“What’s back there?” The man frowned at the partially opened door.
“The bathroom.” And Case, who hopefully had found a weapon. The pickings would be slim. He could splat the guy with toothpaste or maybe hit him with some shaving cream. She was fairly certain Drew kept a razor in there, but it would be small.
“Don’t you move. If you run, I’ll have to come after you. We’re trying to keep you in decent shape, but I think our boss would understand a few bruises. After all, he’ll likely let us sample the goods while we’re waiting for your brother’s answer.”
Yep, because she’d never been threatened with that before. It was a universal truth that men with small egos always threatened a woman like that. She flipped him off. “We’ll see who gets bruised if you try to touch me, asshole. Ask Taggart what happens to men who treat me wrong. He’s somewhere hiding and holding his balls and crying like a little boy.”
The man turned on her, his face flushing a florid red. “I won’t be so easy as Taggart, bitch. You might think you’re some almighty rich girl, but after I’m done with you, you’ll know your fucking place.”
He waved that gun in her face. It was all very threatening and scary, but she saw what he didn’t. While Criminal Asshole was busy trying to intimidate her, Case was stalking him. He slipped out of the bathroom and she caught the faintest glimpse of metal in his hand.
It wasn’t a gun, so their erstwhile horny criminal still had the advantage. All Case had was surprise. She had to keep that for him.
Sometimes it all came down to giving a guy what he wanted. She let her arms drop, her body quiver the slightest bit. When she spoke, she put a little tremor in her voice. He wanted her scared? She could give him that. “My brothers won’t ever stop looking for me.”
His lips curled up as though her fear excited him. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. When I’m done with you and the boss is satisfied, you can go home to your brothers.” He lowered the gun and moved in close, like a predator scenting easy prey. “But you’ll be with us for a while. I can make that easy on you. Or it can go hard. Do you understand what I mean? I’m not going to let you send me off the way you did that pussy Taggart.”
Case was moving in, his big body more silent than any man that size should be.
Mia winced as her captor’s hand cupped her breast.
And then she bit back a scream because Case buried one of her nicer nail files in the jerk’s jugular. She closed her eyes because it got messy fast.
Mia shuddered as the body slipped away from her, heard the sound of a thud as it hit the floor.
“Mia?” Case’s voice was a mere whisper. “Baby, you can open your eyes. It’s okay. He’s dead. Actually, maybe you shouldn’t open your eyes. Give me your hand and I’ll get you out of here and I’ll stash you someplace safe. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t find anything else and I couldn’t risk the gun going off if I’d fought him for it. You’re going to be all right. I’m so sorry you had to see that. Don’t be afraid of me. Please.”
She opened her eyes because he was treating her like a girl who’d never witnessed a little violence before. Was this why he’d held her off? He hadn’t thought she could handle his world? She stared at him for a moment before wiping the blood off her cheek. “Next time strangle the motherfucker. You got blood everywhere. Do you know how hard it is to get a steam cleaner in here? And this was my favorite shirt and now it’s got gross stuff all over it.”
His eyes flared and then he smiled. “I’ll pay the dry cleaning bill. You’re really all right?”
She nodded and noted he’d already picked up the guy’s gun. “I’m fine. You did what you had to do, but I will get in trouble for getting blood on the carpet. Drew takes this plane seriously. He doesn’t have another gun on him, does he?”
“No.” Case took her hand. “And I’m not giving you this one. Try to remember that we’re flying through the air in a pressurized tube and putting holes in our tube would be bad.”
Having his hand in hers gave her such strength. “Tell that to the bad guys. Do you think they’ll hurt Hutch and Michael?”
It was a stupid question. Of course they would.
He squeezed her hand. “I’m going to do everything I can to stop it. You’re going to hide.”
He was back to that plan. She didn’t want to split up. The idea that he wouldn’t have anyone to watch his back didn’t sit well. “I can help you. I know this plane way better than you do.”