"He can't hurt me here, Kas!" she yells back, exasperated by his over-protectiveness.

He pulls his chair out and guides her down into it as he grabs a file, placing it unopened in front of her. "You have no idea what he's capable of," his words ominous as his eyes darken. He opens the file and commands her to look.

Raina's hand flies to her mouth trying to stop the bile that shoots up her throat from the sight of the gruesome photos in front of her.

Kas gently takes her chin, forcing her gaze back to the file. "This is the type of man he is, Raina. I doubt his hands caused these girl's deaths, but it was his orders that executed them."

He sits on the edge of the desk and pulls her gaze up to his as he commands her sternly, "You will not go near him again. Do not disobey me with this, Raina! If you even think of leaving this room, I swear I'll handcuff your stubborn little a.s.s to the chair."

He slides off the desk, closing the file and locking it away before turning back to her, giving her one final warning with the seriousness behind his threat burning in his eyes.

Raina takes a shaky breath as she leans back in her chair. The images of the b.l.o.o.d.y dead bodies burn in her mind, and she wants to cry, but refuses to give the unseen satisfaction to the man she was mere inches away from less than five minutes ago. She wraps her arms around her middle, suddenly very cold.

Kas' threat rings in her ears, and she's a little afraid to move from her chair, never before seeing him so angry at her. She knows he wouldn't hurt her, he's only trying to protect her from the man that ordered the monstrosities of what happened to the girls in the photos, but she's pretty sure he wouldn't have any issues following through with what he said, if he thought it would keep her safe.

She hears a knock on the door, and she hesitates before leaving her appointed chair to open it.

Erik pulls her into a hug as he steps into the room, "Been sent to your room, huh?"

Raina bites her lip and shrugs, thoroughly embarra.s.sed, "More like his room."

"Yeah, I heard. The walls are like paper here."

Raina scoffs, "So, I've heard."

"You know he's just scared for you, right?" Erik asks her, playfully chucking her under the chin, "he'll cool off."

"I know," she tells him as he wraps his arm around her shoulders.

"Wanna order some Thai food and spill the sauce on his carpet?"

Raina laughs, appreciating Erik's attempt to lighten the mood. "Sure, but you're taking the blame if he finds the stains."

Erik stays with Raina until Kas returns. He gives her one last chuck under her chin as he leaves, asking Kas not to be too hard on her.

"I guess I was pretty hard on you," he admits, letting out a long breath when he looks at her. "It's just that, with everything that's happened lately, and with what Parker's done to those girls, I can't stand the thought of something happening to you."

"I know," she whispers, giving one last glimpse at the chair he had threatened to handcuff her to. "Did he talk?"

Kas grinds his teeth as he shakes his head, "No."

Raina wants to ask him to reconsider letting her try again, but decides to wait until he's calmed down and when his cuffs are nowhere near him.

"You hungry?" Kas asks, pulling her into his arms, feeling bad at how he yelled at her earlier.

She shakes her head, a small smile curving her lips, making Kas want to suckle her lip right then and there. "I ate with Erik," she begins, then her worried eyes shoot to his, quickly clarifying that she didn't leave the room, telling him they ordered in.

Kas sighs, wrapping his arms around her, happy she obeyed him, knowing how dangerous and powerful Prizrak is, but hating ordering her around.

Holding her hand as they walk to the jeep, he glances at her, a little worried about her reaction to his outburst. She leans into him, giving him some relief. He delivers a kiss full of everything he's feeling at the moment, trying to let her know how much he loves her.

It's past midnight when they get home, and they quickly get ready for bed. Raina snuggles up to Kas when he slides in bed beside her, laying her head on his chest, quiet for several minutes before finally asking, "Would you really have hand-cuffed me to the chair?"

He sighs, gently slipping out from under her head and sitting up, "Absolutely, darling." He laughs at her puffed out lip and the indignation glaring in her eyes. "I would never hurt you, Rain, but I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, even if that means temporarily restraining you for your own good."

She studies his face, confusing thoughts run through her head as she processes his soft threat. "I don't want you to handcuff me," she whispers, the thought causing her obvious emotional turmoil.

"You might like it, they can be a lot of fun" he teases, trying to ease her.

She rolls her eyes, "I'm being serious, Kas."

"I am too, darlin'," he laughs.

Despite his trying to lighten the mood, he sees her worry, "Don't look at me like that, sweetheart, I'm not trying to scare you." He stops, choosing his next words carefully, "You do things sometimes without thinking of the consequences, and that can get you seriously hurt, or even dead, darlin'. I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening to you."

"You put yourself in danger all the time, Kas, and you choose to do it, fully knowing the possible consequences. You have chosen to risk your life to save others, and that's your choice to make." She pauses, not wanting to start an all-out war with her next words, "We can't just let people continue to die because I won't talk to him, or because you won't let me talk to him. My helping to find these girls, to play Prizrak's game, that's my choice to make. Besides, I have you to protect me."

