Seducing Texas (So not Prince Charming #2)(69)

Tang takes a guilty step back. “I did not get that much money.”

My employees make good money. “I pay you 150K a year and gave you a million. You should have plenty of money.”

The other men eye him suspiciously. The man wearing the brass talks to Tang in Mandarin.

“Who are you going to believe?” Tang yells. He’s always soft spoken and confident in the office. To see him rattled after he killed Jeremy gives me pleasure.

If only I can work his earnings against him. I also need at least one free hand, not that it’ll do me much good. I can barely feel my hands.

Without warning, Tang strikes me in the ribs where the bull gored me. I grit my teeth to keep from crying out. The rib was broken before and that certainly didn’t help.

“You’re going to puncture a lung and then I won’t be able to tell you shit,” I say through clenched teeth, holding in the spikes of pain. Damn, that hurts.

One of the bigger guys speaks in Chinese, using his hands to ward Tang off.

He takes the baton from Tang and orders another man to take off my sneakers. Once my shoes are off, he smashes my left big toe.

“Fuck,” I mutter. The pain shoots up my leg and tears eke out of the corners of my eyes. Once they’re done with my feet, I won’t be able to walk. They must know I’ll need my hands to dial into my accounts.

The big guy then slams the truncheon into my shins. I bite down the agony, but tears leak out. Brass knuckles slam into my jaw, and blood spews from my mouth. It adds to my aching head.

The truncheon then careens into my abs. I suck in quick breaths. The stitches have split open, and blood seeps through my tee shirt. Before long I’m a bruised and bloodied mess.

“You need to string him up,” Tang orders. “He needs to suffer.”

“We don’t take orders from you,” the brass man says.

Chang walks in after they’ve beaten me senseless. “We need that money now. We can’t wait any longer.” Desperation strains his voice. He must be on a tight deadline.

If I could get out of the ties, I might stand a chance, though I doubt that’s possible now. My body is pretty f*cked up.

I spit out blood. “I don’t know where my hacker put some of the money,” I grunt. “I may be able to find some of it, but I’ll need access to a computer.” And my hands free.

“That’s not going to happen,” Tang shoots out of his mouth.

Eyeing Tang, the man holding the truncheon slaps it into his palm. Tang trembles and steps back.

Chang checks his watch and paces in the room. “We don’t have much time. Get him a computer, and if he accesses anything but his bank accounts, you’ll be in his chair,” he spits out.

Tang noticeably shakes in his boots. The other men don’t appear as worried.

“You should’ve stuck with me,” I say to Tang. “I don’t beat or threaten my employees.”

He scowls at me and opens up the laptop on the desk. He keys into it before walking over to me.

I don’t know when I’ll be able to use my hands. They’ve fallen asleep, and pins and needles stab at them.

“Untie him,” Tang barks out.

The other men laugh at him. “Do it yourself,” the big man says.

Tang picks up snips and cuts off the ties. Chang checks his phone periodically before wandering back to the door. He reminds me of a cornered rat.

I rub my hands to regain feeling, and my battered arms ache from the exertion. They wheel me over to the computer where I attempt to peck at the keyboard, even that is too much effort.

I have it set up so that my accounts cannot transfer large amounts of money without my explicit verbal order. It takes seven days before a transfer can go through, and the bank has to notify me. I’ll need to keep that information from them.

But if this buys me some time, I may be able to come up with something to get me out of this mess. Exhaustion sinks my wasted body. I’m one big bruise and cannot think clearly. My hands shake with the effort of pressing down the keys.

Blood from my face drips onto the keyboard, and my ribs, especially where the bull slammed into me hurts like a mother.

“Hurry up,” Tang screams.

The truncheon comes down on my back, and I grit my teeth from the knives piercing my body. Everything hurts.

I don’t think I’ll get to see my princess again or fish on the banks of the Kenai with her, and that hurts worst of all.





Chapter Willa


I’ve never seen Cyn so distraught. Her lips are thinned and her brow crinkled, like she’s going to cry. I don’t know how she’s keeping anything together. The Chinese, like Manny, have no problem killing. Cyn told me she found Shane’s ex-girlfriend dead.

When are we going to be free? We’re putting our men in danger, and I don’t like this. This is our problem, not theirs, but I couldn’t get Aedan to stay home. He insisted on coming.

Tanner lands the chopper on the docks down from Wong’s warehouses. It took us hardly any time to get here. I don’t take any chance but load the assault weapon right away.

Aedan cups my cheek and kisses me. “I love you, Willa.”

His words bring tears to my eyes. “I love you, too.” I don’t want our relationship to end here. We made love several times last night, and my sex is a little sore. My first time was perfect because I had the right man.