interested in what you told your superiors. I’m interested in the truth.” All humor faded from his voice. “We know what you did to her family. Just as we know she’s still alive. If you tell us where she is, we’ll make this as painless as possible. For you and your unexpected friend.”
Olivia. They were talking about Olivia. Landon’s heart rate shot up. “She’s not my friend. She’s just some chick I picked up in the bar. She doesn’t know anything.”
“No, the chick you picked up in the bar worked for us. And Chantal told us all about this ‘friend’ you supposedly don’t know who showed up at your door. Lucky for us, really. Torture isn’t always an effective means of extracting information from those in your line of work. Chantal could have done it, of course, but this is going to be much cleaner.” He leaned close. “Focus, Mr. Miller. We don’t want to have to use the blonde, but we will if you leave us no other choice.”
Landon’s hands curled around the chains above. “If you hurt her—”
“Yes, I know. You’ll snap my neck as you threatened to do to my associates.” He waved the picture in front of Landon’s face. “Where is she?”
Thoughts swirled out of control. He couldn’t tell them where Dani was hiding. He couldn’t give her up. He owed her too much.
He also couldn’t let them know that, though. And he couldn’t give them any reason to use Olivia. Landon’s spinning mind caught on a safe house one of his buddies at Aegis had mentioned a time or two.
“Sydney. Australia. She’s got family there.”
“Where?” the man asked.
Landon hesitated. “In Matraville.”
“An address,” the man prodded.
Landon clenched his jaw. “243 Barwin Crescent.”
The leader turned to the others behind him, then faced Landon once more. “We’ll see about that. You understand if we’re a little skeptical. We just need to make sure you’ve given us exactly what we need. Gentlemen?”
Instead of leaving to check the info Landon had just given them, the two thugs moved forward, one with a length of chain in his hand, the other with a bat.
Oh shit . Landon’s hands tightened around the restraints above, and every muscle in his body tensed.
If he’d thought he was fucked before, now he was absolutely sure. This was about to get seriously ugly.
O livia paced the small dark room, desperate for anything to keep her limbs loose and her mind from seizing up.
A high window on the opposite wall let in a smattering of moonlight, but she couldn’t pull herself up far enough to see what it looked out at. The room was barren—not even a mattress or a chair in the cold square space, and no sound echoed from beyond the heavy steel door. She didn’t know where she was, how long she’d been here, or what had happened to Landon. In the few hours she’d been awake, no one had come for her, no one had demanded anything from her. It was almost as if she didn’t exist.
That scared her more than anything. Panic pushed on her chest again, and that familiar feeling of the walls closing in consumed her, choking the air in her lungs.
Breathe. Stay focused. You can get through this.
All those stupid calming techniques her counselor had taught her came rushing back, but instead of listening, she wanted to scream. This wasn’t supposed to happen again. She wasn’t supposed to be taken a second time. There was no way someone could have this much bad luck and be kidnapped twice in one lifetime.
Metal groaned just as she was about to seriously lose it, and she jerked toward the sound, a sharp shot of fear shoving aside her useless pity party, grounding her back in the moment.
Light flooded the room, and two figures stood silhouetted in the open door. One was tall and stocky, the other hunched over, as if being supported by the first.
Olivia dropped back against the wall, the cool cement pressing into her spine and the palms of her hands. Her pulse shot up, and every muscle in her