I bounced on my heels and lunged for him again, the door behind him in my sights. The only thing I could see. Probably would have been a good idea to keep an eye on his fists, too, because one came out of nowhere, hitting me between the eyes with the force of a brick.
The only thing I felt after that was hitting the floor, and everything went dull and gray and quiet.
It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, but when I was able to open my eyes again, my hands were bound behind my back with what felt like a pillowcase. Another one was stuffed into my mouth, and I tried to spit it out, but Jordie loomed over me where he’d dumped me on the bed, and I froze.
“Just calm down and listen,” he whined. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m here to save you. I love you, Clem. You know it.”
I tried to tell him he had a funny way of showing it, but it came out as nothing more than muffled gibberish. I could hardly breathe through all the fabric in my mouth, but the man who purported to love me sure didn’t seem to notice my struggle.
Still, he seemed to understand what I was driving at and rolled his eyes, sitting down beside me. “You’ve always known exactly how to make me crazy. If you would just…” he trailed off and touched the painful spot on my forehead where he’d sucker punched me. “Damn it, I hate having to do stuff like that. You know that, Clem. Don’t you?”
Only because he had the look in his eyes, I knew too well, did I nod. My head throbbed. I didn’t want another punch. He touched the long scratches down his cheeks, not nearly deep enough for my satisfaction, and his brows shot together.
“This was stupid,” he told me.
I shrugged. Couldn’t exactly apologize with a mouthful of pillow case, could I? Once again, I looked past him at the door, praying my fantasy would come true. That Rurik would crash through it and beat the everloving crap out of Jordie. But untie me first so I can help.
It didn’t happen, and Jordie’s droning whine continued, but thankfully, he got up to pace again, no longer in my face.
“You’re lucky I’m here,” he said. “And met the right people. That’s how I know all about your husband.” He scowled at me. “Once this is over, we’ll get that taken care of. Don’t worry. I forgive you.”
Angry tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them away. No way he’d think I was crying because I was scared, or worse, out of gratitude. He kept on and on, telling me what a killer Rurik was, how his entire family was nothing but killers.
“They pretty much run all of California,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re lucky I found you before you knew too much, or maybe nobody would ever find you again.”
I kept staring at the door, trying to block out the sound of his voice, knowing he wouldn’t shut up anytime soon, and as annoying and hateful as it was hearing him tell me how lucky I was every ten seconds, at least he wasn’t hitting me anymore.
Was Rurik really a killer? Was his whole family steeped in organized crime? I had no idea what was true and what was Jordie’s imagination, but one thing was certain. Rurik had never laid a finger on me in anger. I never once saw madness in his eyes.
Rurik had never actually said he loved me, but he told me I was his and showed me that he meant it in only the kindest, sweetest, most extravagant ways. Even when he wasbeing a tyrant, pretending to complain about his coffee, there was humor there.
Jordie said he loved me all the time, swore every foul thing he did was out of love for me, but his actions only ever brought me fear and pain.
Rurik was the complete opposite, but he wasn’t there to help me because I’d run in the wrong direction instead of going home. No amount of wishing could make things change or make Rurik burst in to save me.
I stared at the door as Jordie droned on, losing hope that I could get out of this on my own.
Chapter 38 - Rurik
I was hot on the guard’s trail and ended up at a motel, where he informed me that the man who’d been following Clem recently had entered the building. I showed him the pictures, and he confirmed that it was indeed the same guy. He had already slashed Jordan’s tires and was currently waiting for further orders.
“I’ve got backup on the way,” I said, looking over the half-empty parking lot.
The motel was a shithole, and since I had received a message from my bank that a large amount had been taken out at the shopping mall Clem stopped at, I wondered why she chose such a crappy place. Maybe it was the rendezvous point they’d already agreed on, maybe she was panicking and stopped at the first place she saw.
Maybe she wasn’t there at all, and this was a dead end. With a sour look at the garish neon sign, I headed into the office. The man behind the counter had his feet up on a stool and didn’t bother to put them down or take his eyes off the old TV hung up in the corner.
“Checking in or out?” he asked.
I slammed my hand on the counter and waited while he jumped to attention. “I need to know if this woman checked in,” I said, holding up a picture of Clem that I’d taken in the garden of our Tokyo villa. Her beautiful, smiling face gave me a pang, but I kept my face neutral as the motel manager peered at my phone screen.
“Privacy regulations prevent me from…” he trailed off his rehearsed speech at the look I gave him. I pulled a fifty-dollar bill out of my wallet, and he blinked with relief.
“Easy way or hard way?” I asked.
“Yeah, she checked in.”
Well, that was fast, and thankfully, the man knew to take the bribe and not push me into extracting the information any other way. Outside, my backup was pulling in, and I sent them to watch the exits while I went inside to find Clem. If she were with Jordan, willing or not, I’d deal with that. Right now, I only needed to know she was safe. And get her back where she belonged.