[EXCERPT REVEAL] Indebted by Kylie Walker

EXCERPT

Holly was reaching for the keys on her belt when Kirk spoke again. “That your daughter? Tommy’s daughter?”

                “Yes.” The young woman smiled fondly as she opened the office. “Madison. She’s sweet. Don’t let that sour face fool you.” She didn’t let it fool her. Even if she hadn’t seen Maddy smile in months, Holly knew that she still could. And one day, she would.

                She just had to be patient.

                “Alright, Mr. Luckston. Let’s talk about your proposition.” Leaning against the desk that still so reminded her of Tommy, Holly turned to face Luckston – only to watch him close the door behind them and turn the lock.

                Almost immediately, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. From the moment she’d seen him, something had unnerved her about Kirk Luckston’s smile, and now, Holly found her sense of unease growing.

                “Just making sure that we have some privacy, Holly. You don’t mind if I call you Holly, do you?” The man turned to face her, his expression congenial – eyes still cold.

                “Um…I do, actually.” She managed, pressing herself against the desk as the man advanced on her. Holly now noticed that he’d placed himself between her and the door – which meant there was no way she could get to help should she happen to need it.

                “Do you?” Now Luckston was a mere two feet away, and Holly found her entire body tensing as he loomed ever closer. Warning sirens wailed in her head, and her stomach clenched in trepidation. She realized, far too late, that it had been a mistake to let this man get her alone. “Well, that’s unfortunate, Holly. Just too damn unfortunate.”

                Holly grabbed hold of the first thing her scrabbling fingers found on Tommy’s desk – which just so happened to be a stapler. Before she could put too much thought into it, she swung the object forward towards Kirk Luckston’s face – only to have her wrist caught in a strong, jarring grip. When the dark-haired woman opened her mouth to scream, Kirk’s opposite hand closed around her throat in a painfully tight grip, cutting off her airflow within milliseconds.

                Luckston performed these actions with the ease of someone practiced in them – and not once did his expression change from one of congenial friendliness. “Now, Holly, I want you to listen to me.”

                As if she had a choice. The man was choking her, his grip so tight that stars soon burst to life before her vision. “You’re not going to scream. You’re not going to yell. In fact, if you utter one peep to do anything other than answer when I speak to you, I’m going to take this stapler to places you can’t even imagine. Do we understand one another?”

                Her heart pounding wildly, Holly nodded. Luckston let her gasp for air a little while longer before he finally released her. As air rushed back into her system, Holly began to tremble. She was caught between fury and terrible, crippling fury at the man who still held her. He plucked the stapler from her grasp to toss aside before locking eyes with her once more.

                “That’s better. Now, I think, we’re ready to talk.”

                The young woman’s gaze narrowed to a glare. “What do you want?”

                Luckston hit her – and not just a warning shot. He hauled off and slammed the flat of his hand into her jaw so hard she went reeling from the desk to the floor with a thud that jarred her joints. Pain exploded through her line of vision and she tasted blood in her mouth – and in that instant, Holly knew that this was not a man to be trifled with. Any thought she might have had of standing up to him was going to hurt.

A lot.

                “What,” Kirk cracked the bones in the knuckles of the hand with which he’d struck her. “Did I just say?”

                This time, Holly said absolutely nothing. She knew better. She touched her lip, wincing when she found the rent skin and her fingers came away stained red.

                “There we go.” Kirk chuckled darkly, the edge of insanity in his voice. “I think she gets it now.”

                The last time Holly had been so helplessly afraid was the night Tommy had been killed. Was tonight going to be like that night?