CHAPTER 31
Alex
I didn’t know how long I’d been there. Trapped in a cage with pictures of gay couples, my head pounded like someone was smashing it with a hammer.
“God, what am I going to do now? I can’t move.”
Every inch of me felt as if it was on fire. I wanted to wake up out of this nightmare. Knight was right. I had no business working for Antonio. Why didn’t I listen to him? In a few weeks, we were going to be married and everything was going to be so awesome. Now...I had to try to stay alive. No one realized Luke was a psychopath.
Finally, I could start feeling my body. Sluggishly, I sat up, but my head only hurt more. I kneaded my forehead, trying to make the pain go away. I had to dig in my pocket and get my tools. I could pick the lock, hopefully.
Just then, I heard a familiar voice. It startled me.
“You’ve got a nasty headache about now. Good. It’s strange that my love cage has come in handy. It makes a perfect trap.”
I didn’t want to look up. Maybe if I ignored him, he’d go away, and I could try to escape. I could only hope when I missed my check in, Khalid and Brayden would high tail it over here and deal with this scumbag if I wasn’t successful.
“You think I’m stupid, Alex? I knew who you were the moment you sat down next to me at that bar. Your fiancée had given me loads of pictures of you early that morning. And those thugs with you? They’re your partners. I can smell an undercover cop a mile away. Oh, and I took care of your friends. Slipped them a gift in their drinks before we left so they won’t get here in time to save you. Date rape drugs always come in handy.”
Rising to my feet, I asked, “What are you going to do?”
With an evil grin, he said, “I’m going to kill you, but not before I lure Knight here and force him to wire me millions. Then the both of you will receive a bullet in the head as a receipt.”
Anger pulsed. I shot after him, trying to yank the chain fence down. “You leave Knight out of this. He has no idea who you are, you sick bastard!”
He lunged toward the cage. “Who are you calling a sick bastard when you yourself are the sickest type of perversion I’ve ever seen.”
I stumbled backward.
“Yeah, I know exactly who you are, Alexa Renee Day. Parading around as a man when you aren’t a man. You’re just some twisted form of human. Not a man. Not a woman. I mean, what are you? You shouldn’t have ever been born! People like you disgust me.”
His words hit me with such force, I fell to the ground.
Reeling from the drugs still crawling in my system, my mind slipped back in time and all I could see was my mother slapping me and yelling.
“Why did you take off the dress I put on you this morning?” Her hands clenched into fists and I cringed. How many times had she put bruises on me that week?
“You will take that off and put the dress on, Alexa!”
“But Daddy gave this to me! He said I could wear it!”
“What kind of sick girl are you that only wears boys things? It’s not normal! You’re not normal!”
My vision blurred as tears welled in my eyes. It was always like this. I’d think everything was fine and then she’d blow up at me. Sometimes she let me wear what I wanted, so I never knew if it would make her upset.
“To hell with you then, Alexa. Be a weird, twisted little boy. I will replace you. I’m going to have another child. It will be a normal boy or a normal girl and you will not be mine anymore. You disgust me!”
Slamming the door, she left me in pieces, crying tears that would never stop, and wondering why I wasn’t normal. I prayed that I could be that little girl she wanted.
But I wasn’t.
Knight
In the middle of the night, I received a phone call from Marco. My stomach tightened. If Marco was calling me at this hour, something went wrong with Alex’s job.
Mouth dry, I swallowed, picking up my phone. “What’s wrong?”
“Alex’s team missed their check in. And I did some checking on the target. I think he’s wanted in Windenburg for killing his boyfriend. We didn’t find this earlier because information in other countries is not as easy to come by. Alex is in danger.”
My whole body shook. “Damn it, Marco! Call the police!”
“If I do, that might alert the guy and he could do something desperate. We’re dispatching another team to take care of it.”
“No!” I yelled. “I’m going over myself.”
“Antonio won’t like that.”
“To hell with Pops. Give me the address, Marco.”
“Okay. I’ll go with you.”
Changing into dark clothing, I grabbed my gun and raced out the door.