I was starting to worry about my driver and pilot. Why hadn’t anyone gotten back to me? Had something happened? Was something wrong with the plane, or had they been pulled in for questioning about Jolie’s abduction? No, that couldn’t be right. There was nothing that would link me to the letters being sent to Patrick Dorman in prison. Unless someone had reported a suspicious package being carried onto the plane the last time it had landed. Either way, the silence from my employees was making me nervous, and I didn’t like feeling nervous.

I disposed of the bloodied tissues and washed my hands. Gripping the edge of the sink, I exhaled a sigh and hung my head, reining in my emotions. I needed to stop thinking about Jolie for the moment and figure out what the fuck had happened to Henry and Javier. Them not returning had put a serious dent in my plans.

Leaving the kitchen, I went into my office. No one would contact me if something happened to the plane. I made sure nothing was registered to me directly and was instead registered to an offshore company, and the police would have a hard time finding its CEO, since he only existed on paper.

If they didn’t come back, for whatever reason, I’d need to start thinking ahead. There wasn’t time to recruit new men, which meant I had only two options. I could give up on this whole idea, or I could trust Jolie to behave and charter a new plane to take us back to the mainland.

If I gave up on this, what the fuck would I do with Jolie? I didn’t want to have to kill her. The idea made my blood run cold. I’d always figured that once I’d killed her father, I would just hand myself in. She could tell her story, but it wouldn’t even matter by that point because I’d be going down for Patrick Dorman’s murder anyway. I held her to blame in part for my mother’s murder, but I didn’t blame her enough to want to kill her—not like how I felt about her father.

But if I decided to call the whole thing off, and I lost the opportunity to kill her father, I couldn’t just let her go. I wasn’t going to go to prison for her abduction when I didn’t get the payoff. Maybe if I could guarantee I’d end up in the same prison as her father, so I could kill him in there, it would be worth it, but there was no way I’d be able to guarantee that happening. Plus, I figured the man would have protection from other prisoners. I wouldn’t have my money to pay people off behind bars, and he’d have made plenty of allegiances over his years inside.

So, I could let her go and risk going to jail without achieving what I’d worked for my entire life, or I could kill her—which was unthinkable. Or else I could trust her enough to charter a new plane and get her onto the mainland.

I knew Loretta would tell me to kill her. The woman was even tougher than I was. Losing her daughter like that had formed a shell around her heart. But I didn’t want to kill her.

First, I needed to find out what had happened to the plane. If they were simply delayed, none of this would be an issue, and I’d be worrying about nothing, but deep down I knew it was going to be bigger than that. Why else would neither man have contacted me to tell me what was going on?

I fired up the computer. If the plane had gone down, there was bound to be something online about it by now. Opening the online search, I typed in the make and model of the aircraft and then the previous day’s date.

I sat back in my chair, scrolling through the results. I spotted something, and my stomach coiled.

Cocaine worth twenty million seized from private jet. Two men arrested...

“What the fuck!”

I opened the link and started to read. Though neither man were named, I was certain that was my plane. It appeared the wages I’d been paying Henry and Javier weren’t good enough for them, and on the times they’d flown without me, they’d done a quick jaunt over to Mexico and picked up a large quantity of cocaine before flying on to their destination.

“Those sons of bitches!” I brought my fist down on my desk with a bang. One thing that pissed me off more than anything was being taken for a fool, and these two had done it in spades. Not only had they been drug running, they’d also put my own mission in jeopardy. Had they managed to send Jolie’s letter before they’d been arrested? I had my contacts inside the prison, so I’d be able to find out.

I’d trusted both those men, and they’d been using me. I ground my teeth, holding back a growl. Would they use their knowledge of Jolie’s location to use in a plea bargain? I didn’t know if it would be enough to get either of them reduced sentences, but I clearly wasn’t able to trust them.

It was imperative I get Jolie off this island sooner rather than later. If Henry or Javier spilled what they knew, the police would turn up, and that would be the end of this whole thing.

Fuck!

I put my head in my hands. This was out of my control, and I didn’t like things being out of my control.

I thought about what Jolie had said. Could I risk taking her onto a chartered plane? Right now, I was struggling to see that I had any other option.

Needing to clear my head, I decided to go for a swim. I was aware Jolie hadn’t had anything to eat yet today, but she was also being punished for her previous behavior. Now more than ever, I needed to make her understand that I wouldn’t tolerate her stepping out of line. She was already bruised and bloodied—though I hadn’t been the one to do that to her directly—and making her go without food would help to weaken her. She needed to see that I wasn’t someone to be messed with.

The rain had finally stopped. I went out to the pool house to change then went to the pool. The storm had blown leaves and branches into the water, and the pool would need cleaning before I could swim in it. Normally, I’d get one of my employees to clean the pool, but I figured it would do me good to take on a bit of manual labor.

