Exposure (34 page)

He handed his coat to an attendant and
scanned the room for Raven. Though early, several patrons were
already teeming about, sipping champagne and checking out Hoan's
photos along the display wall to his left.

She'd used the ones he'd taken of her for
the exhibit. Though she'd said she would, he still had an inkling
of doubt. Raven hated being the center of attention. For her to
even allow him to photograph her, never mind display them, meant
she cared an awful lot. She trusted him.

Stepping closer, he bypassed his other shots
and focused on the one of her reclining in the snow, looking up at
the camera. He drank in her soulful expression, her pleading eyes,
the trace of her smile, and bit back one of his own.

That was his baby right there. The woman who
fought her way through depression with quiet strength, who faced
her fears with her shoulders squared, and who gave him all of
herself, piece by piece.

If he hadn't seen it before, he did now. She
wasn't looking at a lens, she was looking at him. With adoration,
honesty. Raven hadn't fallen for him in one crushing blow as he'd
done with her. Like everything else, she'd fallen in measures,
making it damn near impossible to know for certain until it slapped
him in the face.

And to think, he almost let her go.

On the spot, he decided to sell Gallivanting
Adventures. He'd take Raven and Aubrey all over the world. That
would be his next thrill. Family. No more desks, no more schedules.
He loved the outdoors, had started something solid with his
company, but it was time to pass the torch. If he wanted to fish or
hike or climb, he damn well would. Either Raven would come with
him, or he'd hurry home to find her waiting.

He turned, searching for her, and found her
in conversation with a customer. From across the room, her gaze
lifted to his and held. The breath seeped out of his lungs. The red
dress was new. It clung to her slight curves, accentuating the
swell of her breasts and stopped at her knees. Her hair was pinned
up off her nape, some tendrils loose and brushing her
shoulders.

Lifting her hand, she patted her chest, then
pressed her palm there and nodded at him. She'd been trying to tell
him earlier, but he wouldn't listen.

She loved him
.

Fuck it all to hell. Screw Hoan's show or
the fans or anything else. He was going to take her home and make
love to her. For hours. Days. And then they'd plan their life
together, the one he never thought he'd have. The darkness?
Gone.

As he took a step toward her, an elderly man
sidled up next to him and started blathering about the exhibit.
With great regret, he remembered how much time and effort it took
for Raven to put one of these shows together, and what Hoan's
prestige could mean for Elements.

Biting back a sigh, he turned to the
gentleman. What was a few more hours compared to the next fifty
years?

***

R
aven had finally
broken free of a few customers and was determined to rescue Noah
from his conversation when Nicole stepped in her way. Raven fisted
her phone in her hand, banking down the irritation.

"Two things." Nicole flipped her hair over
her shoulder. "First, the caterer is asking for more small serving
plates. Which I'll go get from storage in a moment."

When she paused, Raven lifted her brows,
unable to hide her amusement. Nicole's cheeks were flushed and she
had an uncanny twinkle in her eye. Which had nothing to do with
caterers or plates. "And second?"

"I find it interesting that Hoan is Noah
spelled backwards. Or almost. A nice anagram." Her eyes narrowed
playfully.

Briefly closing her eyes, Raven fought a
grin and failed. "I'll get the plates from storage. I need a break
from the crowd anyway." An hour into the showing, and they were
back to back with people. "As for the other thing, do keep it mum.
He has a pen name for a reason."

"I knew it," Nicole ground out, eyes alight.
"So it was the best friend all along? How romantic."

"Jeez. You sound like my mom." Raven looked
for Max, but couldn't find him in the throng. She'd only be gone a
second anyway. "Do me a favor and find one of the security members.
Let them know I'll be in the storage room so they don't freak
out."

Leaving Nicole to it, Raven made her way
through the crowd and down the private hallway. Punching in the
code, she halted in the doorway to discover the lights already on.
Since they were on a timer, she shrugged and figured Nicole had
just been back here. Her assistant must've tripped the sensor.

