Page 94 of Corrupt Game

In the dim recesses of my hallucination, I heard an angry voice above me.

“Why do you do this shit, girl?”

Suddenly, I was floating through the air. Lifted in a pair of strong arms and carried into the light, far away from all the bad things.

Weightless and certain that I was making it all up, I gave in to the abyss pulling me under the waves.

***

The aroma of fresh coffee hit my nose and pulled a groan from me.

Every part of my body hurt, and I had no idea what had happened. This didn’t feel right. Where was Ian? Why wasn’t he here with me?

“Where am I?” I looked around in the semi-dark room and found Rossi sitting in a chair by the bed in the condo.

He’d moved me from the basement and brought me here to a place of light.

Appearing very comfortable in the armchair reading, he eyed me shrewdly. He took a sip from the cup which must hold the coffee I was smelling.

Without saying a word, he got up to leave, only to return with a cup for me and placed it on the nightstand next to me.

He smiled, and his hard demeanor seemed a tad softer, even if it was a blink and you’d miss it expression.

“Mr. Holdt will be here soon.”

Moving back to his chair, he sat down and picked the tablet up again. His actions were easy and normal, like we did this every day.

I licked my dry lips, struggled up and sipped the coffee, savoring the rich bitter taste. “What made you work for a man like Ian? How long have you been with him as his bodyguard?”

He seemed to think about my question, but I fully expected him to ignore me as usual.

“Mr Holdt found me while he was in college. I was booked for a group function and there was an incident that needed cleaning up. I took care of what was needed and got him to the hospital. He didn’t know my name until about two weeks of searching. By then I had been fired on a made-up charge, so he offered me a job making three times the money to be his bodyguard. It has been the best decision that I’ve ever made.”

It was as if a statue had decided to speak.

I examined him curiously. Every time he’d been around, it was in the background. He was always in and out so quickly that Ihad no idea what he was really like. His job was to stay in the background, but he did it with the ease of a ninja or ghost.

Ghost. Rossi had ‘cleaned up’ an incident. What if he knew the facts about Andy’s killer?

Rossi took care of his boss’s problems. That was not only what he’d been paid to do, but he did it out of gratitude. Proficient in his actions, he could have taken care of Andy without Ian even knowing about it.

If that was true it meant I had been rescued by a killer. That didn’t sit well at all with me either.

The bandage on my arm and empty IV bag on the pole next to the bed made it clear to me the reason that I’d blacked out was because of lack of food. I hadn’t meant for it to happen, but my mood had been the cause, not any type of retaliation.

After Ian’s confession to me, it was going to look like I’d tried to get his attention by denying myself food when it had been just the opposite.

He had no reason to believe me. There wasn’t anything to prove that I wasn’t a liar or manipulating him.

Ian walked in, and Rossi gave him a warning look before leaving us alone with the door closed.

He took the vacated chair and leaned forward toward me. His elbows rested on his knees as he clasped his hands together, simply staring at me.

“What happened?” The quiet words sent a shiver of fear through me.

I didn’t want to tell him. It wasn’t like he’d believe me, so I just frowned at him instead.

His piercing gaze felt like he could see everything that I was thinking. Nothing was hidden from him. I couldn’t hide anything from him if I wanted to have him in my future.