Bile rises up my throat and I ruthlessly swallow it down. “I take it Greg said no?”
“Not only that, he told me it was crazy. And then he looked at me, actually looked at me, and asked me how I felt about you. I told him how perfect you are and how much you remind me of your mother and how I would protect you.” He rambles on. “That I want to protect you like I failed to do for your mom.”
I swallow. “He guessed what happened.”
Nico hunches his shoulders. “Yeah, he did.”
“So you killed him,” I explode.
“I hit him in the temple. We fought. I didn’t mean to kill him.”
I fight the restraints. Not for freedom but so I can attack him. Hurt him. “You pushed him over a cliff.”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Nico says. “Don’t make me hit you again.”
He’s too far gone. Has he always been a psychopathic bastard? He mimics emotions well. I think back through everything I know about him. “Did you kill Cal?”
“No, I didn’t kill Cal.”
Oh yeah, that’s right. The fingers were gone. Thorn killed Cal. “What about the girl under the rosebush?”
Nico’s chest puffs out. “Yeah, that was me.” He sounds proud of himself.
I shake my head. “Why?”
“Every once in a while I need a release,” he says, turning once again between thick trees on a barely there road. The potholes get worse and we hump and bump as he drives even higher up the mountain. “She was just a local woman—another stuck-up bitch. They all look like you.”
“I noticed that,” I say. “You gave her a necklace like the one I always wear?”
His smile is gruesome. “I like them to wear the crystal while I kill them.”
This is unbelievable. “How many women have you killed?”
“I don’t know. The only one that really matters is your mother.”
He’s a serial killer and I had no idea. “Why did you put that dead woman at Cal’s house earlier today?”
“I wanted to frame him,” Nico says easily. “I can’t let you marry him. Not that I’m worried about it now.” His smile is sly. “Who do you think killed him? Do you really think it was Thorn?”
I wish Thorn had seen Nico at their mutual crime scene. “Yes,” I say. “I know it was Thorn.”
“Huh, we probably just missed each other.” Nico smiles brightly as if amazed by the wonders of the universe. “What a coincidence.”
“I guess.” I hope there’s some way for Thorn to track me. Without my phone, it doesn’t look good. My face aches, my hands hurt, and I really need to throw up again. The last few weeks spin through my head. “Wait a minute. Did you send that kill squad after me in the bar?”
He snorts. “Kill squad. Their orders were to kidnap you and bring you to me. But Thorn interfered.”
Thank goodness. “What’s your plan for me, Nico?”
He sighs. “Well, either you fall in love with me or I’m going to kill you.”
I’m a dead woman.
He parks at a ramshackle cabin with a rotting front porch. “I meant to get it ready for you. For a rustic honeymoon.” He tucks his gun at his waist and releases my seatbelt before hauling me over the center console. I land with my bare feet on the ground and cry out as a stick cuts into my heel. Pain rips up to my knee as the rain mercilessly pounds us.
“Sorry.” He picks me up, and I feel his chest muscles play against my shoulder. Though he’s not nearly as strong as Thorn, I’m still surprised by his strength.
The interior of the cabin is worse than the exterior, and he places me on a wooden chair, looking around. “It’s not that bad. Be good, and soon we’ll control all four of the social media companies. I have a plan, and it’s coming to fruition.”
Something scurries into the corner and out of sight. The place is one room with a bed, kitchenette, and living area with fireplace. It’s the absolute last place in the world anybody will look for either of us. My wrists are securely bound together, but my feet are free.
“I’ll start a fire.” He strides across the uneven boards and starts stacking firewood.
I gauge the distance between my body and the door.
“You won’t make it, and I have the car keys,” he says congenially.
I look toward the kitchen and see red splotches on the floor. My stomach revolts. “Is that blood?”
He glances at the planks. “Yeah. Sorry. I haven’t cleaned up after my last guest.”
Oh God. He really is going to kill me.
“Nico,” I say. “This is a bad idea. Let’s go back home and talk to my father and see if we can work something out.”
He looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind. “It’s way too late for that and you know it. Our only way out of this is if we get married.”
I’m not entirely sure that’s a way out of anything. “Alrighty,” I say brightly. “But I want a big society wedding.”
