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Grady Jones slipped his love letter and gift under the door. He cursed when Angel lunged against the door. Why hadn’t the damned dog died yesterday? He’d put enough ketamine in the treats to kill an elephant. Damn that dog. He had to go. Grady cursed to himself and swiftly ran to the elevator. Thankfully, it was still on Mic’s floor. Grady jumped in and pushed the button. The elevator door had closed partway when Angel came for him. A second later, Angel knocked Grady to the floor. Angel stood on his chest and held him securely to the floor. Angel snarled at him, every tooth bared as he stared into the eyes of the terrified man.
Mic, pistol in hand, ran over and looked down at his face. She was shocked when she realized who he was. “Oh, my God, Grady Jones. What in the hell are you doing on the ship?” she asked sharply as confusion seeped through her mind and she tried to figure out why he was there. “What the hell are you doing here, especially outside my stateroom?”
This guy was a former busboy from Biddy McPherson’s her Irish restaurant in Richmond, the favorite watering hole of the Richmond police force. Mic studied Grady’s face. He had changed a lot in the few years since Michaela had seen him. He was bigger, buff, and in great physical shape. She recalled him as young and thin. His normally sandy-blond hair was dyed brown.
Grady stared up at her. His eyes narrowed and his lips parted in half. “Yeah. It’s me. The guy who loves you and the busboy you fired years ago.” Grady’s anger seethed through clenched teeth. “Get this damned dog off me,” he demanded.
Mic remembered that Grady had had a serious crush on her years ago when she’d let him go from the restaurant after it became awkward. She’d given him a good reference to work in a similar pub in Charlottesville. She hadn’t heard from him since. And now he was on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean staring up at her while Angel held him captive on the floor in the elevator.
Grady was angry and defiant, “Get this frickin’ dog off me,” he hissed through gritted teeth.
Mic stared at Grady as anger seeped through her as she realized Grady had poisoned Angel. Red anger flooded her mind and she could hardly think. Fortunately, she recovered quickly, “So you were in my room the other night, you disgusting pervert.” she said as fury propelled her to action.
Angel’s weight crushed Grady’s chest. The dog snarled and growled at him non-stop. One word from Mic and Angel would tear into the man’s carotid arteries and Grady would be history.
“Get the damned dog off me. NOW,” he screamed. “He can’t be with us. He isn’t part of our relationship. You’ll have to shoot him,” Grady ordered as his lazy eye wandered up to look at Angel and his other eye held Mic’s angry green eyes.
Mic was shocked. “What? There is no relationship. We have no relationship, Grady. We never have.” She held her gun on Grady, dug her phone out of her pocket, and called Dottie who answered in a sleepy voice.
“Michaela, is everything all right?”
Mic laughed shortly and said, “Get your security people here. I know who broke into my room, cut up my clothes, and stole my shoes. I have him, or rather Angel has him, captive in the elevator,” Michaela informed her.
“Done,” Dottie said shortly, and several minutes later, she appeared at the elevator dressed in an elegant royal blue bathrobe. Her jaw dropped as she looked at the man on the elevator floor and recognized him.
“What the hell? Michaela, isn’t this the creepy teenager that had a crush on you for years?” she asked as she stared down at an openly defiant Grady Jones.
“You’re such a bitch, a nosey, interfering old bat,” Grady hissed at her. “I hate you, you old-lady bitch,” he yelled.
Angel snarled and looked at Mic for direction. Then the massive canine turned back to Grady.
“Well,” Dottie sniffed as she examined him closely, “at least you look a little better than you used to. Your hair is nasty, but your acne’s gone and you have a couple of muscles.”
Mic laughed, astonished at Dottie’s assessment. “He’s no different, just the same old Grady Jones... a little older and the same someone wants what he can’t have,” Mic said as she ridiculed the young man.
Grady glared at her with murderous eyes. “You’ll be punished for that, Michaela,” he promised.
“Punished?” Mic said as she arched her eyebrows, with her angry green eyes fixed on him. “I hardly think I’ll be punished. And he’s the one who poisoned Angel,” she told Dottie as she held Angel’s harness and kept her gun trained on Grady’s head.
