And that made her wonder—how many women had he hit before when he’d known he could get away with it?

  No. No, she couldn’t think of that. It wasn’t fair to her. She would end up blaming herself for any girls that had come after her, or irrationally, the ones who might have come before. But Todd was the only one who was responsible for his actions.

  She was focusing on that thought when a hand clamped over her mouth and pulled her off her feet so hard and fast that she didn’t get a chance to scream. Her nose wasn’t covered entirely, but the fleshy hand that was pressed over her made it hard enough to breathe that she had to focus on just inhaling and exhaling; whatever noise she tried to make was swallowed by the vehicle which was already speeding into traffic.

  She gasped deep breaths, trying to understand what in the name of God had just happened—and then looked up and understood. It wasn’t just an SUV that she’d been tossed into; it was one of those quasi-limo jobs, where the two rows of seats faced each other. Sitting directly across from her was Todd, and he was grinning like a son of a bitch. The thoughts she’d been having just a few minutes ago, about how he would go on to abuse other women when he could get away with it, ran through her head hard. Did he think he could get away with it now?

  “You’re going to be useful to me,” he said, and it sounded like every serial killer line ever spoken.

  She launched herself at him, ready to claw his eyes out. It probably wouldn’t help her get away, but it would feel good. But before she even moved half a dozen inches, there was a big hand hauling her back. She looked, for the first time, at the man who had snatched her. He was huge, white, bald, and looked like he could snap her in two like a man going Taekwondo on a couple of innocent pine boards.

  “Put that on,” he said, gesturing towards a garment bag laid out next to her.

  She glanced at it, glared, and crossed her arms.

  He raised an eyebrow. “You can put it on yourself, or I can put it on you while you are subdued. It’s up to you. My way is more fun.”

  She could glare all she wanted, but the gleam in his eye turned her stomach. She had no doubt he would hold her down and force her into—whatever he wanted. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. If that was the most she could do, well... then that was all there was.

  She opened the bag and found a dress that was pretty enough and roughly her size. Not fancy, just a jersey material that flared at the hips, but certainly more than she might have bought on her own. In her own world, Piper was mostly a jeans and sweater kind of girl. Where the hell were they going that she needed a kind of dressy but not really dressy dress?

  She had to pull off her T-shirt to get the dress on over her head, but she managed to leave her jeans on and then wriggle out of them. At least Todd didn’t get to see that she wasn’t wearing panties.

  Small victories.

  Once she was decent again, Piper pitched her jeans directly at Todd’s face. “Happy now?”

  “You can’t imagine how much,” he said and kept on with his leering.

  She forced herself to settle back against the car’s seat and wait. There might be a chance to get out of this... but it wasn’t now.

  4

  By the time Todd’s SUV pulled into the parking lot, Damian was starting to get nervous. Not that he allowed himself to show outward signs of his concern; he was just a man, waiting for his “wife” to arrive.

  He smiled to himself, checking his phone once for the time. The boat was scheduled to leave in half an hour. A few other couples were milling about, but being the last ones on the boat—or God help him, being someone the boat had to wait for—was exactly the kind of attention he did not want to draw to himself.

  That was why he was standing against the railing, using his considerable skills to look like he didn’t have a care in the world. It wouldn’t help him to stand out. Keeping the outward appearance of being a man waiting for his “wife” to show up meant keeping the internal sense of being that man. Otherwise, it would all fall apart.

  So, at the sight of the vehicle, he allowed himself just a moment of relief, then let it show on his face and in his stride in a very particular way. After so much concern, his fake wife for the day had finally arrived.

  About time!

  He opened the door in the back of the car, already reaching out a hand to the woman he knew would be there.

  He didn’t expect anyone like the woman he saw.

