A familiar scent of dust and clay floated by her nose as she slowly opened her eyes. She closed them again as a sharp pain shot across her forehead. Elizabeth opened her eyes a second time. Off in the distance stood a tall, familiar figure.
Unbelievable.
She narrowed her eyes to sharpen her blurry vision.
It wasn’t the situation she found herself in that was unbelievable; it was more the lengths this man had gone to, all for the sake of cash flow. Then again, part of her wasn’t surprised at all. Elizabeth had known involving him would come back to bite her, but she’d never expected it to happen this quickly or for the cost to be this high.
As her vision cleared, Maximilian’s piercing blue eyes and chiselled jawline came into view. She didn’t understand how someone so attractive could be so dark and cruel. The tall, dark-haired man lifted his muscular frame off the table and walked towards her. As he approached, she saw the desperation in his eyes.
The remaining pieces of the sword are safe for now.
She kept her eyes on him as he stopped and towered over her. He reached out and lowered her gag.
‘You do realise that I know where I am?’ Elizabeth looked at the dusty shelves.
Maximilian shrugged.
Elizabeth looked back at him. ‘I can’t believe you killed Pippa.’
‘Based on the fact that I haven’t been pulled in for questioning, I can assume that all you have is a conspiracy theory and no actual facts.’ Maximilian scratched his temple.
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. ‘So, you’re playing innocent.’
‘He has my parents and has injected my mother with a virus. I’m at his mercy. The deal is I do exactly what he says. My mother will receive the antidote and live.’ A pinched expression swept across his face.
Elizabeth struggled against her bonds. ‘You’re an idiot if you think this will turn out well for you.’
Closing his eyes, Maximilian took a deep breath, then opened them again slowly. ‘You’re asking me to choose between my mother and saving your career from your own stupid mistakes?’
‘I guess we both know how quickly you can make that decision.’ Elizabeth cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrows.
Maximilian shrugged. ‘You seem so sure about everything, don’t you?’
Elizabeth leaned back in the chair and looked up at the man towering over her. ‘I told you at the Victoria and Albert Museum event that he would be trouble, but you wouldn’t listen.’
Maximilian shook his head. ‘You had no money to fund the dig other than the little money the council gave you. I did what was necessary.’
‘I never asked you to rush in and save the day.’
‘Where is the rest of the sword?’ Maximilian walked towards the desk, sat down, and crossed his arms.
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said as she struggled against her bonds one more time.
‘The sword is in pieces. We’re both aware of this. I was there for the discovery.’
‘Have you stopped to consider why he wants the sword and what he might do with it?’ Elizabeth said, softening her tone.
‘One problem at a time.’ Maximilian rubbed his hand over the top of the desk as if he were in deep thought.
‘I will not let you hand over the sword to him. Not after everything I’ve been through to get it. And I have my reputation to think of,’ Elizabeth said as she glanced over at the rows of shelves.
Maximilian stood up and walked towards Elizabeth. He bent down, gripped the back of her chair, and raised his eyebrows at her. ‘I think your professional reputation will survive this. You have a life raft hovering around you with connections, eager to save the day.’
As Maximilian stared at her, faint screams cried out, far off in the distance.
‘What have you done?’ Elizabeth looked towards the shelves, knowing that in one of the other archives, in the basement of the Northampton Museum of Anthropology, another woman was in trouble.
‘Where is it?’ He inched closer to her.
She could feel his grip tighten on the chair. ‘You’ve made a mistake.’ Elizabeth looked into his eyes. Keep it together. I don’t want this jerk to have the satisfaction of knowing I’m terrified.
‘Where is the rest of the sword?’ He shook her chair violently, and the room spun.
‘It was all in my office before I left for the dinner in London. I swear, it was there. Perhaps someone else beat you to it.’
‘Do you expect me to believe your bullshit story?’ Maximilian stood up and placed his hands on his hips. ‘I’ve checked the museum database, and it shows that you recorded one piece of the sword.’
‘If you say so.’ Elizabeth shrugged.
‘You’ve purposely hidden the remaining pieces.’
‘I listed the sword as one item. There’s no need to register the individual pieces. Don’t tell me how to do my job.’
Elizabeth tried to lean forward against her bonds.
‘I’m done playing nice with you.’ Maximilian picked up a pair of pliers off the dusty metal shelves behind him.
Another muffled scream echoed across the archives.
‘Who is the other woman you have locked down here?’
‘Why are you so concerned about some random scream? You have far bigger problems.’ Her captor inched toward her, opened the pliers, then fixed his gaze on her bound hands.