She feels him stiffen next to her, sees the fire rekindle in his eyes, and she braces herself for his tongue lashing, but he remains quiet. She watches and waits for him to go into his all hyper-protective mode but he doesn't move. His silence unnerves her, and she sits up next to him, his unusual reaction making her nervous and fidgety, wondering what he is thinking right now.

"Say something" she whispers.

He lays his head back against the headboard as he stares at the ceiling, lost in deep thought. He sighs and runs his hands through his thick, dark curls, "You're right."

She stares at him vacantly, "What?"

He turns towards her and grabs her hands, "You're right, the lives of these girls may very well depend on your playing his game as far as talking with him."

She sees his eyes turn dark again as he plays with her fingers in his lap.

"But, you are never to be in there with him alone, do you understand me? I will not budge on that, Raina," he warns.

She lays her head on his shoulder, "I promise."

"Rain? You do know that I would never hurt you, right?" he asks, praying his rash reaction today didn't cause any regression.

"I have no doubts about you ever hurting me," she a.s.sures him, her jade eyes shining the truth of her words when she looks at him, causing him to visibly relax.

"Good, now go to sleep, it's late."

She lays back down but can't stay still.

"What is it now, Rain?"

She peers at him from underneath her lashes, all shy and insecure, "Now I'm-I'm a little curious about the handcuffs."

A wolfish smile spreads across his lips, and a wicked gleam brightens his eyes, "Well, then allow me to satisfy your curiosity, Mrs. Pierce."

Raina is in the interrogation room with Parker again the next morning. Jake is close by her side as he lets her lead the way. She pulls a chair out across from Parker, smiling emotionlessly, matching his steady gaze as she asks him to confirm his given name.

"Yes, my name is Evan Parker. So, what? Do you know how many people have the same name as me?" Leaning his arms on the table casually, he folds his hands nonchalantly, "Isn't 'Prizrak' a Russian word?" He smirks smugly, "I have no Russian blood in my veins, I'm one-hundred-percent American." He sits back, all relaxed, making Raina's blood boil. "You're barking up the wrong tree, sweetheart."

Raina resists the urge to punch the smug smile straight off of his face, refusing to let him know he is getting to her. "You are the only Evan Parker that has been in the same areas at the same time as numerous bids that took place."

"I travel quite frequently with my business." He leans towards the table again, "As you know, I'm in sales, it's a very lucrative company I've established." His eyes wickedly gleam the true meaning behind his words. "I've created several sophisticated security systems for computers, as well as made high-tech storage units, but I'm pretty sure you're already aware of that." He places his fingertips flush against his pursed lips and winks.

Raina wants to crawl onto the table, wrap her hands around his neck, squeezing the life out of the narcissistic jacka.s.s, but she keeps her cool, calmly adjusting her position in the chair adjacent from him, her gaze never wavering from his, which seems to amuse him immensely.

"You really are beautiful. I think you are in the wrong profession. I should introduce you to so many other opportunities."

Kas has to make himself not bust out the two-way mirror and kill Parker for his veiled threat.

"Thank you for the invitation, but it will be really hard for you to keep up with all of your business transactions when you are rotting away in a concrete cell," Raina replies, her voice mockingly sweet.

"I must have missed something. Can you put me at the...what did you call them? Oh, yes, bids. Is there any d.a.m.ning evidence you can show me?"

"The storage units that you sell? They are very nice climate-controlled units painted with a special taupe paint strengthening the endurance of the metal, right?" she asks, not waiting for an answer, "you are the only Evan Parker who sells those types of units with that particular brand of paint."

Evan purses his lips, shrugging slightly, not showing any sign of stress.

"Five bodies have been recovered that have had the metal shavings with this special coating found on them. The exact same coating used on your storage units."

He lets out a loud laugh, "Oh, honey, my lawyer is going to have a field day with you. What you have is circ.u.mstantial, at best. I may be the only person with my name to sell the units, but do you have any idea how many several thousand clients I have who buy and use the units?"

Raina keeps her gaze steady, even though she knows he's going to walk, and that is killing her.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," he laughs, "I'll be going now." He looks at the mirror and winks, holding his hand up to his ear gesturing he wants to call his lawyer now.

"Before you go, I just want to let you know that you're forgetting one thing," she states, leaning on the table towards him, her voice no more than a tantalizing whisper.

He looks at her with his infuriatingly arrogant expression. "And what's that, sweetheart?" he asks lazily, drawling out the last part with sarcasm.

She smiles sweetly at him and leans in even closer, so he can see every glint of the unmistakable a.s.surance dancing in her eyes. "I am smarter than you," she says slowly, enunciating every taunting word to him.

