“Kill her or send her to Moffat. He’ll sell her to the highest bidder. She’s beautiful, so he’ll owe us a favor,” Cheng ordered. “She would be perfect for his club.”
“I will be keeping her for myself,” Zhu said. “I have plans for this one.”
Cheng stopped his pacing and swung around. “You’ve never wanted to keep a woman.”
“I do now. She’ll do what I want, and you’ll have the benefit of her mind. She can develop programs for you instead of giving them away to anyone who wants them. I researched her carefully, Cheng, before I gave you the report. She’s brilliant and would be an asset to you. Even had the computers not been harmed, she would never have left this place.”
“Can you control her?”
At the question, Zara forced her swollen eyelids to part a minuscule amount, just enough to see the two men. Why it was important to see them, she didn’t know, but they were deciding her fate. It sounded as if Moffat was a human trafficker, but staying with Zhu after what he’d done? Her entire body shuddered with pain and rejection of the idea.
“Why would you ask me such a thing?”
If she hadn’t been watching from such a distance, Zara would have shivered in fear at the look on Bolan Zhu’s face. He was extremely handsome, but in that moment, he looked a demon, invincible and very dangerous even to Cheng.
Cheng sighed. “This was a blow, Bolan, a huge one for us.”
For us. Zara heard that clearly. Cheng and Zhu were more than boss and number-one interrogator. Cheng sounded as if Zhu was more of a partner than an employee. Cheng stayed safe while Zhu traveled the world doing his bidding. That didn’t make sense, but her mind wasn’t working properly so she didn’t know if she was even hearing right.
“Who is looking at the cameras?” Zhu asked.
“I had a full team on because she was here. We don’t let outsiders in and usually I have three per floor, but I had six in each control room. The tapes have been reviewed. No one tampered with them. They don’t show anything amiss.”
“I’ll talk to the heads of each of the departments,” Zhu said. “If one of them is hiding something, I’ll know it.”
Cheng turned on his heel and started out of the room, but paused in the doorway to look back. “Are you certain your need of this woman hasn’t blinded you? Perhaps one more round again with chemicals.”
Zhu stood up slowly and stalked Cheng. To Zara’s shock, Cheng gave way, backing up with a placating hand. Cheng was the man everyone feared, yet now she was certain everyone was looking in the wrong direction.
“Do you believe I can be blinded by anyone, let alone this American woman? She’s beautiful and has a brilliant mind. She is young enough for my every need. I have searched for a long while to find the perfect partner and the moment I read her file, I knew she was the one—and that was without seeing her. She was never going to leave this place. Had she been guilty, I would still have kept her, but she would have paid for that indiscretion for a very long while.”
“Bolan …” Cheng broke off when Zhu shook his head.
“Do not insult me again. We have built the perfect empire. Your role suits you as mine suits me. We had a setback. It’s a bad one, but we can overcome it the way we have overcome everything else in our path.”
“How are we going to explain her disappearance?” Cheng asked.
“I will keep her here, locked away where no one can find her if they start looking for her. We have to make certain it appears she returned to her hotel. I’ll set it up so it will look as if she’d been robbed in her hotel room. There’s enough blood to make it real enough for the cops. Later, when I take her as my wife, we will explain her defection.”
Cheng inclined his head and scurried away. Zara was left with the man who had beaten the shit out of her. She knew she was lucky to be alive. Every breath she took hurt, but her ribs weren’t broken. He was that good. He’d gone for maximum pain, but he hadn’t done any permanent damage.
Zhu closed the door and came back to her, sinking his weight onto the mattress beside her. “Zara.” He brushed back wet strands of hair from her swollen face. “Can you hear me?”
She didn’t want to admit she could. She was afraid to stay still without answering him. She swallowed hard and barely inclined her head. Just that small movement made her head explode. She made a hopeless sound she couldn’t take back, and fresh tears flooded her eyes.
“I want you to feel everything I did to you and know this was me being easy on you. It could have been so much worse. You might not feel gratitude now because you can’t conceive of the ways I could make you suffer. Just know I was careful with you. I’m going to leave you now to take care of your disappearance. When I return, you’ll know you belong solely to me. I can do whatever I want with you. You don’t want to ever make me angry or disappointed in you. Not ever, Zara.”
His fingers had been stroking her inner wrist, but settled over her pulse as he gave her orders. She couldn’t respond, she was too terrified and her entire body hurt so bad she was afraid to move a muscle. His fingers continued again, as if the wild beating of her heart satisfied him.
“When I return, I’ll give you pain pills and clean you up. In the meantime, I want you to think about every part of your body because it belongs to me. I can make you feel good or I can make you feel very, very bad.” He leaned down and brushed a kiss over her swollen eye. “I like that you don’t like pain. It pleases me. I enjoy inflicting pain. You need to remember that at all times. When I ask you to do something, you will obey me immediately. Do you understand?”
She didn’t answer because she couldn’t find her voice. She was too terror-stricken. He caught at her bloody, stripe-covered breast and squeezed until she gasped in anguish.
“Do you understand?” he repeated, his voice as mild as ever.
She swallowed again and attempted to nod. The movement sent hammers crashing down on her. A moan escaped, and she hated herself for giving him the satisfaction she saw in his eyes. He did like that he hurt her. He was allowing her to see the cruelty in him—the craving to see her just like this, mewling in pain, barely human, dependent on his good will and her obedience in order to keep from getting worse. She thought Whitney the epitome of a monster, but she was wrong. So very wrong.
“Don’t roll over while I’m gone. I know caning hurts, but your back has no cuts. I was careful to leave you with one side to lie on. If your roll over, the sheet will stick to the lacerations and it will be very painful when I have to pull it off you, especially if my errand takes too long and the blood dries.”
When she made no sound, he leaned over her. “Did you understand what I said to you?”
She nodded hastily. She wasn’t making the same mistake twice.
“Good girl. You forgot to thank me for taking it easy on you. Cheng expected a much worse beating for you.”
She took a breath. Let it out. “I’m grateful.” God. She wanted him dead. She wanted this monster of a man out of her life. Away from her. She didn’t know a human being could hurt so bad and still live. She fought down the need to kill him. If she did, Cheng would take her apart and all of this would have been for nothing.
He rubbed his hand down her body from her breasts to her mound, skimming deliberately over the open lacerations the whip had caused. “Each of these cuts is shallow. You won’t have a single scar from this.”
She knew immediately what he expected. She wanted to spit in his face, but she knew better. “Thank you.”
He smiled at her and held the bottle of water to her again. “I am angry at Cheng for hitting you with his gun. You shouldn’t have any permanent damage, but if you do, he will pay.”