Taken for the Hunt: A Dark Romantic Suspense Read online

  Normally, I’d love to see such a gorgeous view, but not right now, not when I don’t know where the fuck I am or why Im here. I know that it was Marco and his little gang of assholes who took me, but that’s all I can remember.

  Reaching up to the back of my head, I rub it, wincing at the goose egg that’s appeared back there. One of them must have hit me on my head and I want to cry, but that won’t do a damn bit of good.

  Taking a deep breath, I do my best to calm myself, then look back out the window.

  I’m on the third story at least, maybe the fourth, in a building that towers over the beach. All around I can see the ocean throwing itself up at the land. “I’m at the beach?” I ask, stepping back away from the window.

  It doesn’t make any sense.

  I live hours from the beach, which means that whoever took me had me in the car for a long damn time.

  “Like the view?” The voice from behind me makes me spin around in panic and I grab behind me onto the windowsill for support. Somehow the door opened and closed again and I didn’t even hear it. I was so focused on the sand outside that I didn’t hear Marco coming in.

  I wish that I had a weapon to defend myself, but one look at Marco tells me that, even if I did have something, I wouldn’t be able to stop him from doing whatever he wants.

  He looks energized, his eyes bright, his whole body taut. I have a pretty good feeling that he must work out multiple times a day to be so ripped, and I feel a stab of worry that he can do anything he wants to me.

  “Why am I here?” I ask, keeping my eyes locked on him. I know that I’m not going to be able to stop an attack, but I fully intend on being able to see it coming.

  “Because you’re perfect, Natalia. And, if I recall, you got fired in the most spectacular fashion today, so it’s not like you have any commitments, am I right?” His voice is low and soothing, like he was made for radio, but there’s nothing soothing or pleasant about the way he’s looking at me.

  “My boyfriend will miss me,” I tell him. It’s a lie. I don’t have a boyfriend, haven’t had one in years. The only person who will miss me is Joe, the bagel guy I see every Monday when I stop in to treat myself to an everything bagel with extra cream cheese.

  “You don’t have a boyfriend,” Marco tells me, taking step closer to me. “You don’t have family, no real friends, no pet, no job. You’re about to get kicked out of your apartment and then you’ll really be fucked, Natalia. But I can help you with all of that.”

  I scoff, trying to hide the fact that I’m completely unnerved that he knows so much about me. “Yeah? You gonna be my rich benefactor and just give me the money I need?”

  He grins, the sight both sexy and unpleasant. Maybe, if I’d run into Marco in a dark bar, I’d want him to grin at me like that. I’d even consider going home with him, especially if he paid for dinner, but right now the way he’s looking at me is terrifying.

  I feel like a snack and definitely don’t like how hungry he looks.

  “Rich? Yes. A benefactor?” He shrugs. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  “I’m not sleeping with you,” I tell him. “Let’s get that straight. I don’t think that most women would want to sleep with their kidnapper.”

  He flinches, like the word actually hurts him. “Not a kidnapper,” he corrects. “A businessman. A sportsman.”

  “Yeah? And do you have a proposition for me?” I start edging around the room, making my way for the door. He’s still standing between me and the exit, but I think that if I get close enough, I can make a run for it.

  Things can’t get worse for me.

  “I do. Why don’t we walk and I’ll tell you everything?” He sounds so calm, like he fully expects me to just go along with what he’s offering, but I shake my head.

  “I want my shoes and socks. And something to eat and drink. The bathroom. A sweater because it’s chilly as fuck in here, and then I’ll consider walking with you.” I don’t have a single bargaining chip except that he wants me to go with him and talk to him, and I fully plan on using that to the best of my ability.

  To drive my point home, I sit down, trying not to let on that the tile floor is frigid through my jeans.

  Marco rolls his eyes and pulls a walkie off his hip. He relays my demands and then sits on the edge of the bed, just staring at me.

  What the fuck is he planning on doing?

  Chapter 6

  Marco

  Natalia’s staring at me like she’s going to try to make my head explode. It’s nice to have her quiet for a moment so I can really look at her. Just like I thought in the restaurant and then again in the car, she’s perfect.

  I told her that I’m a sportsman, and I was being serious, but what I didn’t tell her is that I like to play dangerous games. Sure, anyone can play a sport, but you won’t get a real thrill from shooting basketball or playing tennis.

  Hunting big game is the closest thing I’ve felt to feeling alive before I started this new sport with my friends. There are few things quiet like stalking an injured lion through the savannah knowing full well that it can turn around and kill you at any time.

  But there was something bigger. More dangerous.

  Humans.

  In the animal kingdom, nothing rivals how intelligent our species is. This means that you don’t just hunt them, running blindly after them as they duck and dodge. You have to get into their heads, have to be able to see what they’re going to do before they do it.

  Humans are the prey of the future, but only for a select few. Not everyone can stomach the idea, and those people are ones that I don’t associate with.

  Humans really are the most dangerous game, but just hunting them outright isn’t that much fun. Sure, the four of us tried that for a while, and we had our kicks, but I wanted something more.

