Chapter 1
Chapter One
Present day
“We are in a life-or-death situation, and it would be incredibly helpful if you would open your eyes.”
The feminine voice—low, husky—floated through the darkness that engulfed him. He kinda liked that voice. It was nice. Warm. Sexy.
Something pulled at his wrist. An insistent tug.
“I don’t want to watch you get disemboweled in front of me.”
Yeah, a really nice voice. Except…a ragged edge had entered her tone. And had she just said disemboweled?
“I’m worried you’ll get stabbed over and over again. And that I will, too. So, seriously, do me a favor and open those eyes of yours. Now!” A sharp command. “Because we do not have time to wait for the cavalry to arrive!”
A groan escaped him first because his head pounded over and over and nausea rolled in his stomach, but, very slowly, he managed to open his eyes.
His gaze locked on her.
Dark hair tumbled over her shoulders. Somewhere between brown and black.
Thick hair. A little wavy. High cheekbones.
A slightly pointed chin. Dark eyes. Brown.
No, brownish gold. He could see them quite clearly even though the lighting was dim.
No lipstick on her full lips. Lips that were currently pressed tightly together as she stared at him with those intense eyes of hers. Eyes that were full of—
“So happy you’re back in the land of the living.
Truly, I am deliriously happy. Now, how about we both stay in this living land, and we get out of here?
You were too big and far too heavy for me to drag you out while you were unconscious, but now that you’re awake, we really need to make a run for it.
Especially, you know, if we want to keep on living.
Side note, I do want to keep on living. I very much want that. It is my main goal at the moment.”
He blinked.
“Shit,” she muttered. Her gaze swept over his face. “Do you have any clue what’s happening right now?”
No, he did not, in fact, have any clue.
“I saw him knock you out. A very hard hit.” Muttered.
Almost more to herself than him. Then she added, “That’s when I bravely rushed to the rescue.
Don’t worry, you can thank me later for that.
And we won’t talk about the fact that I thought you were the one doing the serial killing.
My bad. We’ll save that discussion for later, too. ”
His head pounded all the harder, and the nausea he felt got worse.
“Do you know who you are?” she suddenly demanded.
Of course, he did. “Atlas.” He should take stock of his surroundings and not just stare at her gorgeous face.
His memory was more than a bit blurry at the edges, and he couldn’t quite remember where he was.
“Atlas Bennett.” His voice strengthened.
Became a touch brisk because…what in the world was happening?
His gaze finally tore from her to search the area around him.
The place was dimly lit because the only illumination came from what looked to be an old camping lantern tossed on the floor.
As for the floor—dusty, old wood. Dusty, dark walls. Stairs that led up to who knew where and—
She tugged on him. Or rather, on his wrist. Automatically, he glanced down. And the confusion he’d felt before just thickened. “Why the hell am I handcuffed to you?” Because he was. A shiny handcuff circled his wrist. His handcuff’s mate circled hers.
“Excellent question. I’ll explain fully—truly, I will—once we are out of here.
See, he tossed us both down the stairs not too long ago.
During the fall down—even though you were just starting to wake up—you valiantly cushioned my body with your own.
Thanks so much for that. Very brave. Didn’t expect you to do that as groggy as you were. ”
What? Someone had tossed them down the stairs?
“But the tumble down the stairs, combined with the blow to the head that you’d already taken—well, you were knocked out again once we hit the bottom.
I did manage to drag you a bit away from the stairs, and I searched for a weapon for us to use.
Uh, spoiler, there is no weapon here. Though I did find the lantern so we could see our surroundings, and I count that as a win.
Not like I wanted to be trapped in the darkness while I waited for the killer to come and finish us off. ”
He realized they were on the floor. Yeah, he probably should have figured that out sooner.
But the pounding in his head continued like a jackhammer, and he choked back the bile that rose in his throat.
Atlas also became aware of the aches and pains that throbbed throughout his body.
Probably because he’d been pushed down a damn staircase.
“I know who I am,” he gritted as more of the cobwebs cleared from his head, “and I know who you are.” As if he could forget that face.
She wet her lips. “You sound angry.”
“Lily. Gallo.” Each word was bitten out from between clenched teeth.
