fast she couldn’t stop herself from cringing. When he reached her, he placed a small box on the desk. It looked like a jewelry box.
“Open it,” he growled when she just stared at it.
What could be inside a jewelry box? Jewelry was the obvious answer, but Faith couldn’t think of a reason her captor would give her any kind of jewelry.
Her hand trembled as she reached out and opened the box. She couldn’t help the gasp. What a rock.
“W-what is this?”
“Haven’t you ever seen an engagement ring before?”
“Y-yes, but…”
“My family will be here next weekend for the Christmas holidays. You’re going to pretend to be my fiancée during that time. Put the ring on.” It wasn’t a request.
“I-I… w-what will happen? W-what will you do?”
“Do you find me that repulsive?”
“N-no.” She shrank from the disappointed look on his face. Every time she ended a sentence now, he got that look.
“You’ll continue to sleep on this end of the house. My mother is pretty religious and wouldn’t be pleased with us sharing a room. You just have to pretend you’re in love with me when we’re all together. The most you’ll be subjected to is holding hands and a few kisses.”
“I…”
“Put the ring on. Now.”
His voice had taken on that edge again, and she scrambled to obey his request. She was surprised when it fit.
“T-this must have cost a fortune,” she breathed, almost caught up in the fantasy. For a brief moment, she could see the room and the tree and the ring and imagine this was some romantic proposal from a rich boyfriend right before Christmas. But only for a moment. Then she was brought back to the reality of her situation—this man she didn’t know and couldn’t trust, who might snap and do anything to her at any moment.
“It was quite expensive, yes. But my family would never buy the ruse if it wasn’t. They know me too well. Now will you do as I asked and pretend we’re engaged? I should warn you, if the true nature of your stay with me should come out, you will disappear. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Y-yes,” she whispered. The casual way he spoke of killing her was exactly why she was so afraid. His moral compass had a crooked arrow.
“Yes you understand or yes you’ll do it?”
“D-do I have a choice?”
“Of course, you have a choice. If you don’t want to pretend to be the love of my life, or if I feel you can’t do it convincingly, you’ll be kept in the dungeon until they leave.”
“Please, no!” The words flew out of her mouth with such force, it embarrassed her. But the idea of being locked in a… dungeon… was too much to cope with. It hadn’t occurred to her that he might have such a thing, but now that he’d spoken the word, she had no doubt as to the truth of it. “I-I’ll do it. I’ll d-do whatever you want, just p-please don’t do that.”
“You’d better not screw up.” His cold words terrified her, but beneath them, she could see the fear that she might do something that would lead to him having to kill her. She wished she could reassure him there was no way she’d cross him.
“I-I won’t. I promise.”
“You understand the consequences if you do?” Desperation edged his words.
“Y-yes.”
Her life had hung in the balance since she’d first seen Angelo pull the trigger in that alley and the body hit the ground. And she was far from out of the woods—if there was a way out. She wasn’t sure that there was.
“I’m glad you’re being so agreeable.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out two stapled stacks of papers. “You will fill this out, and you will answer as honestly as you can. I’ll need to study your answers so we know each other well enough when my family gets here. The other packet contains my answers to the same questions. You will learn all my likes and dislikes and enough about my work to make it look like you belong here.”
He hovered over her, which made her more nervous. The