King handed the gun back to his minion. “Do not make me regret we invited you to the party, bitch.”
A slew of retorts begged to be let out regarding the nature of Josie’s “invite” and King’s idea of a “party.” Sage pressed them down, more concerned about Josie herself. With a little turn, she was able to get a visual on the woman. Jo’s face was contorted with pain, but she was conscious. She had both her hands wrapped around her middle, straining outward as much as the zip ties would allow. As Sage watched, her own gut somersaulted. She blinked to reset her objectivity, but when she accessed the woman again, the flip did an encore. Josie’s movement, so fervent and protective, combined with the remembrance of yesterday, when she’d refused all the wine samples…
Oh, hell.
As if Jo could hear that silent outburst, she raised her gaze. A flash of understanding passed between them. Sage returned Josie’s desperate stare by looking to her belly and back up to her eyes, giving her a steady nod of promise. She’d do everything in her power to keep Garrett’s unborn cousin safe.
“King.”
She barked it at him like an order. Though Junior’s stare widened with shock, King rotated with an expression of mild amusement. It wasn’t the first time she’d dared to speak to him like this. It also wasn’t the first time she expected to pay the consequences. She just prayed the penalty would be fast and brutal, not one of King’s leisurely mental torments. The bastard knew her weaknesses as thoroughly as he knew Rayna’s, which meant that when he really wanted to inflict damage, he bypassed the needles and the pistol whippings in favor of drilling straight into her psyche. And damn it, King’s gaze glittered with the eager excitement that he was ready to do just that.
“My darling Sage.” He loomed over her, reaching to stroke the top of her head. “I have so missed our little discussions. What do you wish to talk about today? The weather? The yummy wine you drank yesterday?” His hand stilled. “The fact that your fiancé will likely kill himself searching for you?”
Sage jerked her head away. Well, tried. King had anticipated the move and still gripped enough of her hair that her action tore a small chunk out of her scalp. A pained snarl ripped free, but she clamped it short. “Actually, I’m wondering how your ass is feeling, buddy.”
His snicker punched the air. “Oh? And why is that?”
She smirked. “Couldn’t have been comfortable, buying your freedom by letting every prison guard in Bangkok screw you twice.”
To her bewilderment, King didn’t tear out more of her hair. He actually stepped away as his body rocked back on a chortle. “Ah-ha! I understand now!”
Sage glared up through her hair. “That you’re a cock-loving coward who can’t make a living at anything but selling people?”
The delighted expression never left King’s face. He cocked his head playfully at her. “Ohhh, you really are in the dark, my sweet.” He clucked his tongue. “Poor little women. Your soldier boys certainly like keeping secrets, don’t they?”
Sage’s gaze flew to Rayna. Her friend’s face was covered in confusion, and Sage was certain she returned the mirror treatment on that.
She lashed her stare back to King. “What the hell are you talking about?”
King rocked on his heels like a kid who held all the candy. “I hate to smash your fantasy about my ass in a Bangkok jail…” He touched a finger to his chin. “Well, maybe I don’t.”
Sage scowled. “What?”
“They still call it extradition here, do they not?”
She felt her forehead scrunch harder. “You were extradited to the States? You were extradited here?”
“Mmmm…in a sense, yes.”
“Oh, for the love of—yes or no, King?”
He preceded his reply with that maddening chuckle again. “To your government and to your sweet soldier boys, the answer to that would be yes.”
Sage supplied the conclusion he never gave. “But…?”
King straightened his gaze. A strange benevolence entered his regard of her, almost a gentle pity. It terrified Sage more than any look the man had ever wielded. She pressed herself deeper into the pillows as he went on.
“Lord Byron said it best, I believe. ‘Happiness was born a twin.’ And you know, my sweets, that happiness is doubled when the hospital misfiles a twin’s birth certificate. Do you know what happens then? You get to grow up as one person. You only have to attend half the school, deal with half the beatings of your drunk mother, half the murder attempts from the crack addict who calls himself your stepfather.” The moment of compassion passed. The man’s face twisted back into its sadistic leer. “And yet, you can get into twice the trouble and make twice the money from it.”
Sage didn’t cower in the pillows for long. Her spine straightened as blocks of comprehension stacked up her spine. Every one of them was made of a special concrete called horror. “Are you…saying…”
His lips twitched. “Come on, come on. You almost have it, don’t you?”
She was too amazed to bother with fury anymore. “Are you saying that you have an identical twin…and he’s now sitting in prison instead of you?”
King shrugged with such ease, he earned an approving grin from Junior. “It was my turn for the detention spa last time. Besides, Mua knows that his little vacation will be over in”—he glanced at his watch—“about twelve hours.” He swept his smile back across the bed. “Until then, my special bitches, we have a busy afternoon ahead. Are you ready for your fun?”
Josie lifted her head. Her jaw looked like a face-painting job splashed in rain, dark reds and fuchsias smeared across her skin. “Sorry. I don’t think my bruises match my cruise wardrobe.”
King walked over and pushed a couple of fingers into the darkest part of the woman’s injury. When Josie whimpered, he smiled. “The colors are quite lovely, my dear. I am certain we shall find something nice for you to wear with them. And do not worry your pretty head about appropriate cruise wear. We shall be on land for your festivities this evening.”
From the corner of her eye, Sage caught Rayna’s head jerking back up. She copied the move. “What do you mean?”
King gave them a silken smile. “You, my sweetlings, have caught the eye of some international buyers with…particular tastes. They are in town tonight and have cleared their schedules for a sampling party.” He spread his hands, nearly celebratory about it. “It is exciting, yes? My more extreme clientele are usually the kind who enjoy the feel and taste of foreign pussy for their romps, but these collectors are more interested in wholesome American fare. Defiling an innocent can be so…stimulating. And look here; their timing could not be more perfect.”
Sage got off a snarky glower. “Because you’ve got a bad boys’ leather party on the calendar for tomorrow night?”
King shook his head and chuckled. “Because your sweet soldier boys will be on planes bound for Bangkok tonight, rattling their swords and screaming about saving you, though all the while, you are disappearing from right under their feet.” He laughed again, but the expression faded as he issued his next words. “You know what they say about karma, bitches. And now your oh-so-special soldiers will reap everything they have sown of it with the King.”
The bastard finished that off by turning his back on them. Rayna and Josie joined Sage in her glowering silence, but she could feel their terrified screams as loud as the din in her own soul. The only relief for the torment was fantasizing that her palms could shoot fire and she could incinerate the monster before he took another step. Certainly before he called back his parting instruction to Junior.
“The stylists will be here to prep them soon. Cut those clothes off all three of them. Make sure that they shower.”