I got to work, scooping the palm fronds out of the water and then the vacuum to clean the bottom of the pool of the dirt that had settled there. It needed new chemicals and filtering as well, but I wasn’t going to waste the time waiting for the water to be safe to swim in again. The pool wasn’t perfect, but it would do.

I dived in and swam front crawl, trying to focus on the movement of my body through the water rather than everything else that was happening. But it was impossible. Even after swimming a punishing number of lengths, with my muscles weak from fatigue, I knew I was going to have to go and speak to Jolie. I needed to figure out if I could trust her enough to take her onto a plane where there were other people who weren’t on my payroll.

I pulled myself out of the pool, water cascading down my body. The sun was growing in strength again, and it was almost hard to believe the weather had been as bad as it had. Heading back into the pool house, I dried off and dressed again.

Then I took a breath, stiffening my resolve to stay emotionally detached from my captive, and took the elevator back down to her room.

She was sitting on the bed, reading a book, as the elevator doors opened. Her eyes widened in surprise, as though she hadn’t been expecting to see me again so soon.

“You haven’t got ice on it,” I said, nodding at her nose. Dark marks had appeared as shadows beneath her eyes, but now the blood had gone, the injuries didn’t look as bad.

She shrugged. “It all melted. Anyway, it’s feeling better. I don’t think it’s broken.”

“Good.” I paused and said, “I need to talk to you about what you said earlier about cooperating.”

She put the book down and climbed off the bed. Her hands were still cuffed in front of her body, the metal clinking with her movements. “I meant it.” She stepped closer. “I’ll do anything you want me to.”

Was I imagining the promise in her tone? “You’ll do anything I want you to?”

Her lips parted. “Anything.”

My cock jumped at the word. Wasn’t that what every man desired? A beautiful woman he could use in any way he craved? I knew that wasn’t what we were talking about here, but I couldn’t help my mind jumping to sex. That seemed to be all I could concentrate on when I was around her.

But it wasn’t just about her body.

I admired her. I admired her tenacity and her strength, and her ability to keep jumping back up, no matter what I threw at her. Many other women—men, too—would have been sobbing in a corner after everything she’d been through, but instead here she was, still fighting. Her nose was bruised across the bridge, and dark shadows marked beneath her eyes. She had the cut that I’d Steri-Stripped, and the cut across her cheek where she’d fallen on that first night was now a faint pink mark. Yet despite all these blemishes—or maybe because of them—she looked utterly beautiful to me. If anything, they only made me realize how perfect her lips were, how big her eyes. Her tiny frame made me protective of her, and I realized how fucked up it was that I’d kidnapped her, but I also wanted to shield her. It was as though I’d already made her mine, and, as with everything else in my life, I wanted to protect what was mine.

“How can I believe you, Jolie,” I asked, “after what happened last time?”

She moved closer still, closing the gap between us. “If there’s no plane, and no boat, how am I going to escape? This is my chance, too. I know that. I won’t do anything stupid.”

She was so close now, I felt her body heat between us. My dick grew harder still, straining against the front of my pants, and I was sure she was aware of exactly what she did to me.

“Please, Hayden.” She leaned in closer. “Give me a chance.”

Her hand reached for my cock over the top of my pants, and I jumped like she’d electrocuted me.

I grabbed her hand and shoved her away. “What the fuck are you playing at?”

“I’m not playing at anything. I thought you wanted this. You certainly act like you want it. I see how you look at me, Hayden. Especially when I’m like this.” She lifted her hands and jangled the cuffs. “Don’t pretend it doesn’t affect you in all the right ways.”

The worst part was that she was right. Desire coursed through my veins, hot and heavy, and the thought of taking her overtook my mind. Thinking of her was the one thing that had overridden my hatred of her father for the past ten years. And in a way, it felt good not to have to think of him anymore. To think of someone else instead. But it was a dangerous path to travel down.

“We’ve been here before, Jolie. I’m sure we both remember how that ended up.”

She gazed up at me with those wide, dark blue eyes, like the deepest of oceans, and I was sure I could drown in them. “This isn’t like that. How am I supposed to get one over on you when I have my hands cuffed?”

I growled and turned away, so I didn’t have to continue to look at her. “I don’t know, but I’ve learned nothing about you is clear cut. Maybe it’s your way of getting under my skin so I’ll undo the handcuffs, and then you’ll take advantage of me.”

She laughed at that. “You’re worried I’ll take advantage of you? You do hear yourself, don’t you?”

I was the one who should have the power. I’d kidnapped her, and she was locked beneath my house with handcuffs around her wrists, yet somehow, she’d managed to turn things around, so I felt like the weak one. The vulnerable one.