  It wasn’t just that she was drop dead gorgeous. She was pretty like the girl next door, a kind of pretty that would age into distinguished. She had soft red hair, the kind that was a deep warm red instead of that bright fiery orange color that was sometimes treated like it was the same. It fell over her shoulders in long waves that caught his attention. She was pale, her skin a light beige tone, with dark freckles all over her nose and her forearms.

  The cold part of his mind protested that she would look too striking against his own darker, tanned complexion, but that was a level of paranoia that even he was uncomfortable with.

  She was wearing a pretty jersey dress that showed off her curves without making them look out of proportion. The dress flared at the hips and somehow made him think of dancing. The deep blue color set off the much lighter blue of her eyes.

  But what struck him the most—and instantly sent a wave of concern through him—was that this girl was absolutely normal. Her eyes were too soft. Her mouth was set in a thin line like she was holding back utter terror. He’d expected a prostitute, or at least another girl from within the Santiago family, not some random girl. Had Todd grabbed her off the street?

  Behind him, the boat sounded the horn signaling all passengers to board.

  Damian looked at Todd, his eyebrows raised high. “What is this?”

  Todd grinned, and if Damian had ever doubted that the man was straight up bad news, his doubts vanished.

  “She’s your wife for the trip, just like you asked for.” Todd leaned over and gave the woman’s breast a grope, then turned her sideways enough to slap her ass. The woman gave a weak little yip, and her eyes closed hard. “And she’s going to give you absolutely anything you want during this trip. She knows what sort of hell is waiting for her when she gets back here if she doesn’t.”

  The woman’s head snapped towards Todd, her eyes wide again—back to fear. She had no poker face at all. Holy shit. This was going to blow up right in Damian’s face. But at the same time, he hated Todd. He hated that guy like he hated parsnips. And he would do an awful lot to get a woman away from that son of a bitch.

  “Come here,” he said, holding out his hand.

  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d tried to look gentle or soft. He doubted he was pulling it off well, but hey, a guy couldn’t be good at everything. She stared at him for a long moment, then glanced back at Todd. He suspected she was thinking something similar to what he was: the evil you didn’t know, sometimes really was better than the evil you did.

  She took his hand and let him help her out of the car. Her hand was shaking in his, but her eyes didn’t leave his face once they’d settled there.

  “Bags,” he said to Todd.

  It wasn’t a question. If the son of a bitch hadn’t thought to bring this poor girl clothes, Damian truly was going to murder him and fuck what the Santiagos would do about it.

  Todd nodded. “Already on the boat; I’m not a fucking idiot.”

  That was up for debate, but Damian gave a quick nod.

  “I want to see you kiss the fucking bride,” Todd said, and there was such malice in his voice that the girl trembled harder.

  Damian looked down at her, at the tears glistening in her eyes. It would be the fastest way to get them out of here and get on to the job. He made his very best movie star impression, tracing his hand down her cheek and then lifting her chin. She seemed surprised at the gentleness, and he wondered in the back of his mind when someone had last been kind to her.

  He wasn’t any goddamn good at kind, and this was about as much gentleness as he had in him. He pressed his lips down on hers and felt her try to push away. Something deep inside of him unleashed; pretty women didn’t say no to him. His arm tightened around her waist, and he pulled her so hard against him that she whimpered into his mouth. His tongue pressed hard against her lips and pushed them open so that he could push into her. If they weren’t in public, he would have mauled her breasts, twisting her nipples until she screamed. Lucky for her it wasn’t an option. He was hard as steel in his pants, and he wanted to throw her back in the SUV and fuck her until she screamed, no matter what she thought about it.

  But he wouldn’t give Todd the satisfaction. He forced himself to keep the kiss passionate but sweet and then stepped back away from her, keeping his hand in hers. He didn’t say a word to Todd as he led the girl to the boat.

  It only occurred to him once they were up the gangplank and being shown to their cabin that he didn’t know her name.

  5

  Piper put everything she had into staying outwardly calm. Inward calm wasn’t going to happen; her heart was slamming against her ribs like a bird trying to escape a cage, and her throat was so tight that she was afraid she would choke.

