To save my hearing, I had to pull the speaker away from my ear.
“I sure hope you walked away from the crowd,” I said when he was done yelling. “You're not exactly subtle.”
“I’m not stupid, you little prick.” I had to concede him that point. If he was stupid, I would have had all this information years ago. Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t be as wrapped up in everything as I was now. If he was stupid, maybe my life wouldn’t have turned out this way. Didn’t matter though—what was done was done.
I looked back to Olivia as she shuffled back and forth a little in her bright red shoes. Her teeth were sunk into her bottom lip as she alternated from staring at the ground to glancing up at me through her lashes. She seemed so young though she had to be twenty or so. I wondered if Kender liked her in those shoes, and the thought pissed me off. If he had done anything to her, I might have to forget my plan and just put a bullet in his brain.
“She's extremely attractive,” I said into the phone, but I could tell by the look on her face she knew I was talking to her. “Is that why you hired her, Kender? Are you trying to tap this sweet young thing? Have you laid a hand on her at all?”
“Give it up, Lebourn…” I ignored the rest of his sentence as I focused on her. Her head shook back and forth hard enough to make her hair spread out over her shoulders. I smiled up at her, glad to have her confirming it even as Kender’s sneering voice denied it as well.
“Good,” I mouthed to her, and she blushed for me again. Time to get down to business. I looked away from her and watched the file copy process as I barked into the phone. “I've got the files, Kender, and this is just the first step. When I'm done with you, you are going to wish I had just pulled the trigger.”
“You know, we can make a deal, Lebourn,” Kender said quietly into the phone. “Whatever you think you have there, it won’t be enough. You’ll never be able to trace it back to me.”
I could hear the panic rising in his voice. Whatever was contained here, it had to be exactly what I needed, and he knew it.
“What’s it going take, Adam?”
Give me my niece back.
Give me my brother back.
Give me my life back.
“You know you have your price. Just name it.”
I had to laugh though there wasn’t anything funny about it.
“Not a chance! Now hand the lady her phone,” I yelled. After barely hearing his promises to make me regret what I was doing, the receptionist was back on the phone. What the hell was her name? Oh, yeah. “Elissa, I want to thank you for allowing that piece of trash to use your cell. I would suggest you have it cleaned. I wanted you to know your friend is safe—she won't be harmed in any way. Sorry for the earlier threat, but I really needed to talk to him.”
I shut the phone, dropped my feet back to the floor and stood up, handing the cell back to Olivia, who immediately started babbling.
“So…um…you have what you came for? Are you going to let me go now?”
“Let you go?” Images of her wrapped up in my arms with my lips sucking against the skin of her neck pelted my head. “I didn't realize I was holding on to you.”
I took a step forward and watched her gaze drop to my lips. I licked them, and her eyes dilated slightly.
“I rather like the idea though,” I said quietly.
“What idea?”
“Holding on to you.”
“What's stopping you?”
Now there was an interesting question. I wondered if she was actually playing with me, but the way her fingers twisted together, I knew it was only nervousness.
“It didn't seem like the most opportune moment,” I replied with a shrug. “Technically, you are my captive though I have never actually told you leaving wasn’t an option, and you have never asked to be released.”
“I guess I kind of assumed…”
“You know what they say about the word ‘assume,’” I said with a smirk.
“So…I could go?”
“Hmm…you could.” I nodded, hating the idea of both letting her leave and telling her she had to stay. “You could also buy into the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing. If you did that, I might find an opportune moment.”