“You little pock-faced bastard.” Dottie choked. “Let Angel take him out,” Dottie suggested. “He tried to kill him and he gave you drugs,” she snapped and then added as she smiled, “That’s poetic justice.”
Mic was furious as she searched Grady Jones’s eyes. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing, Grady?”
Grady looked up at her, his eyes bold and empty with a strange mixture of cold and fire behind them. “I’m getting you, Michaela. I’m making you mine... just like it should be.”
That’s when she realized he was insane.
Grady gave her a small, sly smile, his eyes cold, and his tone icy. “I’m taking you, Michaela. You know we’re meant to be together, but somehow I never could make you understand that.”
“Not in this lifetime,” Mic promised.
“Get the damned dog off me,” Grady insisted. “You’ve got a gun pointed at me.”
Michaela stared at him. Part of her felt sorry for him, the other part hated him. “At ease, Angel,” she said. Angel jumped off Grady’s chest. “Go to Dottie,” she commanded. Angel walked over beside Dottie, but his eyes never left Mic.
“Grady, you’re in a lot of trouble for this. You’ll be arrested and held prisoner on the ship,” Mic said as she looked down at him.
Grady laughed at her as he sat up on the elevator floor. He was much larger and more powerful than Michaela remembered. She took a step back from him. A second later, Grady karate-chopped Mic’s lower leg, and knocked her to the floor. Her gun hit the elevator wall and bounced from her hand. Grady’s snatched the gun and pinned her down to the floor. He trained her gun on her face and slapped her hard.
It happened so quickly. Mic was stunned and saw stars from the blow to her head. Her lower leg screamed pain and for a moment, she wondered if he’d broken her shin bone with the blow.
Angel growled and pulled against his harness, but Dottie held him firmly. She fished her gun out of her blue bathrobe and pointed it at Grady.
“Let me go and we’ll let it go. We won’t press charges,” Mic pleaded, her green eyes dark with concern and pain. “Dottie will work it so the ship’s police don’t arrest you right, Dottie?” Mic asked.
Grady laughed shortly. “No way will I ever let you go, Michaela. We’re meant to be together. I’ve tried to show you that over the years, but you’ve scorned me. Now, you must accept it. This is our time,” he said, a small smile on his face. “Starting now, we’ll be together for eternity.” His face was flushed, and there was a strange light in his eyes.
“Let her go, dumb, stupid teenager,” Dottie said between clenched teeth as she held her gun on him. “Now, you little pervert,” she threatened, “or I’m blowing your fricking brains all over the elevator.” Her voice was steely, very much unlike her own.
Grady laughed and looked at her. “Screw you, you old bat. You shoot me, I’ll shoot her, and then you’ll be all alone... you and the dog,” he said with a laugh. “The old bat and her big dog,” he mimicked as his lazy eye fixed on Mic and the other on Dottie. “No, on second thought, I’ll kill the dog and then you be ALL alone,” he said with a maniacal laugh.
“No, Dottie. No,” Mic pleaded. “I’ve got this,” she promised. She gave her a ferocious look. “Put your gun away,” Mic said as she turned back to Grady. “You’re not taking me anywhere. Let me go, dammit,” she said as she struggled against Grady’s superior strength. She had no idea the man was that strong.
Grady smacked her in the face again. “Stop struggling or I’ll hit you harder. Don’t fight me or I’ll shoot you, the old girl, and the dog if I need to,” he said forcefully as he wagged the gun at her and then stuck it on the side of her neck.
“You’ll never shoot me, Grady. We both know that,” Mic scoffed as she rolled her eyes, and pivoted her body to get away from him.
Grady nodded his head and pushed the gun further into her neck. “Yeah, I will. Trust me. If I can’t have you, no one else will either,” he assured her. He paused for a moment and watched anger flash across Michaela’s face. “Now, you’re gonna get up slowly, very slowly and we’re gonna push this button, take the elevator down, and get off. Then we’ll hide somewhere and wait until it’s time to get off the ship,” he sneered at her as he reached for the elevator button.