  A soft knock on the door breaks Natalia’s concentration and she looks over my head to who’s coming in. My assistant, Becky, walks in, Natalia’s shoes, socks, and sweater in her hands. She nods at me and takes them to Natalia, who pulls everything on and stands up.

  “And I have to pee,” she says, like I could have forgotten.

  “Becky will take you,” I tell Natalia, gesturing at my assistant. Becky nods at Natalia, probably to help calm her down, but I know full well that that’s not goin to work.

  She’s a live wire right now and the only thing that would calm her down is for me to let her go, and that’s not happening.

  “Thanks,” Natalia says to Becky, frowning a little when she doesn’t respond.

  “She has no tongue,” I say, standing and looping my arm around Natalia’s shoulders to guide her to the door so she can follow Becky. “It makes it a lot nicer around here when you don’t have to worry about staff talking and gossiping all the time.”

  Natalia goes blank and turns to me. “You cut out her tongue?” She asks, her voice high and tight. Her muscles are all taut like she’s going to make a run for it and I grin at her.

  Part of me wants to see her in action so I can tell what kind of training she’s going to need, but the other part of me wants to wait. Once she gets some rest and some food then she’ll be top of her game. It’s only fair to get her base numbers when she’s feeling her best.

  “I did not,” I tell her. “Becky here was so excited about the prospect of working for us that she was willing to do it on her own. Some people aren’t, and they don’t get the job. We only want the most loyal, the ones who are most willing to do whatever it takes to make our place a success.”

  “You’re a monster,” Natalia says, barely breathing as she looks up at me. “You’re fucking insane, you know that? Who the hell are you? Why the fuck would anyone cut out their tongue to be here with you?”

  “We’ll talk after you pee,” I say, pointing after Becky, who’s already a few feet away. “Just make sure that you don’t try to run, because I will catch you.”

  “Fuck you.” She turns away from me and starts down the hall after Becky. I reach out,
grabbing her arm to keep her from going and pull her back.

  “Don’t make any threats you can’t follow through on,” I warn her. “You’re here now, and that means we’re going to have some fun, okay, Natalia?”

  Her skin feels clammy under my touch and I push her away to follow Becky, who’s waiting patiently by the bathroom door. I need a drink of water, so I let myself into another door on the hall, grabbing two bottles of water before waiting on her outside the bathroom.

  She’ll come around.

  From what I’ve seen, they always do. The problem is that I’ve just never wanted someone to come around as badly as I want her to. Natalia is everything that I want in someone to play the game.

  A thought drifts through my mind that she’s more than just someone to hunt. For a moment I think about what it would be like to have run into her before I made this game, bought the island, turned into who I am.

  We could have gone out for coffee, I could have fucked her before she made us dinner. Even though she’s the type of girl I would have wanted, that’s not who I am anymore. I gave that up. I’m stronger, better, but alone.

  It works.

  A few minutes later Natalia joins me in the hall, smelling like the soft floral soap we have in all of the restrooms. She takes the bottle of water from me and tests to make sure that the cap is sealed before cracking the seal and taking a sip.

  “Let’s walk and I’ll answer any questions you have,” I tell her, starting down the hall without waiting to see if she’s going to follow me. Of course she will. She has nothing else to do, nobody here to save her, and certainly no way out.

  I’m certain that she has more self-preservation in her than other people do. It’s why she worked such a shitty job, why she never asked for help when she needed it. I was busy researching her while she slept in the car and then in her room, and I know everything that there is to know about Natalia Laws.

  “Where am I?”

  “Easy. Private island off the coast of North Carolina. Next?”

  She takes a sip of water. “Why did you take me? And what in the hell are you going to do with me here?”

  “I took you because I’m a sportsman and I needed a new partner. My last one can’t play anymore, and you looked perfect.”

  “So we’re going to play sports?” She scoffs and turns, stopping me in the hall. “Don’t bullshit me.”

  I can’t believe how brave she’s being. Either she’s a lot tougher than I gave her credit for originally or she’s a great actress, but either way, I know that I made a good choice in picking her.

  “You are going to train, Natalia. I’m going to help you reach your full potential, and when I think that you’ve managed to do that, you can try to leave.”

  Her eyes narrow. “Try?”

  Ignoring her, I walk to the door at the end of the hall and swipe my fob to open it. There’s a soft beep and a green light flashes above the door, so I pull it open and gesture for her to follow me.

  She steps through and then stops at the top of the stairs, grabbing the railing with her free hand. “How do I know that you’re not going to kill me? Push me down the stairs?”

  “I would have already,” I tell her, walking in front of her down the stairs. There’s no way that she can push me over or make me fall, not when she probably weighs 120 at the most, and if it gives her some confidence to follow me, then I can play this little game for her.

  “What do you mean that I can try to leave?” Her footsteps are light on the stairs behind me.

  We go down two flights of stairs and I swipe my fob again to open the door on the main floor. Natalia will be sleeping up on the third floor with the other rabbits, but she’ll eat and train down here.

  The hall stretches out in front of us, lit by huge lights that are sunk deep into the ceiling so that nobody can grab them. Along the hall at regular intervals are doors.