Spotting the plates, she moved to the shelf
along the wall. Nicole had already washed the dishes and set them
out of their container. Raven went to put her phone down and
stopped, an idea forming. Unlocking the screen, she pulled up
Noah's contact and began thumbing a text.

While he'd been gone, she'd missed him
terribly. The ache, the void, was immense. As if she hadn't
suspected, her conversation with him today in his office confirmed
it. She was in love with him. Insanely, desperately in love. The
talented artist, the dedicated uncle, the smart businessman, and
her best friend. She loved him. Crazy, the giddiness inside,
especially because, for so many years, she didn't think she had it
in her.

After the realization had hit, she'd wanted
to shout it to the rafters, but this wasn't something to tell him
in a note, with a room full of people, or in a text. So for now,
she'd just send him a hint. Tonight, when they were alone, she'd
finally give him the words he needed to hear.

Something cold and hard pressed against her
temple, followed by a slow… resounding… click.

She froze. Oh God.
A gun
.

"I'll take that." A gravelly, tight voice
filled her left ear. The stench of stale smoke clung to him. A hand
covered with a black glove took her phone and set it on the matting
table. "Move and you die."

"O-okay," she breathed. She started shaking
and couldn't stop, violent tremors that wracked her whole body.

He pressed the barrel into her temple with
more force and came into her line of sight. She'd recognize that
massive body, cold eyes, and bald head anywhere.

Soreno. He'd found her. Worse, she was alone
with no help in sight. If he got her out of the building, she was
as good as dead. She was shocked he hadn't pulled the trigger to be
done with it already.

She pinched her eyes closed and tried to
keep her stomach contents down.

A quick
thwap
had her eyes flying
open. On the matting table, he'd pinned a picture of her to the
surface. With a knife. Right between her eyes.

Oh God, oh God, oh God.
Think, damn
it
.

Running was not an option. Neither was
screaming. He'd have a bullet in her brain before anyone even got
past the access code. It would also put everyone in the building in
danger.

He grabbed her arm and shoved her toward the
emergency exit. "Walk."

With no other choice, she walked to the door
on legs that barely held her upright. Going with him would keep
Noah, Nicole, and everyone else safe. If she could buy enough time
after she was gone, maybe McCannon or the bodyguards could find her
before…

He pressed the gun to the back of her head.
"Open the door and get in the truck. Make one sound and I'll paint
the snow red with your blood."

The building's alarm code was turned off or
else a siren would announce their exit. He'd planned this well to
do it on a night of a showing. The FBI and Noah's security were all
over the place. Someone had to see her leaving. Right?

She pushed open the door to an icy blast of
wind. Her bare arms prickled with cold, bumps immediately raising
her skin. Just outside, in the back alley, was a black pickup. The
same one that had followed her and Max weeks ago. One of Noah's
bodyguards was unconscious and bleeding in the snow. A man who'd
never been on her detail, but she recognized him. He'd been
watching the back of the building when she'd arrived.

"Behind the wheel." He opened the passenger
door and pushed her in, forcing her to slide across the seat. The
truck was idling with the heat blasting, but it did little to warm
her. "Drive."

Setting her shaking hand on the gear shift,
she slid it into position and eased the truck forward through the
alley. When she got to the road behind the building, she warily
glanced at him for direction.

"Left. Head toward The Sound."

As she drove, her mind clicked a mile a
minute. She'd read somewhere once that talking to your captor and
having them get to know you could make them connect, thus less
likely to hurt you. Glancing at the man in the passenger seat, his
jaw clenched and face hardened to steel, she didn't think that
theory had a snowball's chance. Rizzoli had killed Noah's whole
family. Had tried to burn Aubrey alive when she'd been just a baby.
Still, it was worth a shot.

Shot. God.

At a red light, she went for broke. "Where
are you from? I hinted an east coast accent. I'm originally from
California."

