The Hitman's Pregnant Bride: A Baby Romance by Alyse Zaftig

of dancing for Odhran last night had made her sleep deeply, despite her fear.
    "What time is it?"
    "Five AM." Odhran was far too cheerful for Phoebe. "You're going to sit for a painter."
    "What?"
    "You'll need to change into this." Odhran was holding a mesh nightgown in his hands. There was a glint of malice in his eyes and she knew that he wasn't a patient man. He had forced her to dance again and again and again until her limbs shook and her whole body was soaked with perspiration. The ball gown had covered her up better, yeah, but it was stifling. She had sweated like crazy. He finally called a halt when she thought that she was going to faint right there on the stage.
    It chilled her to think that he might think of doing more to her than he already had. She knew that she had to get out of his estate in any way that she could as fast as she could.
    Somehow.
    She went into her bathroom for a semblance of privacy and got into the sheer mesh gown.
    When she got out, there was someone else in the room, a slender older man who had an easel set up in the corner. She didn't know if he had been there the whole time and she hadn't noticed him or if he'd come in just moments before.
    "Just sit on the bed. This painting is a gift for your father."
    Phoebe's blood turned to ice.
    Why would he want to deliver a painting when he could just deliver her? Was this part of his game, or was it some kind of sick warning?
    A long time later, Phoebe was pressing her lips together by the time the painter had completed a painting that Odhran liked.
    "Beautiful," he said, his eyes going to Phoebe's curves. "Your dear daddy will like this."
    Phoebe knew better than to ask why her father would like it.
    The painter and Odhran finally left her alone in her room. She heard the click of the lock.
    Phoebe felt her lips quiver as her tears were finally allowed to come out. She practically ripped off the strange mesh gown off of her when she was alone. She went into the shower to wash away things that soap couldn't. She began to sob inside of the shower and wrapped her arms around herself. She'd been hopeful throughout this whole nightmare, but he was raising the stakes of the mind game. She couldn't bear the thought of being touched by Odhran if that was his next play, since she’d been asked to dress in overly revealing clothing.
    She thought about the baby. She was lucky that she wasn’t showing yet.
    She heard footsteps outside of her door. She held her breath, her eyes wide, nearly hyperventilating as they came closer and closer to her door. Then the footsteps went away. What in the world was that about? Did he come here to…and then change his mind? She curled her body into a ball, sure that she wouldn’t feel safe in her prison any longer. Odhran was totally unpredictable. She had no idea when Andreas or her Dad would find her. Even the FBI had blind spots…and she had no idea what Andreas was involved with.

28

Researching
Andreas
    A ndreas couldn't get comfortable when he lay down to sleep that night. He was staying in the boat house to keep close to the Kaines until Phoebe was found. He kept thinking of worst-case scenarios. It was karma; he'd hurt enough people to know just what humans were capable of. His hands weren't clean. He thought of Phoebe on the other end of the things that he'd done in the name of the Agency, and he couldn't fall asleep. When he closed his eyes, he saw Phoebe on the other end of his knife.
    He got out of bed when it was clear that he wasn't going to get much sleep tonight. He should look more deeply into the engineering company that they had found. He puled out a laptop.
    He went to their corporate press releases. There were press releases about military applications for several of their products. He kept clicking through them. The average American didn't pay much attention to defense; it was taken care of for them. But many of the government's biggest defense contractors were publicly traded, which meant that