And now I would lose the chance to do something that would mean something. That would make my existence worthwhile.

Damn it.

“Why aren't you looking for something to defend yourself with?” his deep, booming voice asked, surprising me, making me slam hard back into the wall I was propped against.

I hadn't even heard him come down the stairs. Or pry the doors back open. Or step into the damn train car. He was a ghost.

“That might have been an option if my limbs were working,” I said, sounding surly and my words slurred the slightest bit.

His shoulder lifted slightly and dropped. “Drugs will wear off soon.”

“Couldn't just rape and kill me now when I can't feel it?” I asked, my jaw getting tight in my anger. My anger that ran very heavily toward hot. Something that had always confused and troubled my mother growing up- how I flew off the handle, from normal to rage monster in two-point-seven seconds.

“I ain't gonna rape you,” he said, his eyes holding mine, willing me to believe him.

And for some reason, I did. At least on that point.

“So just killing me then. Wish I could say I was surprised. Are you going to make me suffer first?”

At this, his brows drew together. “The fuck is wrong with you?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

I went to lift a hand, surprised when it followed the instructions, waving in the air. “How long do you have?”

With this, I got a sigh as he crouched down in front of me, his elbows on his knees. “You a criminal? Dealer? Thief? What?”

“Not a dealer or a thief. Why?”

“Because normal fuckin' people don't talk about their death like we're discussing what color you're gonna paint your fuckin' toenails.”

“I never said I was normal,” I hedged. It was the truth.

“You got yourself into something criminal if I was called in to take you.”

“What? Like you're a big deal or something?”

Honestly, I was curious. He seemed to carry himself like he was someone important. He had taken me with what seemed to me to be practiced professionalism.

I'd never seen him before. But, then again, I only had eyes for Lex and his associates.

“Yeah, doll, I'm a big fuckin' deal.” He paused, letting his words settle. “What you got yourself into?”

“Honestly, I don't know,” I answered. It was true enough. I really didn't. “I'm not exactly the kind of person who has enemies.” At least not enemies that knew they were my enemies.

“What do you do?”

“What?”

“For a living, kid. What do you do?” he asked, sounding impatient. Like I was trying his nerves.

Yeah, I felt real bad about that. Asshole.

Also, I chafed against the 'kid' comment. Maybe I looked young. And maybe I was younger than him, but I hadn't ever been allowed to be a kid.

“I'm a hacker,” I said, shrugging, glad for the sensation to come back to my shoulders. If my legs would just start responding, I'd feel a lot better.

“A hacker?” he asked, his brows going upward. “You're a hacker?”

“What? Because I'm not some pimply, pervy thirty year old hiding out in his parent's basement, I can't be a hacker?”

“Don't meet a lot of hackers with tits is all,” he said, smirking a little when my eyes started shooting daggers at him.

“Listen asshole,” I started, my words hot, “I get that you have a job here. To hold me and kill me or whatever. But please refrain from torturing me with your asinine male chauvinistic ramblings first. Having tits doesn't negate having a fucking brain, you idiot.”

At this, he chuckled, the sound low and deep and maybe it made my insides feel oddly wobbly. Okay. It definitely made my insides feel kinda wobbly.

“Alright, I take it back.”

“Take what back?”

“You ain't a criminal.”

“Why not?” I asked, unreasonably annoyed that he came to that conclusion. I was, in a way, a criminal in my own right. I broke tons of laws daily. Granted, mostly privacy and cyber laws. But still. They were laws. And I broke them. That made me a criminal.

“Because any criminal worth their salt would know better than to call someone holding them hostage an asshole and an idiot when they got at least a buck fifty on them weight-wise.”

“Maybe I thought you were too dumb to rise to the bait.”

“Ain't dumb, doll. That's why I know you're more than some two-bit hacker pissing off some nobodies.”

“Oh, do please tell me how you know that,” I drawled dryly.

“I know that because I know who I was hired by. And he ain't a nobody.”

“Who were you hired by?” I asked, a tightening in my belly.

His head tilted to the side.

“Lex Keith.”

Holy.

Shit.

Three

Breaker

She flinched back like I had struck her, physically shrinking away from me. Her eyes, already big, got wider.

So she knew who Lex Keith was.

Which only confirmed what I had been suspecting. That she was definitely not some upstanding citizen caught in the crossfire. Or some random chick Lex had a thing for that turned him down or something.

Good people didn't know men like Lex Keith existed.

Good people didn't know exactly how bad it was that a man like Lex Keith had paid someone to kidnap her.

All that was left to answer was what she did to get on his bad side. Hacked into his systems? Messed with his money? She lived in the crappiest apartment I had ever seen, the smell of soy sauce seeping through the walls, the floors worn and uneven. If she stole from him, one would imagine that she could at least buy herself something better than a twin sized bed with a mismatched pile of throw blankets to ward off the chill of the late Autumn air.

The only thing worth anything in her apartment was the laptop that she had on her desk. Not one of the plain streamlined black ones you can walk into any box store and pick up. No. Her's was some special order kinda shit. Top of the line.

Which made sense if she was a hacker like she claimed.

“Lex Keith?” she repeated, her voice airy. Her hands were curled into themselves tightly, her nails cutting into her palms. Terrified. She was completely terrified.

“What's he want you for?”

Her eyes went to mine, dark and desperate. “I don't know. I don't know how he even knows who I am.”

I believed her. Call me crazy, but I was a damn good at detecting lies. She was being honest with me.

“But you know who he is.”

Her head bobbed up and down. “Unfortunately.”

“So you know he's a crazy fuck?”

“Yes.”

“Any idea what he does to women?”

At this, a hard swallow, her voice a lot weaker. “Yes.”

“Shit,” I said, getting back onto my feet, looking out the open train doors.

“Who are you?” she asked, still sounding weak. I think I preferred the chick who was slinging venom at me a few minutes before. Ain't nothing worse than knowing you (or you by proxy) put fear like that into a woman. Only the worst kind of scum did that.

Maybe I was a fuckin' monster after all.

“Breaker,” I said honestly. What good would it do to lie to her?

“Is that like... a real name?” she asked.

I turned back to find her studying me. “Yeah, doll, it's a real name. My last name.”

“What's your first name?”

“Why?”

At this, her eyes rolled. Rolled. Like she was annoyed with me. “Fine. Don't tell me. I was just curious. Don't need to be all suspicious. Not like I'm a threat to you. Scared I'm gonna hack into your computer and see what kind of twisted porn you're into?”