My mouth went utterly dry. I stared at the gun, then at him. His jaw was set in tight bands and his hand was steady.
“Please, don’t,” I said, my voice unsteady. The gun looked very deadly, and I was hyperaware of everyone watching. I knew Ryker’s life was on the line, too, and had no idea how else he could get out of this without exposing his real identity. Surely he wouldn’t hurt me. Surely …
And yet, my plea seemed to fall on deaf ears. There wasn’t a flicker of emotion in his eyes as he looked at me. Not even when he pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
My heart stopped for a shattering moment, but nothing happened. No sound of a bullet, no ripping pain through my head or my chest, nothing at all. Just the dead click of a hammer against an empty chamber.
“Some weapon,” Ryker mused, looking at the gun. With one flick of his thumb, the magazine ejected into his hand. “It would be much more effective if it were actually loaded.” He tossed the gun at Leo, who caught it. “Did I pass your test?”
Leo laughed in delight while I struggled to remember how to breathe.
“I knew you were still the same cold sonofabitch,” he said, still smiling. “That’s good enough for me.”
Ryker had almost killed me. In cold blood.
I couldn’t wrap my head around that, shock settling in bone deep.
“You really want to mess up your carpet?” Ryker asked Leo, cool and calm. As though he hadn’t just pointed a gun at me and pulled the trigger. “I’ll take her somewhere else and get rid of her.”
Leo waved his hand. “Of course. No, I don’t want to replace the rug. It cost a hundred and fifty dollars a foot.”
Ryker took my elbow and sense finally kicked in again.
“Let me go, you bastard!” I fought him, swinging my fist and connecting with any part of his body I could reach. I fought dirty, nails scratching and biting, but he hauled me around, back to his front. His arm was tight across my chest and I couldn’t breathe.
“Sorry, Leo,” Ryker said. “She’s a bit of a wildcat.”
Leo laughed. “Then I see why you liked her in bed.”
Ryker hustled me out the door and into the hallway. I was panic-stricken and terrified, with no real plan or thought to how I was trying to get away. I just kept fighting him. But he subdued me easily.
“Knock it off, Sage,” he snapped. “You’ll only hurt yourself.” I stopped when I felt cold steel at my throat. Ryker was holding a knife against my skin. Tears burned my eyes. I couldn’t believe he was doing this. Was I really so easily expendable in the face of his job?
“How can you do this to me?” I hissed through my teeth. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Collateral damage,” Ryker said. “I told you not to come here.”
“Need some help?” Branna asked, and I realized she’d followed us out a few steps.
“Nah. I got it,” Ryker said.
That’s when I realized he was holding me in exactly the same position Parker had taught me how to get out of when he’d done the self-defense training. We’d practiced it over and over until I had it right, though I hadn’t hit with full force. At the time, I’d been afraid perhaps I wouldn’t be able to hit with full force when needed, but I shouldn’t have worried. My fear and anger were such that I wanted to hurt Ryker.
I went still, waiting until I heard Branna go back into the office and the door shut. Ryker’s hold on me loosened fractionally as he took me up the stairs and I obediently went up the steps, his hand in my hair and knife at my throat.
“Play along,” he hissed in my ear, taking me by surprise. “We’re being watched.”
Play along? Part of me felt utterly relieved. Ryker wasn’t going to kill me. The other part of me was still terrified, and now, furious. First, he’d all but said he was going to sleep with Branna so she’d trust him again, then he’d agreed to kill me to cement his position with Leo. Had he known the gun was empty? How could he possibly have been sure? And now he wanted me to play along in this deadly game? No problem.
When we got to the top, I took a deep breath, praying I did this right.
Whipping my head back into his chin, I shoved his knife hand down while I spun away and out of immediate danger. Remembering what Parker had said about disabling your attacker, I struck, just like he’d taught me to. A sharp jab to the solar plexus, then a knee in the nuts.
A grunt of pain told me I’d made good contact and both his hands dropped from me.
“Give Branna and Leo my regards,” I hissed, then didn’t waste any more time, but turned and ran for the front of the building and burst through the door.