Page 110 of Remember Me
Ignoring him, Sheldon knots the belt with a sharp yank, then shoves his hand into a pocket. He thrusts out a crumpled handkerchief and stuffs it into my mouth, muffling my desperate screams. Sweat beads cluster on his forehead.
“The slut knows too much.” He looks over his shoulder at Jim. “Give me your belt.”
“What!?”
“Give it to me! Now! She’s gonna bring usbothdown. We need to get rid of her!”
Jim blinks nervously. “Sheldon, I protected your ass. I’m not getting involved with cold-blooded murder. You’re out of your mind.”
I process their exchange. The awful truth seeps through me like sludge. A cover up. Jim protected Greenberg. He knew about his sexual transgressions. His crimes.
“You should have tried harder. Stopped the skank!” thunders Sheldon. “Fired her sorry ass.”
“I tried. She didn’t listen.”
Sheldon’s fiery eyes burn into my frozen ones. “Do you know what happens to little girls who don’t listen?”
I shake my head from side to side.
“They get punished.”
My unblinking gaze stays on him as he slides his hand under his jacket and around to his backside. My eyes widen and I hear myself gasp. Oh my God! He’s got a gun—a Beretta—and he’s pointing it at me. Right between my eyes. He pulls back thetrigger.Click.My chest heaves as I swallow down panic. As I turn my head away, he swivels and aims the weapon at Jim. Fear fills the other man’s eyes.
“What the hell are you doing?” The terror in Jim’s voice mirrors his expression.
“If you want to see your wife and two kids again...”
He doesn’t deserve them!
“ . . . take off your belt and tie up her legs!”
Jim freezes. Sheldon yells.
“Do it!”
CHAPTER 66
Skye
My heart beats like a jackhammer. Sheldon’s gun stays on Jim as he stumbles to his feet. His hands trembling, he unbuckles his belt, sliding it through the loops of his slacks as he staggers toward us, his lips pulled tight in a thin grim line. Sheldon’s gun doesn’t move an inch as my ex-boss kneels down and coils the belt around my ankles, sparing no mercy for my injured foot. A garbled groan fills my throat as another voice drifts into the room.
“Sheesh. What shipwreck have I just walked into?”
Kayla! Teetering in her stilettos as she heads our way. Hope fills me. Could she be my saving grace?
“Where have you been?” asks Sheldon through gritted teeth.
“Chill, darling,” she slurs, taking in the scene while I observe her. Her eyes are glazed and a fine layer of white powder coats her glossed lips. My heart sinks to my stomach. In my career as a news reporter, I’ve seen this too many times before. She’s totally coked out.
“What is this? Some kind of kinky bondage thing?” Her glassy eyes travel from my bound feet to my bound hands. My eyes silently beg for help, but in her drugged-out state, she is completely oblivious.
Sheldon grins. “Yeah. Do you want to play with us?”
Kayla rakes a hand through her hair. “Checkers would be more exiting. I’m out of here. I need my beauty rest.” Pausing, she glowers at me, then laughs a haughty laugh. “Just throw the slut overboard when you’re done with her.”
And with that, she spins around, disappearing out of sight. The sharp staccato of her stilettos fading. Any hope for salvation has just evaporated. Unless Jim comes through.
“Let’s just get it over with,” he mutters to my utter dismay.