Her smile widens as she witnesses his faade slip a fraction of a second, the fleeting flicker of self-doubt darkening his face. She sits in the room with him until his lawyer arrives, neither one saying another word as they stare at each other. Raina refuses to be the one to break the visual stand-off.

Evan's lawyer walks in the door with his things, handing him his cell phone and other personal items that were taken away when he was brought in, and he reluctantly looks away from her. He takes a few seconds with his phone before his gaze lands on her again, his earlier brief slip of confidence long gone, and his arrogant smile wider than ever. "I guess I'll be going now. Maybe I'll see you around, sweetheart."

"Count on it," she promises, her eyes following him out the door. It's not until he's rounded the corner that she drops back against her chair.

Jake shakes her shoulders, a proud grin all over his handsome face, "You did great!" He looks at Kas as he steps into the room, "I thought I was going to lose it when she leaned in and told his arrogant a.s.s that she is smarter than him."

Kas smiles at Raina, proclaiming his belief in her, "She is."

"I better be," she whispers, knowing what's at stake. Her gaze shifts to Kas, not feeling so intelligent at the moment for allowing the Ghost to walk out the door, "I'm sorry, I don't know how to interrogate."

"You did just fine, darlin'," Kas a.s.sures her. "We'll get him Rain, you really rattled him at the end." Kas feels both relief and immense worry about that fact.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE.

Kas watches Raina carefully all morning, neither of them mentioning the fact that this is Chris' release date, but both are very aware that he will be free in less than two hours. Kas has already met with his team and Erik, letting them know about the calls, the coded message, and the threat. Their reaction to the news caused him some needed relief, with each one a.s.suring him that they will help look out for her, agreeing that she shouldn't be alone for a while. Pete a.s.sured Kas that Chris already has the ankle monitor on and activated. Kas appreciates Pete's efforts with trying to keep Chris under tabs, but he's not taking any chances.

He throws their bag in the jeep before turning to look at Raina, "You ready, sweetheart?"

"My running away from this won't do any good," she tells him, being the first to finally mention the proverbial elephant in the room.

"You're not running away from anything, Rain. I want to take my wife to visit my grandparents in Tennessee for a long weekend," he tells her with his mouth-watering, c.o.c.ky grin. Unwelcome thoughts pierce his brain, knowing that Chris will regrettably still be here when they get back.

"How many horses do your grandparents have?" Raina asks, trying to forget about her haunting ex-boyfriend for a while.

"Twelve." Kas squeezes her hand, "I can teach you to ride if you want."

"I would love that," she answers truthfully, excitement starting to replace a little of her dread.

The drive to Savannah, Tennessee is beautiful, and Kas' distraction has worked. His tension eases as Raina smiles, looking out her window at the breathtaking scenery. His own smile brightens his face as he turns onto his grandparent's long dirt road. He turns to Raina, his fingers gently stroking her cheek when he sees her excitement as they pull up to his grandparent's large farm house.

He opens Raina's door as his grandmother rushes out to greet them, his grandfather not too far behind. "Hey, Mamaw," Kas hugs his grandmother warmly before hugging his grandfather, "Hey, Pops."

Pops takes Raina in his arms, giving her a good squeeze as Mamaw Pierce takes both hers and Kas' hands. "I hope ya'll are hungry, I made fried chicken."

Raina's stomach growls at the mention of food, not being able to eat much all day. She sees the guest house where they will be staying and falls in love with the covered screened in porch. She smiles at Kas, happy to see the worry finally dissipating from his eyes. Pops hands them a sweet tea and tells them to sit down while Mamaw Pierce finishes dinner.

Raina walks to the sink, washing her hands, not wanting to sit and watch while she works. "What can I help with?"

Kas' grandmother gives him an approving nod, "There's not too many girls willing to pitch in anymore like your wife, Kas. You've got a good one."

Raina blushes when she gives her a tight hug.

"I know, Mamaw. She's a great one."

Mamaw Pierce grins when she sees the look of love shared between her grandson and his wife. "Do you know how to make fried okra?"

Raina shakes her head.

"Well, c'mon, sugar, let me show you."

Kas leaves his wife in good hands as he walks outside with Pops to make sure the horses have enough hay.

"Cliff told me about what happened with her ex-boyfriend and how he's threatening her." He grabs a fallen bridle and hangs it up on the hook, before placing his hand on Kas' shoulder, "She's welcome here anytime, son. She's just as welcome as you are."

Kas places his hand over his grandfather's, "I know, Pops, thanks."

"I want you to promise me something, Kas. I want you to keep your head level and not do something stupid. I know you have a good head on your shoulders, but I also know that you will do anything to protect your wife. I'm not saying don't protect her, I'm just saying do it smart, son. Remember that she needs you with her, not sitting behind bars," his grandfather tells him, giving him a knowing look.