“And anyway,” she continued, “if you’re going to take me onto the mainland, you’re going to have to uncuff me at some point. People are going to ask questions if you don’t. So, if it’s going to happen anyway, what would I achieve by kissing you?”

“I don’t know. That’s what bothers me.”

Her tone lowered, seductive. “You can’t just accept that maybe it’s because I want to? You’re an attractive man, Hayden. Rich, powerful. I’m sure I’m not the first woman to want you.”

“These are hardly normal circumstances,” I growled.

She shrugged. “Maybe there’s a part of me that enjoys this. Maybe I like being taken care of for once in my life. Maybe I even like the handcuffs, and how you’re always a little rough with me.”

I stared at her, trying to figure out if she was serious. I wanted to believe her—that was the worst part.

She stepped a little closer, her voice a purr. She lifted her hands, the cuffs jangling, and pressed her palms against my chest. “I’ll help you kill him, Hayden. I’d like to see the expression on his face when he realizes I was the one who helped. I want revenge just as much as you do—for all those murdered women and for stealing my childhood and family from me, too. We could be such a team, you and me. Just imagine it. I’ll come with you willingly, and I won’t do anything to fuck things up for you.”

She was selling me a dream, and I was buying every word. I still wasn’t sure I believed her, but there was one way I could test her. If this wasn’t real, she would stop me. She would say no.

Using the bulk of my body, I stepped into her, forcing her backward. Her breath caught in surprise, her breasts lifting at the action. It was enough to make a red mist settle over my vision. If she wanted to play games, then I could play them, too. And I wasn’t going to promise she would like them.

Her back hit the wall, forcing her to a halt. I grabbed her handcuffed wrists in one hand and lifted them up and over her head, slamming them against the wall hard enough for the metal to dent the plasterboard. From the gasp she let out, I guessed it was hard enough to hurt her wrists, too. Her eyes widened at me in shock, her perfect, full lips parting.

But she didn’t tell me to stop.

I ducked my head and crushed my mouth to hers. Without waiting for any kind of signal or acceptance, I thrust my tongue between her lips. She didn’t try to turn her face away, but instead kissed me back with the same force I was showing her. I held her hands tighter, pinning them above her head. My lower body trapped hers to the wall, making sure she couldn’t use her legs to kick out at me. She wriggled and squirmed against me, but I could tell it wasn’t to get free. She’d meant what she said about wanting me.

I’d thought I was pretty fucked-up for thinking about what it would be like to fuck my captive, but how messed up was she for wanting to screw the man who’d kidnapped her?

I didn’t even care about her state of mind right then. My cock was impossibly hard, and her compact body rubbing up against me like a cat in heat practically made me come in my pants. She groaned into my mouth, and it was about the hottest thing I’d ever heard.

I wanted more.

Wanting to eke every moan and whimper out of her throat, I moved my mouth from her lips and trailed my tongue down her throat. She tilted her head to one side to give me access, and I sank my teeth into the spot where her neck met her shoulder. She sucked in a breath but didn’t cry out in pain, so I kept going. I yanked her shirt to one side and continued to lick and kiss my way down her shoulder. For every kiss I bestowed upon her, I sank my teeth into her skin, hard enough to hurt. Hard enough to leave a mark. I was punishing her, in a way, loving and punishing in equal measures. And she took it.

Her hands were cuffed, and that meant I wasn’t able to remove her tank top fully. Instead, I reached the bottom and yanked it up and over her head and then wrapped it around the handcuffs, as though the top was helping to tie her hands together as well. She wore no bra, and now her breasts were fully exposed. I kept her hands pinned above her head against the wall, so she was unable to cover herself even if she’d wanted to. Her tits lifted and fell with her heavy breathing, and I moved back slightly, putting some space between us so I could stare down at them. They were fucking perfect, her nipples dusky pink buds that were impossibly tight. With my free hand, I cupped her left breast, weighing it in my palm and then squeezing. Jolie stared at me, her eyes wide, her lips parted. Her tongue flicked out and licked her bottom lip, and I held back a smile.

I pinched her nipple between my thumb and forefinger and twisted. Jolie groaned, and her eyes slipped shut, her chin dropping to her chest.

I twisted harder. “Eyes open. Chin up.”

She gasped and did as I instructed. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

“Good girl.”

I ducked my head to her other breast and surrounded her nipple with my mouth. I sucked, drawing the hardened point up to the roof of my mouth, suckling on her tit. Her back arched, thrusting her breasts against me. I swirled my tongue and sucked harder, and just when I could feel her body growing taut, I bit.

“Oh, fuck!”