“Hello, Atlas,” she whispered. “Guess we finally got that private meeting I’ve been wanting, huh?”
His teeth ground together.
“Honestly, I think you should consider me to be your new guardian angel.” She crouched next to him and tugged on the cuff that bound them together.
“Without me, you’d be down here all alone, at the mercy of the creep who wants to torture you for hours.
That’s what he’s been doing, you know. Abducting his prey in Dallas.
Torturing them, disemboweling them. Killing them. ”
He whipped up to a sitting position. The whole room spun, but Atlas clenched his teeth. No damn way was he going out again.
Lily sent him a weak smile. “That’s the spirit. No disemboweling for us, am I right?”
She was fucking gorgeous. Not cover model perfect. But real. Sexy. No, sensual, and if they weren’t currently in the pit of hell with the threat of apparent disembowelment looming over them, he might have enjoyed being cuffed to her.
But…
Pit of hell.
Serial killer.
And if she says the word “disembowel” to me one more time…Yeah, he’d lose it.
He shook his head, and that small move just made the nausea worse.
But, dammit, this was Lily Gallo. Lily fucking Gallo.
He was handcuffed in a basement to the one and only Lily Gallo.
The woman who wanted to slice apart his life.
The woman who thought she should get some fast pass that would allow her access to every secret he possessed.
The woman he had been avoiding like the plague for weeks.
Because she is dangerous to me.
Her non-cuffed hand rose to press to his cheek. “You’re with me this time? Because you tried to wake up in bits and spurts before, but you’d go out again too fast.”
“I’m with you.” Grim. Her touch seemed to send renewed energy through him. There was certainly some kind of jolt that hit him. He’d analyze it later. When he wasn’t in danger of being cut into tiny pieces.
I should have found him. Should have eliminated him.
Long before the bastard had been able to get killing close to Atlas.
But, truth be told, he’d been distracted that night.
Distracted by Lily. He’d actually been thinking about her when the bastard attacked.
Such a clusterfuck. “I’ll keep you safe,” he vowed.
Soft laughter greeted his words. “I’m the one who has been keeping you safe. After he knocked you out in the parking lot, I’m the one who jumped into action. I’m the one who tried to fight him when he was staring at your unconscious body and figuring out where he wanted to start stabbing. Me.”
Atlas had zero clue if he could trust this woman or not. His eyes narrowed on her face. That unforgettable face.
Lily. She’d been haunting his dreams far too frequently of late. She’d tried to get private appointments to see him. Been very tenacious about her visits.
He’d had her escorted from his main office building at least twice. Had even told the security guards there that she was not to be allowed back on the premises under any circumstances.
Lily wanted to destroy him.
He couldn’t let that happen.
Except…now she was saying that she’d saved him? What sick joke was that?
“There are no windows down here.” Her voice was low.
Still oddly sexy. Husky. “So that means we have to go up the stairs together. The door up there is our only way out. I would have tried to go and get help while you were knocked out, but you know, cuffed. You’re no lightweight, so I couldn’t haul you up on my own.
We have to get out together. You and I are partners in this thing. ”
He rose to his feet.
She did, too.
When Atlas weaved, Lily’s free hand flew out to brace him. As if she worried that wasn’t going to be enough, she then put her whole body against him. Softness. Sweetness. The warm scent of vanilla.
He hadn’t gotten close enough to ever catch her scent before. Now he knew that he would never forget how she smelled. How very good.
Sweetness in hell.
“It was incredibly heroic of you to twist your body to cushion me as we fell down the stairs. I definitely appreciate the gesture. Especially since you did it when you were only semi-aware. Sort of like an instinct. Didn’t exactly realize you had a protective instinct carved so deeply into your bones. ”
“Stop analyzing me.” Lily was a shrink. She lived to poke and prod in people’s heads. He didn’t want her to talk about his instincts, because they were quite the opposite of protective. Good instincts didn’t fill him. He was dangerous. A true predator.
He also had zero memory of any fall down the stairs. Or of cushioning her.
“Clearly, you’re hero material, and I was very, very wrong about you. My apologies.”
Fuck that. He’d never been a hero a day in his life. And when he found the sonofabitch who’d done this to him…