Part 10 (1/2)
”I could, if my goal was to eventually file criminal charges against you. But I'm not.”
”Because you're not with any government agency, are you? If you were, you'd simply obtain a search warrant and access the safe deposit box yourself. Or use the Patriot Act.”
Kira shrugged. ”You don't understand what's at stake. To go through legal channels at this time simply isn't possible. We'd be showing our hand, and we can't afford to do that right now. We're this close.” She held out her hand and made her index finger and thumb form a C. ”But you're about to blow all of our hard work. Rhyse Taylor is on the move. No doubt he now knows all about your discovery as well. He's heading this way. He's coming for you, Nicole. He wants what you found.”
Nicole's eyes widened in fear. She pictured the computer paper with the jumble of letters and numbers, the bundle of cash, and the Chinese stocks. She wished she'd had a chance to Google the name of the company on them. Why were they so important to everyone?
”All I need to know is what was inside the box,” Kira went on implacably. ”If the evidence your father collected isn't in there, we need to move on. Quickly.”
A lightbulb flickered on inside Nicole's head. This was her modus operandi. Incite terror and fear to extract information from victim.
”Yeah, sure.” She rolled her eyes. ”I bet he is. How would anyone else know about the safe deposit box?”
”They're watching you. They've been watching you, just like we have,” Kira replied smoothly. ”But we're the ones wearing white hats.”
”Then show me some proof you are who you claim to be! But you can't do that. Because you're not. If you really were legit, we'd both be sitting in an office down in DC right now and a bunch of guys in suits would be tossing all sorts of legal threats my way.”
”I've already explained why I can't go that route,” Kira replied, her voice growing strained. She stood up and pulled a disposable lighter from an end table's drawer and began lighting a dozen smaller candles set in an iron candelabrum within the woodless fireplace. ”As I said earlier, you really do have a wild imagination. No matter what I showed you or told you, you'd always be skeptical, always thinking I was up to no good. I won't waste any more precious time trying to prove to you otherwise. I need a drink. Do you want something?”
”A hacksaw would be nice.”
Kira smiled at the comment and walked out of the room.
Nicole replayed the last few minutes of their conversation. Could Rhyse Taylor really be coming for her? A tiny chill ran down her spine.
”Why not spare us both the pain that'll no doubt result from your refusal to cooperate?” Kira returned carrying a tray laden with two winegla.s.ses overflowing with a golden yellow liquid. ”C'mon, Nicole. I'm not asking you to do anything that would betray your father's memory. All I need to know is what you found locked up inside the box. You'd be free to go within minutes.” As she lowered the tray onto one of the end tables, she spilled some of the wine but quickly dabbed at the liquid with a napkin.
”Do you give the maid a day off when you know you'll be bringing a captive back to the house?”
The storm was still raging violently, and every so often a burst of thunder would shake the frame of the expansive structure. Nicole could actually feel the vibrations of the booming explosions filter down the wooden beam and reverberate against her backbone.
”Anyone I bring back here comes willingly. Very willingly,” Kira answered in a silky, mocking tone. ”You being the exception, of course.”
”It's my turn to ask you a question.” Nicole tried to appear calm and poised but was in fact recovering from the unsettling vision of Kira strolling through the front door and kissing another woman. ”Why would my father have hidden evidence in a safe deposit box in a bank? Why not mail it to the police or CIA or leave it in a conspicuous location so it would be found?”
”Finally, we're getting somewhere.” Kira took a sip of wine. ”Maybe he didn't really think he'd be killed. And maybe he didn't know whom he could trust with whatever he'd collected. What did Luke leave for you?”
”Will you undo these handcuffs?”
”I get the feeling you're toying with me, Nicole.” She took a step closer and another sip of wine, her blue eyes narrowing speculatively. ”What was in the box?”
Nicole leaned back against the wood beam. Those stocks must be worth a fortune. It could be the only reason everyone was doing cartwheels to get to them. Again, her eyes took in the craftsmans.h.i.+p of the house and the opulent artifacts hanging from the walls. ”I'm sorry to disappoint you. There wasn't any evidence inside it. No folders filled with incriminating pictures, no lengthy list of gun deals to Arab sheiks.”