Mic laughed at him. “Not on your life, Grady. Why the hell would I go anywhere with you? You tried to kill my dog and you gave me drugs. You were in my room the other night,” she glared, her emerald eyes burned with disgust.
Grady smiled as he remembered their tantalizing night and said, “Yeah, I was. But you were unable to do a damned thing about it. Yeah, like you can’t do anything now,” he teased as he gazed at her with cold eyes.
Dottie was livid with anger. “You’re a little chicken bastard, Grady. You’ll never get away with this,” she told him.
Grady kept his eyes on Mic’s face and said, “Tell the old bitch to shut up. If she doesn’t, I’ll kill you first,” he said as he stared into her eyes. “Tell the old girl to put her gun away or I’ll kill you,” he promised in a soft voice.
Mic knew he was serious. “Dottie, take Angel and go. We’ll be okay. Please, I mean it.”
Dottie started to argue and Grady slapped Mic in the side of her head. “If you don’t leave, old lady, I’m gonna smack your friend until you can’t recognize her,” he threatened.
“Okay, we’re gone,” Dottie said. “Don’t hit her again. The dog and I are leaving.”
Grady watched Dottie and Angel disappear. He held Mic tightly, the gun burrowed into her neck. “Push the button, bitch,” he said as he pushed her toward the elevator buttons.
Mic gaped at him and struggled against his strength, but it was useless. He was rock solid and outweighed her by fifty pounds.
Grady smirked at her efforts. “If you don’t cooperate, I’ll give you more drugs, and then you’ll do exactly what I say,” he said with a dangerous look on his face. He paused for a moment and then added, “And, this time, I won’t be nearly as kind as the other night.” A strange light shone through his eyes and Mic’s blood chilled.
She shuddered on the inside and stood quietly in the elevator as it descended into the bowels of the ship. She considered her situation. She knew she’d be able to get away from him at some point, but first she needed to retrieve her gun.
The elevator stopped and Grady pushed her body forward. He snarled at her. “Now get off the damned elevator and keep your mouth shut,” he said as he jerked her arm and pulled her off the elevator and into a dark hall.
“Where... where are we?” Mic asked as she looked around. She knew her location was aft, but the area and the lower deck were totally unfamiliar. It was dark and dismal and no one was around.
Grady saw the confusion on Michaela’s face and smiled a thin evil smile. He was in control of her for the first time in his life. “We’re as far down in this boat as we can go,” he said in a rough voice. “The engines are down here and there are a few cabins that are rarely used.”
Mic nodded as she tried to remember the ship’s diagram she’d seen in her stateroom. She was cooperative as Grady hustled her past blocks of maintenance areas and equipment. No staff or employees were around. Michaela wondered if they were between shifts, but she truly had no idea. She was lost in the bowels of the ship.
“We’ll get off the ship in a little while. In the meantime, you’ll do exactly what I say. Is that clear?” he demanded and gloated with a happy grin as he opened the door of a small cabin.
He gestured her toward the bed.
Mic gritted her teeth, moved forward, obediently sat at the end of the bed, and stared at him. Her heart beat steadily as she looked around and plotted her getaway.
Grady shook his head and frowned. “I can see from your face you’re scheming to leave, but rest assured you’ll be dead before you get to the door. I’ll throw your body in the bilge or the propeller. No one will ever know what happened to you,” he said with a sly smile.
Mic saw the crazy look in his eyes. “You’ll never get away with this you piece of slime. Never,” she said angrily through clenched teeth. She hated to feel helpless.
Grady moved closer to her and his eyes held hers. “Yeah, I will, and that’s what scares you, isn’t it?” His eyes raked over her body. “Now, isn’t it convenient you have on loose clothes,” he said with a lewd smile.
Michaela’s muscles flexed as he came for her, gun in hand.
“Now, lay down,” he said as he struck her once again on the side of her face.
Michaela obeyed him and lay down on the bed, her ear ringing in pain.