His fist cracked across her cheek, knocking
her head into the window with an additional blow. Pain and heat
spread over her face where the punch landed, and in the side of her
head where she connected with the window. Blood filled her mouth,
metallic and warm. Black dots hovered in her peripheral.

"The light's green, bitch. Shut up and
drive."

Choking back a sob, she eased her foot onto
the pedal. The gallery wasn't far from Prince William Sound. She
had mere minutes to come up with a plan.

Soreno wasn't wearing a seatbelt. If she
floored the gas and could accelerate fast enough, he might fly
through the windshield if she ran the truck into a light pole. But
that was a crapshoot. He could get a shot off before reaching a
decent speed. Plus, she couldn't run very far or fast in these
heels and no coat.

"Turn left. Go all the way to the end."

They were at the fisherman's port. There was
nothing down this way. Her heart tripped in her chest wondering if
he planned to take her somewhere by boat. Her head was throbbing
and her cheek smarting with an impending bruise. Dizziness
threatened to swamp her. The shudders wracking her body morphed
into convulsions. Her hands slipped from the wheel twice before she
somehow righted them.

"Park here."

Her gaze darted around, but they were miles
past the docks and in an isolated corner of the bluff. The only
thing in sight was an old crab shack that had been closed for a
decade. Not even a street light. On two sides of the building was
the ocean, the other an endless stretch of uninhabitable woods and
rock. Just…nothing.

He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled
her out of the truck, taking strands out by the root. She bit her
tongue to avoid crying out. With her hair wrapped around his fist,
he leaned into the driver's side, put the truck in neutral, and
watched it roll down the embankment into the ocean. It stalled for
minutes before sinking into the inky black water.

He pressed the gun to her ear. "Inside."

They trudged up a hill to the shack, her
heels getting trapped in the snow several times before they made it
to the door. Her feet were frozen solid, needles of agony digging
into her flesh. Her face hurt and her eye must be swelling shut
because she could only see out of one.

With a shove between her shoulder blades,
she stumbled into the shack. The floor was little more than wood
planks, rotting through, and the walls didn't fare much better.
Through the slats, the wind off the mountains sliced, offering
little protection from the elements. Along the back wall was a
soiled mattress and, in the center of the room, a pine table. A
single chair was nailed to the floor beside it. Filet knives lined
the table with precision.

The place smelled like rotten fish guts and
year old refuse. She wretched, dry heaving until her belly cramped.
Because everything had been unsettled with Noah, she hadn't the
stomach to eat before the exhibit. Grateful for that now, she
sucked in a deep breath to calm herself as Soreno strode to the
table and flicked on a battery-powered lantern.

"The chair. Now."

Her mild relief of the chair over the soiled
mattress was short-lived when she glanced at the knives again.
Raped or tortured. Was there a lesser of two evils there? Her teeth
chattered with enough volition to make a cracking sound over the
ocean swells.

The chair was freezing, sending even more
chills through her body. He used zip ties to secure her wrists to
the chair arms and her ankles to the legs. Then, he straightened to
full height and raked a gaze over her, making her shudder. The
violation from his gaze alone left a slime-coated film over her
skin.

Using the barrel of the gun, he traced a
path from her collarbone to her throat. He slid the gun under her
necklace and yanked it off. The ruby heart Noah had given her for
Valentine's Day pinged to the floor. Soreno's free hand dropped to
her wrist and unclasped her watch.

Her heart rate sped and she bit back a gasp.
She'd totally forgotten about the watch. Noah had a tracking device
planted inside. He had a way to find her, if she could just hold
out long enough.

Fighting to control her reaction so she
didn't tip off Soreno, she stared at the collar of his sweatshirt
above his black coat while he removed the watch, glared at it, and
shoved it in his pocket.

That's right, prick. Keep it on you so Noah
can find your sorry ass.

He strode behind her, his boots thunking
along the floorboards.

She closed her eyes and grit her teeth
against the fear. That's exactly what he wanted, and damn if she
would give him that much.

Without warning, he grabbed one of her
dangling earrings and yanked.