Kira frowned into her gla.s.s. ”I knew you would make this difficult.” She sighed, shaking her head as if in regret. ”Here, have some wine. It's been a long day for both of us. Maybe you won't remain so stubborn with some alcohol inside of you.”
Nicole drew herself erect.
Normally, she found the taste of wine bitter, but her mouth was dry. With her hands bound behind her back, she had to depend upon Kira to hold the gla.s.s to her lips. She felt an electric jolt as a warm, feminine hand was placed along her jawline and some of the sweet liquid was slowly poured into her mouth. The act was intensely intimate and Nicole swallowed with difficulty. She watched as Kira then took a sip from the same spot on the gla.s.s her lips had just touched. A powerful flutter as strong as the thunder pounding the house shook her innards.
”I'll give you one more chance to tell me.”
”Get a warrant,” she sneered defiantly. Liz had been right. She had changed. She was done with ducking and hiding. From the truth, from everyone, even Rhyse Taylor. If he was coming for her, she would face him head-on.
”So be it, you leave me no choice.” Kira set the winegla.s.s down atop the table.
”What're you going to do?” Nicole asked. ”Beat me up?”
”At some point tonight, you'll probably wish I had.” A burning determination glittered brightly within her blue eyes. ”With the way it is between you and me, I suspect a soft, lingering touch will coerce you into telling me what I want to know far more proficiently than any amount of brute force.”
Chapter Sixteen.
Nicole's eyes rounded in panic, Kira's words and intent ringing loud and clear inside her head. Her heart slammed wildly against her rib cage.
”You can't mean to-to-” she stuttered, shook then bowed her head, her brain unwilling to even sort through her vocabulary to give utterance to the notion.
”Seduce you?”
”Not possible!” Nicole hissed, more frightened by her body's reaction to the picture Kira's threat evoked than if the woman had told her she was to be tarred, feathered and dumped in the Potomac.
”Is that a challenge? Anyway, I think we're at a point where we can admit that if it came to the actual act,” Kira stated in her low throaty voice, the dark fringe of her long, black lashes concealing the emotion in her eyes, ”both of us would be willing partic.i.p.ants.”
Nicole felt her face color. ”You're delusional!”
”You want me, Nicole,” Kira finished confidently, ”far more than you'll ever admit. Even to yourself.”
Nicole raised her eyes only to find Kira studying her. ”I don't!” she practically yelled.
”Liar.”
The softly spoken accusation had more of an effect on Nicole's frazzled nerves than if a hot branding iron had emblazoned the word into her skin. Was her need so obvious?
”We're both strong-willed,” Kira said, her gaze soft as a caress, ”but you maybe more so than me, if such a phenomenon is even possible.” She reached forward, lightly fingering a loose tendril of chestnut hair curling along Nicole's cheek. ”You've spent your whole life hiding, Nicole, and I've spent mine running. I sense we're equally fearful of this power we have over each other. I know I've never experienced anything like it, and I confess, it scares me.”
For one long, blissful, gullible moment, Nicole found herself falling for it hook, line, and sinker, but she remembered who she was dealing with.
”You really are incredibly arrogant,” Nicole said scornfully. ”Did you really think I'd be that easily duped? You'll have to do better if you expect me to swoon at your feet.”
”Tell me, Nicole, what is it I'd have to do to make you swoon?”
Nicole became fl.u.s.tered. She hadn't expected her remark to be thrown back at her like that. ”Okay, I get it. You worked up a psychological profile on me, discovered what would make me tick, and played me like a sheet of music: Quiet, introverted graduate student, death of my father at a young age-”
”Attracted to women,” Kira added huskily, folding her arms across her chest and drawing Nicole's admiring eyes to the inch of alluring cleavage the cut of her dress displayed.
”That needn't be a factor, especially to you,” she responded testily. She suddenly realized she was in way over her head and way, way out of her league. If she weren't tied up, she would've taken off running, even if the storm outside was a category four hurricane.
”So you're finally going to admit your s.e.xual preference?”