  The nameless man had kissed her, and she’d wanted more than anything to bite his questing tongue and slap him and run. But not all of her felt that way, as twisted as it might be to admit it. Part of her wanted to reach out, pull him back, and beg him to kiss her like that again—fierce, mean, harsh and unrelenting.

  But she pushed that thought away. She couldn’t let herself think about this man—this monster—as someone desirable. She had no idea what Todd had done to her, but she was completely sure that she was potentially in incredible danger. After all, she’d just been held at gunpoint. That wasn’t exactly how a good day started.

  As the man led her towards the gangplank onto the yacht, she let out a little titter. She swallowed it hard, but it wouldn’t stay down. It turned into a giggle, and she could feel more of them, the panicked swirling of desperate fear turning into hysterical laughter.

  The man turned to her, his cold eyes staring down into her face. “Hold it together until we put our things in our cabin, or I swear to God that I will make your life absolute hell.”

  It should have made the laughter even worse, and it certainly didn’t help. She forced herself to swallow it down, pretending to be the kind of woman who would wear this dress. She didn’t know where the hell Todd had gotten it; it fit her too well to be off the rack, but how in the world would he have had it fitted to her? The color was gorgeous too. She hated it; every single thread.

  She held onto the hatred and let it drown out the fear while the man led her onto the boat, handed over their tickets, apologized for holding everyone up, and asked how long until the ceremony. They were told that it would be an hour from now—to give the guests a chance to freshen up—and a cabin boy would show them to their cabin.

  Piper followed in a daze. Choking down the laughter had somehow taken away all the other feelings as well, and now she didn’t know what to do with herself. As she and the man were walking through the narrow halls of the ship, she felt the distinctive motion of the boat as it set out from the docks. Her stomach twisted hard—and not from seasickness. She pressed the back of her hand hard against her mouth, forcing herself not to gag.

  The cabin boy led them up a level and opened the door to what she was sure was a gorgeous cabin. Her stomach twisted again, and she knew this wasn’t going to be controllable.

  “I’m so sorry,” she managed to say, interrupting the man as he pulled cash out of his pocket to tip the boy. “Please point me to the restroom.”

  The boy didn’t blink at all, just pointed. She walked for two steps, then realized that she needed to run.

  She found the bathroom, slammed the door shut behind her, and dropped to her knees in front of the toilet as bile rose in her throat. She was the kind of sick that burned all the way through her, heaving so hard that she was afraid she would never be able to breathe.

  Somewhere in the middle, she started sobbing. She tried to stay quiet; she didn’t know what the man was going to do to her, or what she was going to be to him. It was entirely possible that she’d just been sold into some kind of slavery.

  And there was a tiny, dark corner of herself that was deeply fascinated by it.

  She was sick again, vomiting until there was nothing left to bring up. She flushed the toilet and leaned back, resting her head on the cool tile on the side of the bathroom. She was shaking, and she wrapped her arms tight around her knees, trying to pull herself into the smallest ball imaginable. She wanted to call Marissa and ask for yet another rescue—but her cell phone was in the pocket of her jeans, which were in Todd’s SUV.

  After a little while, the bathroom door opened. Piper thought about telling the man to learn to knock, but what was the point? She was his captive, apparently.

  “You okay?” He leaned against the door jamb, watching her skeptically.

  “Do I look okay?” No one said she had to be a polite captive.

  It didn’t seem to make him any angrier or more pleasant to have her sass; his face was so neutral that she wondered how long he’d practiced the look.

  “No,” he said. “And I need you to be okay.”

  “Then let me go back.”

  He put on a smile like putting on a shirt; there was nothing real about it.

  “Can’t make the boat turn around, and I need you here. Sorry. But when we get back to dry land, you’ll be free to go, and I’ll make sure that Todd pays you whatever he promised.”

  Piper blinked hard and fast. “He didn’t—pay me.”