  “The doors on the right open into training rooms,” I tell her, leading the way down the hall. “You’ll rotate through them as you get stronger, faster. The doors on the left have the cafeteria, the medic, that sort of thing. You hungry?”

  She nods, a movement I see out of the corner of my eye.

  “Good. You need to eat every single day or you won’t be strong enough for your training and then you won’t ever be allow to try to get off the island.”

  “Okay, cut that shit. What in the world do you mean by that? I want out of here, and I want you to take me home. Now. This isn’t funny, Marco, and I don’t know what the hell you’re playing at here.” She grabs at my arm, her fingernails digging into my skin and I make a mental note that they need to be trimmed.

  Rabbits don’t get weapons, and nails count as weapons.

  “You don’t have a home,” I tell her. “You have no job, we canceled your apartment contract for you. All of your things are in storage ready for you if you make it off the island. There’s nothing for you there, Natalia, don’t you get it?”

  I grin at her. There’s no storage full of her stuff waiting for her, unless you count the county dump. Her shit is gone. Natalia Laws is, for all intents and purposes, dead.

  And nobody misses her.

  “Fuck you!” She slaps me, the sound loud in the empty hall and I suck in a breath.

  She needs to be broken. She needs someone to tear her down and build her back up, and I fully intend on being that person. The look of horror on her face tells me that she knows that she just fucked up but also knows that she can’t take it back.

  “Marco…” She says, but I grab her arm and pull her after me to the cafeteria, shoving her roughly inside.

  “You will eat, Natalia. Then you’ll be taken back up to your room for some rest because you start training tomorrow.”

  “Marco, I’m sorry — ”

  “You need to make sure that you put your best into your training or you won’t even have the chance to try to get off the island.”

  “Marco, please — ”

  “To answer your question, Natalia, you can try to get off the island because you’ll be running from me. I’m going to hunt you down, chase you, trap you.” I take a step closer to her, breathing in her delicious scent of fear. “If you can escape from me then you’re free to go, but let me tell you something, darling, nobody ever has. You understand? Nobody has ever made it off the island.”

  Chapter 7

  Natalia

  I don’t think that I can eat. Marco shuts the door in my face but I stand there for a full minute just trying to breathe.

  It feels like the air is suddenly too thick for me to catch my breath. I bend over and grab my thighs, trying to keep from passing out. I feel lightheaded, partly because I haven’t eaten anything in hours, but also because of what he just said to me.

  He’s going to hunt me.

  Through the woods.

  And if I make it off the island then I get to live.

  The obvious implication there is that if I don’t make it off the island then I’m going to die, but I can’t think about that right now. The very thought of going down that road mentally is enough to make me shut down, so I push the very thought from my mind.

  I’ll have to deal with it later, but I can’t right now.

  This is some fucked-up shit.

  People don’t…do this.

  They don’t take people from a parking lot, train them, and then turn them loose in the woods to hunt them. Marco told me that he used to hunt big game, and I can just see him on an African safari holding up the head of a poor giraffe or other animal that didn’t get away from him in time.

  Am I going to end up the same way?

  Panic courses through my body and I whip around, wanting to see if the cafeteria where I am is normal. Part of me fully expects there to be mounted heads on the wall, trophies of his other exploits, but instead there are soothing watercolor paintings.

  Most of them are landscapes of places that I’ve never once considered visiting, but their smooth strokes and soft colors are
relaxing. I feel some of the panic leave my body, but I hold onto what’s left.

  I can’t get complacent.

  Unlike most cafeterias I’ve been in, which are packed with tables, this one has four small tables, each with one chair pushed up to it. The floor and the tables are all immaculate, not a speck of dust or bite of food anywhere to be seen. It’s the same blinding white tile that’s in my room upstairs and runs down the halls of the building.

  I’m so busy taking in the cafeteria that I don’t realize for a second that I’m all alone. Marco pushed me in here to eat, but he’s not here, and it doesn’t look like there’s anyone who can stop me from leaving.

  But before I can turn and try to break through the door, a woman dressed in all white walks up to me and gently puts her hand on my shoulder. I want to pull my arm from her grasp but she looks so calm, so friendly, that I let her give me a little squeeze.

  She jerks her head to the side and I follow her gaze past the empty tables to the large window at the end of the room where, presumably, I can get something to eat.

  “I don’t think I can eat,” I tell her, shaking my head. “I’m going to be sick.”

  She smiles at me and tilts her head to the window again.

  “I don’t want to eat,” I tell her, but her grip on my arm tightens and she starts to walk towards the window, pulling me with her. I stumble after her, mostly because I don’t want to yank back and hurt her.

  She has gray hair knotted up in a bun on the top of her head and crinkles around her eyes that tell me she used to smile a lot. The only problem is that she’s not smiling now. She looks angry that I’d defy her and she keeps glancing back at me to make sure I’m following her.

  “Fine,” I tell her, pulling my arm from her grasp. “You can feed me.”

  For a moment I forget where I am and the fact that this woman is dangerous. She looks so friendly and comforting, like a grandmother, but if she’s on this island with Marco then she’s evil. She has to be.