“Wherever I damn well please, little kitty,” he said.
He chuckled inwardly as she gasped at his words. One way or another, he would have to hold her against her will. But at least if he kept it private, he would have a chance to help her. If he took her down to the station and booked her, then she’d be in the system. She’d have a much worse chance of getting out of this situation without serving jail time. If he could get her to confess to him before they got the system involved, then he could book her with a lesser charge.
But right now, he needed Zoe to believe that she was in trouble. If he was too soft on her, she would continue to hold back, and he would never be able to help her. He led her by the arm down the highway, helped her into the front seat of the SUV, and buckled her seatbelt.
Leaving her alone inside the car, he pulled out his cell phone and called Deputy Bear. Thankfully, Knox answered the phone.
“Knox, I’m going to be gone for a few days on urgent business. I need you to take over for me at the station.”
“What’s going on, commander?” Knox asked.
“I’m in the middle of an undercover investigation, I can’t divulge any further information.”
“Understood,” Knox said. “You can count on me, sir.”
Rollo hung up the phone, got behind the wheel, and he turned on the car before making a U-turn on the empty highway.
“This is a mistake,” Zoe whimpered, stamping her foot.
“I don’t make mistakes, darlin’,” Rollo said, speeding through the dark night.
9
Zoe grew more frantic with every passing moment. Rollo had ruined everything. If he had just minded his own business, she could have taken the jewels to Dimitri and paid off her debt. She would finally be free and then she and Rollo could have had a fresh start together. Now he had jeopardized everything. Not only had he put their future relationship in danger, he had endangered her life.
Dimitri had contacted her, telling her that he wanted her to bring him the jewels tonight or else. She was supposed to meet him back at the lodge where she would give him the jewels, finally paying off her debt. But stupid Rollo had intercepted her right at the last moment.
“Please let me go, Rollo,” she pleaded. “I need those jewels.”
“Tell me what’s going on here, Zoe,” he insisted.
It would be so much easier if she could just tell him the truth. But she couldn’t. He already knew she was a jewel thief, and that was bad enough. But what would he think of her if he knew she had been involved with the Mafia for three years? Catching her and arresting her had effectively destroyed any hope for relationship. Zoe knew that a police commander could never love a thief. Now she was fighting for her own life. If she didn’t get those jewels to Dimitri, she was dead. She knew that for a fact.
If she was in police custody or not, her life was in danger every moment she didn’t deliver those jewels. Ivanov did not look favorably upon employees who failed him. She had already well-versed in the vile things he did to people who didn’t come through for him.
She had the scar along her side from where he’d cut her the last time they’d made love. If you could call what he’d done to her “making love”. While he was doing it, he detailed what he had done to employees who had failed him. He cut her while he drove himself inside her.
After that, he never touched her again. He treated her like some kind of diseased garbage, and never missed an opportunity to remind her that she needed to pay him back. Every day she continued to owe him, racked up more debt. Then six months ago, he had given her the assignment to come to Fate Mountain and take Caitlin Somerset’s jewels.
She had seen it as a chance to be free, but she had never expected to fall in love with the town, and the people, or Rollo. But she had, and now that Rollo had arrested her, she knew she could never have any of it. If all she got out of this was her life, then that would have to be enough. Rollo had the jewels in his pocket. She had to find a way to get them back and get away from him.
She knew she would spend the rest of her life yearning for his touch, but she would have to travel to the other side of the world and never see him again. That’s what she had decided on by the time they pulled up in front of an extremely rustic cabin several hours later. They had spent the entire drive climbing up steep gravel roads, gaining elevation to where the summer air was cooler. She felt a chill on her face as Rollo pulled her out of the SUV.
“Where the hell are we?” she insisted.
“Somewhere no one can find you,” he said in a gravelly voice.