowhere – it wasn’t actually the middle of nowhere she just didn’t know where they were. All she could see from the windows was the ocean. They were on an island. That was all she knew. There were barely any boats and even if there were she could hardly see from the narrow window in her room.
She sat on the couch in the very spacious and exquisitely furnished living room. It had the classy expensive things she hadn’t known Jacob could afford. But then again she didn’t know anything about him. She hadn’t known he had been afflicted with a gang and that dating her and their subsequent marriage had been a cover to get himself off the radar. She used to think she was a good judge of character, but now she wasn’t so sure about her judgment or anything at all.
“And then there came this bit of information that my darling wife was getting tied up, bound in collars and chains for another man. Imagine my surprise when I found out.” He laughed coming to stop in front of her. He had been pacing when his men brought her into the living room after locking her up for weeks in a room he had set up for her. “My goody-two-shoes wife, Rachel Rivers loved the hot, hardcore sex! I should have given you that while I had you.” He continued to pace then he stopped again and smiled. “I still have you. We are still married. I can give you hardcore.”
“Don’t you dare touch me!” she spat.
“Oh please, you will love it, I promise.”
“That’s enough.” Someone else joined them in the living room. It was Dana. She had just flown in after another week on the Celebrity, Lifestyle and Everything In-between show. “Don’t forget why you brought her here…”
Jacob whirled on her and she took a step back. “And don’t forget what you are to me,” he warned. She looked frightened but one look at Rachel’s look of disgust at the both of them, she straightened her spine and nodded solemnly at Jacob.
The truth was she was scared of Jacob. Sure she had envied Rachel’s marriage and when Jacob showed interest she gladly accepted his advances. He gave great sex, he had boyish good looks. And she had been under the notion that somehow Jacob was the power behind Rachel’s climb to success. She was greatly disappointed when she discovered otherwise. Sure he had charisma but he was a dangerous man with a dark side and she was only beginning to see that in his obsession with Rachel.
“Any updates?” he asked her.
Under the guise of appearing on air, she had eavesdropped on every conversation to know what people were saying about Ben. It was three months now and the news was beginning to die down but among the workers in ABN there were speculations regarding his death. It was a hit-and-run. She knew otherwise though. Jacob would not tell her the details but she hoped Ben didn’t suffer much in his last minutes.
“The coast is clear,” she responded.
“The coast is not always clear, Dana darling. If that’s what you think you will be caught unawares and trapped.” He tapped the side of his temple as if to say ‘You get that?’
She nodded and took a seat avoiding Rachel’s direct gaze.
“For all we know Nathaniel is tearing through Gem Hills looking for Cinderella over here,” he gestured at Rachel with a wave of his hand.
Rachel snorted. “Is that why you abducted me?” she laughed and rolled her head back at the absurdity. “If you think Nathaniel Madden cares enough to look for me you are wasting your time, Jacob, and you are even more stupid than I thought you were.”
Jacob didn’t look convinced. “You are the bait, you will lure him in and I will take care of the rest.”
“What makes you think I can lure him in? What makes you think I will lure him? What makes you think that if given the chance I won’t leave this hellhole and run for the hills as fast as possible away from you?”
Jacob stopped pacing to stand in front of her again and this time he leaned down and placed both hands on either side of her seat. Rachel stared directly into his gray eyes unflinchingly. At this point, she was beyond fear. She couldn’t care less what he did to her, all she cared about was the precious life blossoming inside her.
Jacob’s gaze zeroed in on her eyes, then they glided down to her nose then her mouth. He grinned. “Do you remember Gabby? That sweet little girl?”
Of course, she remembered Gabby. The teenage girl Jacob was cheating on her with. Well, God knew who else he was sleeping with when he was married to her.
“Do you know what happened to her?”
“I don’t care.”
“Oh, you should," his voice was deceptively sweet. "You should Rachel, love because Gabby felt guilty about what happened to you and wanted to talk. She wanted to expose me and do you know what I did?” he didn’t wait for an answer, his cruel smile was all the answer she needed. “Let us just say she won’t be talking again. Or walking. Or breathing.” He leaned even closer and Rachel had to press herself to the soft cushion of the couch. “You are replaceable but you are my best link to Nathaniel Madden. I don’t have to kill you, I have other ways to hurt you.” His gaze slid to her belly and she put a protective hand over her still flat belly.
Jacob laughed. “Yes, that. That bastard growing in your belly will pay for any mistakes you make so make your choice; the easy way or the hard way?”
Rachel said nothing. She wasn’t afraid just worried for her child.
“Which is it going to be, baby?” he asked. Dana sat obediently in her seat saying nothing.
Rachel still didn’t answer. Dana had her hands pressed together hoping Jacob wouldn’t lose his mind at Rachel’s defiance.
But Jacob pushed himself off the couch with a laugh. “I have to give it to you Rachel, you are not the big soft marshmallow you used to be. I’m sorry it took some downfall and conspiracy to get you to toughen up this way but aren’t you glad for it?” he stroked his shaved chin. “Anyways, you’ve made your choice. The easy way. I will let you know when I need you. For now,” he snapped his fingers and the heavy-set bodyguard Jacob had put in charge of guarding her room to prevent her from escaping came into the room. “Take her. Handle her with care, she’s still my wife after all and if things go as planned she might remain my wife and that child will be mine.”
“Over my dead body,” Rachel spat at him shrugging off the bodyguard’s hand on her shoulder.
“Over your life body.” Turning to the guard he waved him off. “Take her away."
Dana sat watching wondering if Jacob remembered she was still there, wondering where she fitted in all his plans. Where was the man in whose arms she gladly appeared while their pictures were splashed on the surface of big-time magazines?