My head feels as if it’s about to explode from the inside out. The pain is so intense, I’m afraid to open my eyes.

“You may as well stop pretending to be asleep.” A familiar voice, which causes my stomach to roll and buck, sounds near my ear.

I crack one eye open, wincing as light stabs my cornea. A second later Abe’s fat face blocks out the brightness as he leans over me. I preferred the pain.

“Nice of you to come back to the land of living.”

I work some moisture into my mouth, which feels as if it was stuffed full of cotton. “Go to hell, Abe.”

A blast of rancid breath precedes his trademark chipped-tooth grin. “You’re going to get there before I do.”

Not liking having him above me, I ignore my pounding head and slowly lever myself into an upright position and look around.

My best guess is that they’ve stuck me in either a garage or some sort of auxiliary room in a warehouse. Possibly the inside of a storage unit.

I estimate that the room is approximately ten feet by sixteen feet. The walls are made of corrugated metal. Overhead floodlights illuminate the space. No wonder I’d been all but blinded when I opened my eyes.

I’m lying on a narrow cot, which is one of two pieces of furniture in the room. The other is a rickety card table that holds an expensive-looking laptop computer.

A pair of handcuffs around my wrists limit my range of motion. Abe reaches over and fingers one of the cuffs, and I recoil as far as I can before the wall stops me. “I like having my chains on you,” Abe purrs, the sound raising goosebumps on my flesh. “They enhance your appeal.”

I swallow the urge to scream at him to get away from me, sensing that it’s just the type of thing he wants me to do, and I refuse to play whatever sick and twisted game he wants to indulge in.

“Why the hell did you take me?” I snarl. “Why am I here?”

Abe shrugs one massive shoulder and looks bored. “You owe us money,” he reminds me.

“I’ve owed you and your father money for nearly seven years, but you’ve never grabbed me off the street. You’ve never jacked up the interest rate before.”

Abe gets up and walks over to the card table. In one hand, he holds a large, black gun. He holds it with such ease, it looks like a deadly but natural extension of his hand.

I don’t even want to think about why he feels the need to carry the weapon when there are only two of us in the room and I’m in cuffs.

Abe touches the laptop and the screen springs to life. I shift on the cot. I don’t know what he’s up to, but I’m one hundred percent positive that I’m not going to like it.

“The problem, sweet Ella, is that when my father gave you that loan, he never expected you to work so hard to pay it off.”

My brows knit together. “What are you talking about? Why would he lend me the money if he didn’t expect me to pay it back?”

“Before handing you that money—” Abe looks over his shoulder at me. “—he checked you out and learned you had skills that could benefit him. He was particularly impressed by the fact that you were being head hunted by so many government agencies. When he gave you the money you needed for your brat’s surgery, he knew that between the amount you wanted and the interest rate, you’d never be able to pay it back. He figured it was only a matter of time before you got tired of trying, at which point he planned on using your government connections to his benefit.”

I’m not surprised. That was the exact reason I’d turned down all those three-letter organizations in the first place. I’d been young and desperate, but I’d known there was no way I could work for the government in any capacity while I was indebted to the mob.

Still, having my suspicions confirmed makes me feel even worse than the drug-induced headache.

Abe stalks across the room toward me. “We had it all worked out, and you ruined everything by just walking away from those offers.” He halts beside the cot. I can’t stop staring at the spittle gathering in the corners of his mouth.

Since I can’t think of a single response that won’t come off as either flip or sarcastic, I hold my tongue and his gaze. There’s no way in hell that I’m going to let him know that I’m more scared than I’ve ever been before.

“My dad was royally pissed, but after thinking on the matter for a few weeks, he decided that since you were working meaningless jobs that barely paid enough for the basics, that it wouldn’t be long before you got tired of scrimping and saving and decided to come to us for an alternative solution. And he knew just what that would be.” Abe leers at me. “He was all set to make you our main money person.”

It had happened once and only once. Unable to make my monthly payment, I’d gone to Abe’s father, hoping to convince him to give me an extension. Instead he told me that if I was willing to use my computer skills and give up a few hours of my time, he’d waive that month’s payment. The only thing I had to do was sit at a computer and move some money from one set of accounts to another.

I’d done it, but I’d almost wished he’d demanded that I sell myself on some street corner like he did all the other girls.

I’d had nightmares for months that the cops were going to come and arrest me on money laundering charges. That single experience convinced me I wasn’t cut out for a life of crime—which is why I’ve worked so hard to at least keep the interest on the loan paid.

And I’ve done it. With the exception of that one incident, I’ve kept my nose clean and made every single payment on time, which is more than can be said for my rent check. But it doesn’t explain why I’m currently sealed in a cold, empty room in the middle of God knows where with Abe.

“I still don’t understand why you decided to kidnap me today.”

He waves his gunless hand at the computer. “We have a shipment coming in. We need your help getting a shipment into the city. Originally it was supposed to arrive this weekend, which is why I increased the interest rate on your loan.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Abe blows out a heavy sigh and adopts the long-suffering expression of someone who feels they’re dealing with an idiot. “It’s better if people come to us voluntarily. Cooperation makes them more reliable, less likely to snitch. Raising the interest to something you can’t possibly afford on your wages should have been the incentive to come over to the dark side and…play.”

“Oh.” Now that he’s laid it out for me, it makes perfect sense. It also explains the feeling I had earlier this week that Abe was up to something. I should have put it all together myself, and maybe I would have if I hadn’t been so distracted by Jason.

“We’ve talked long enough.” Abe reaches down and grabs hold of the chain that links the handcuffs together. He gives it a sharp tug, pulling me off the narrow cot and to my feet.