I lifted my mouth from her. “You’re mine, Jolie. Don’t forget that. Don’t ever try to mess with me again. I’m capable of punishing you, but I’m also capable of giving you pleasure. I’m sure I know which you’d prefer.”

She nodded frantically. “Yes, you do.”

“Good.”

Releasing her hands from where I had them pinned, I dropped to my knees. I hooked my fingers into the waistband of her pants and yanked them down her thighs. She wasn’t wearing any panties—I hadn’t allowed her any when I’d made her get dressed after she’d tried to escape, and the fact she hadn’t tried to put any on after I’d left pleased me. I smacked at her foot, making her lift it off the ground so I could unhook the clothing from one leg. I needed the space to work.

With her legs stepped apart, and now naked except for the handcuffs with the shirt wrapped around them, I kneeled at her feet, still fully clothed. I leaned in, her pussy at the perfect height for my mouth, and pressed my tongue against her slit. Above me, Jolie groaned and tilted her hips outward, giving me better access. She stepped her feet apart farther, showing me by her body language that this was what she wanted.

I moved in deeper, pressing my face between her thighs. My tongue worked between her folds, finding her already wet. I licked my way up, circling her clit, before licking back down. God, the taste of her coating my tongue like sweet nectar was incredible. I couldn’t get enough of her, wanting to push my tongue deeper, to lick and nibble and feast on every fold.

She was making those sexy little moans again, and my cock jumped in my pants. Fuck, I wanted to be inside her. She had such a sweet little pussy, and I wanted to ravage it.

I licked her harder and faster, using my hands to hold open her folds, making her clit pop forward. I suckled on the little nubbin of nerves and then speared my tongue and pushed it inside her. Her inner muscles contracted around me, as though trying to pull me deeper, and I imagined how good she would feel wrapped around my dick.

“Oh, God. Oh, Hayden. Fuck.”

Her thighs trembled, and I licked her deeper, knowing she was close. I wanted to feel her come on my face, to have her juices drip down my chin. Was she a gusher? I hoped so.

She came around my tongue, shaking and shuddering, her cuffed hands dropping to my shoulders, her fingers digging into my skin beneath my shirt.

I gave her a moment to catch her breath then dragged her down onto the floor with me. I pushed her onto her back, and she lay there, naked and flushed, her hair splayed out around her poor, bruised face. With her cuffed hands, she looked incredibly sexy, and I realized I got off on this—a girl I could do anything to, who was powerless against my will, and yet still seemed to want me.

I reached to my zipper and freed my cock. The cool air hit my heated skin, but all I wanted was to be inside her. I shoved her thighs apart and stared down into her swollen, slick, pink pussy. Jesus Christ, she was incredible.

I didn’t wait any longer. Settling myself between her thighs, I suspended my body over hers. I reached between us to position my cock at her entrance, and then drove deep. She was already so wet and swollen that there was no resistance. She wrapped her heels around my hips, her arms coming up over the top of my head to settle on my shoulders. The metal of the handcuffs was cold against my heated skin.

Slamming into her, I fucked her hard and fast. Her pussy held my cock like a hot, wet, fist, and I knew I wouldn’t last long inside her. My hips hit hers, and I worried that I was hurting her against the floor.

Scooping my hands beneath her back, I pulled her up and onto me, so I was kneeling, with her straddling my lap. Somehow, I’d managed to stay inside her during this transition, and now her cuffed hands were hooked behind my neck, and I took hold of her hips to steady her. She moved on top of me, leaning back slightly, so I could see my cock sliding between her pussy lips. I watched as I vanished inside her, and then reappeared, slick with her cream. Fuck, I was so hard, like iron. She moved faster, her tits bouncing right in front of my face. My balls pulled up tight into my body, and I knew I wasn’t far from coming. I managed to catch one of her tits in my mouth, and I bit her nipple again.

“Oh, fuck,” she cried.

Jolie rippled around me, her body shaking and shuddering. Her eyes squeezed shut, her body a taut ball of pleasure.

I wanted to come deep inside her, but I couldn’t risk it. Pulling out of her, I pushed her to the floor and then fisted my cock. It only took a couple of firm, fast strokes, and cum rocketed up from my dick, spurting from my slit. Creamy ribbons landed on her stomach.

The last thing I needed now was to get her pregnant. A baby in this mess was a very bad idea. How could I be a father if I was behind bars?

She lay there, panting, staring up at me, covered in my cum.

I got to my feet and put myself away. I could still taste her on my tongue.

“Get yourself cleaned up,” I told her.

I knew I was still trying to keep her distant. That was why I hadn’t undressed for her. Keeping that material between us meant I was just fucking her, rather than us making love.

I still hadn’t decided if I could trust her, but one thing was for sure...

Now that I’d fucked her, I knew once would never be enough.