  The man’s face seemed to darken for just a minute, and he brushed his fingers over his forehead for a moment, hiding his expression.

  “Jesus Christ,” he muttered. “Did that son of a bitch just grab you off the street?”

  Piper laughed a little. “He actually did, the fucker. But we have history.”

  The man made a gesture to continue, and Piper sighed.

  “We were dating. He was about to propose when I broke it off.”

  “That crazy fuck,” the man said, almost to himself. He shook his head hard and looked up again. “Okay. So here’s the thing. My name’s Damian. I’m here to do a job. To get the job done, I need you here. You’re camouflage. That’s all. Just blend in, say the things I ask you to say, be Fiona’s friend.”

  “Fiona?”

  “The bride. There may be times when I need her out of the way so I can get the job done. Just—be prepared to go for a mani-pedi or something.”

  “What the hell kind of job do you do?”

  His face went stone cold again, and Piper shuddered.

  “Don’t worry about that. What’s your name?”

  She thought for a moment about making something up, but what was the point of that. “Piper.”

  “Pleased to meet you. Let’s get ready for a party.”

  He walked out of the room like this was a sane thing for two people to be doing, but at least it left her alone in the bathroom. She let herself shake for just a minute longer, and then pulled herself together. She didn’t know what was going on, but she was going to have to go along with whatever it was to eventually get out of this.

  Damian didn’t seem like an actively bad guy—just a guy who had a job to do. Though it seemed obvious that whatever job it was, it was sinister. But still, there were lots of reasons that someone might need a fake wife. Such as a whole bunch of different cons, like on that one TV show she loved or getting a promotion from a boss who wanted to hire a family man. She could imagine the reasons but couldn’t imagine someone who was working off of one of those reasons having such cold eyes.

  That didn’t matter. Right now, she needed to fix her makeup, brush her teeth, and get ready, apparently, for a party.

  6

  Damian kept his composure while he was in the bathroom with Piper, but once he was out, he couldn’t keep the calm expression he’d schooled onto his face. Whatever “history” she had with Todd, it seemed obvious that he’d done this to her as some kind of punishment. That seemed in character with the vindictive asshole’s previous behavior.

  No doubt—he is the dick to end all dicks.

  Damian wanted nothing more than to call Todd and explain to him, in lurid detail, why everything he’d done was wrong. Better yet, rat him out to Carlos.

  Not for the first time in his life, he regretted ever borrowing money from the family. He was starting to wonder if he would get out of this before he died. It wasn’t that he’d go and live some honest life or some kind of horseshit; he was a mercenary and had been for a very long time. He didn’t mind that piece at all. He’d surveilled, he’d captured, he’d conned, and yes, he’d killed; none of it gave him nightmares. Maybe that meant, somewhere deep down, that he wasn’t right in the head. He could only bring himself to care so much. This was who he was. And that was fine. He didn’t need other things.

  But the girl in that bathroom was innocent. Punishing her for breaking it off with him was stupid and cowardly, but he could understand how an asshole might feel like it was the only course of action to redeem his pride or some stupid shit. However, throwing her into a situation like this, both putting her in the line of fire and possibly causing the failure of the mission?

  There was a cold part of Damian—the broken part, he figured—that briefly considered tossing her over the side of the boat. If she was going to die from being a part of this, better to get it over with sooner. He wouldn’t be able to protect her from the things he was going to need to do to eliminate the target, and if she couldn’t act like he was going to need her to act, then they were both going to end up arrested, at best, and dead at worst.

  The ship was traveling into international waters. What was and was not a crime was very murky once you were outside of a country’s borders. It meant that if someone realized he was the one who had taken out Chamberlain, it would be much harder for that to be prosecuted. It also meant that Chamberlain’s private security force wouldn’t have much trouble shooting Damian and disposing of his body. Out there, in the middle of the cold ocean, his body wouldn’t even be found.