Page 120 of When He Plays

“Come in the cage with me.” Louder. Harder. Not begging. “You think you’re so tough. So strong.” So smart. “Come in the cage with me. Face off with me when I’m not unconscious and drugged like your other victims!”

But he made no move to come closer.

Why not?

“Morris was following my orders,” he revealed to her.

Did the bastard just like to hear himself talk or what?

“He didn’t run this place. I did. That’s how I knew Evans had so much debt. That’s also how I knew I could keep you and Harper prisoner in my wonderful, electrified cage. I’d recently made the upgrade. Thought it would be fun. Was planning to put Logan’s wannabe ball player, Jake, in here and watch him get fried when he tried to run away from a competitor. But Logan screwed that up, didn’t he? So I figured, hey, if his fake son can’t fry in the cage, then how about his fake wife?”

He knew they’d gotten married? Had Evans revealed that intel? If so, “Nothing fake about me,” she blasted. Her gaze darted over the fencing around her. If Logan was out there, then he needed to know…“Is it still turned on?” A yell. One that she made sure carried. “Is the fence going to electrocute me if I touch it right now? Are you just waiting for me to try and get out so I can get knocked unconscious again? Is that part of your game?” Was that why he hadn’t come inside with her?

Logan isn’t dead. He’s here. He is listening. Waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

“That’s why you’re being so careful, isn’t it?” she charged. Trying to keep his attention on her. Trying to make sure her voice was loud enough so that Logan was warned about the cage. “You’re not touching the fence. You’re staying just beyond the cage. It’s wired to fry anyone who touches the fencing. You think I’ll break down, I’ll try to escape, and I’ll be knocked out again!”

“Eventually, you will have to try. Not like you can just stay in there forever.” His right hand slid toward his side. Toward the pocket of the gray sports coat he wore. “And it’s fun to watch you fry. It’s fun to watch your whole body shudder and quake when the voltage pours through you. Maybe next time, you’ll even piss yourself when you go down. Or maybe your heart will stop for a few precious moments, and you’ll be still and cold as⁠—”

A roar cut through his words. A roar from the darkness.

Carmichael tried to turn and look back toward that sound, but it was too late.

A shadow broke free from the enveloping darkness and lunged at him. Carmichael’s body was thrown up against the cage. He slammed into the fencing, and electricity immediately surged through him as he began to shudder and scream.

Logan—a very much alive and furious Logan—had tossed Carmichael against the fencing.

“Time for your heart to fucking stop,” Logan snarled.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Rage churned through Logan. It obliterated all rational thought. “Time for your heart to stop. Time for you to piss yourself. Time for you to die.”

Carmichael jerked and shuddered and fell to the floor. Logan had just tossed the bastard against the cage. He’d heard Charlotte’s words and known what he had to do.

Freaking electrified caging? What fresh hell was this?

So he’d tossed Carmichael into the fencing, and the bastard had jolted as if he’d been tased times twenty. Now Carmichael was on the floor, not moving, and Logan yanked out the knife Ares had brought to him back at the hotel.

Charlotte’s favorite knife. Seemed fitting that he would use it to end Carmichael’s life. He brought that knife down in a pounding slice right toward the bastard’s heart.

“No!” A bellow. And the knife was knocked out of Logan’s grip. “You can’t! Shit! He’s down. Stop! He’s down!”

Logan found himself glaring right at Sebastian Shay. Fucking true-blue types. “I told you to stay the hell out of my way!” Hadn’t he told the man that very specific thing at least four times during the frantic race to this location?

“Yeah, well, someone has to stop you from killing the guy! He’s under arrest! We’ve got him. He’s out of commission.” Sebastian glared at Logan. “Go get your wife and Harper. I have him.”

It would be so easy to kill Carmichael. Didn’t Sebastian get that? Had the man never seen a single scary movie in his life? You didn’t stop when the monster was down. You annihilated the fucker then and there.

“Logan!”

His head whipped toward the cage. Toward Charlotte. The absolute love of his life.

Who was in a cage. Who had been electrocuted. A growl built in his throat.

“I knew you weren’t dead!” Charlotte shouted to him. “I knew you were coming!”

“Get her out,” Sebastian snapped. “I have him.”