She shook her head. "How long?"
"Months." His mouth twisted with rancor. "A few weeks ago I had you alone in my office, half-naked in my private bathroom. If it hadn't been for Ben, you would have been mine then. Then, I tried to get you alone the night of the charity event. God, I was so close, too. You were drugged and you were so willing to do whatever I wanted."
Thank God Ben had come to her rescue. "What else?" she asked, needing to know everything.
"Those snakes you received in the mail? I sent them to you." He looked very pleased with himself. "I had it timed for me to arrive when you opened your mail that day. I sat out in my car and watched through the windows of your business as you took the package to your office. I was going to walk inside The Big Event as you opened the box and discovered the snakes." His expression turned irate. "I was supposed to be the one you ran to for protection. I was the one who was supposed to save you, but Ben was there. Always Ben!"
Christine couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Nobody appreciates what I do," Craig ranted angrily as he paced in front of her. "Not you. Not my family. Not even my father! I'm the one who helped Charles Lambert win the election so that my father's development company could get the contract to rebuild the lower west side. I'm the one who sent those threats to your father to drop out of the race so Lambert and my father would benefit from all the extra income that new development would generate. But nobody appreciated what I tried to do. Especially not my father. Instead, he told me I was an idiot for doing something so stupid." His rage over his father's slur was tangible.
Christine had to agree with Jonathan Crosby about his son's state of mind, but there was one thing that didn't make sense to her. "But my father didn't drop out of the race."
"I know." Craig shook his head in mock sadness. "And I did warn him that if he didn't step down that he'd lose what was most precious to him. And here you are now."
His smile was pure evil.
"You don't want to do this, Craig," she said, doing and saying whatever it took to change his mind. Because right now, she had no leverage other than her words that could save her.
"I'm so tired of everyone taking and taking and taking from me," he said spitefully. "Now I'm going to take what I want, and nobody is going to stop me. Not even your precious Ben. Tonight, you're all mine."
"I'll never be yours, Craig," she said, her voice strong and sure in her conviction. "I love Ben, and nothing you do to me will ever change that."
"Shut up!" he yelled, then backhanded her across the face, the force of it causing her head to snap to the side. "Shut the fuck up!"
He knotted her hair in his fist, yanked back her head, and brought his mouth down on hers. She fought the kiss, the invasion of his tongue, refusing to give even a small part of herself to him. And that only infuriated him more.
His hands pulled at her dress and groped her, making her physically ill at the thought of what was about to happen down here in this isolated, secluded cellar. With her hands tied behind her back, struggling against him was futile. All she could do was close her eyes, detach herself from the situation, and pray that it was over quickly.
Chapter Seventeen
BEN glanced at his watch for the fifth time in so many minutes. It had been nearly twenty minutes since Christine told him she needed to go to the ladies' room, and he was still waiting on her. He shifted restlessly in his seat and glanced back in the direction of the ladies' room, but still, nothing.
"You know how women can be when they go to the restroom," Kevin said, obviously sensing his impatience. "She's probably fussing with her hair and makeup."
Primping just wasn't Christine's thing. Sure, she always looked like a million bucks, but she wasn't one to spend a whole lot of time in front of a mirror. Something just wasn't settling right with him.
"Either that, or one of the guests waylaid her to wish her a happy birthday," Ronnie suggested.
"Could be." He knew it was possible that she'd gotten sidetracked, but something was gnawing at those instincts within him, and he wasn't about to ignore them. "I'm going to go to look for her."
He strolled back toward the restrooms and glanced around the general area. He circled the dance floor and then into the main bar area to check there, too. Still, there was no sign of Christine, and he blew out a frustrated stream of breath in order to keep his growing anxiety at bay.
One of the bar waitresses passed by him with a tray full of drinks. He recognized the woman as Jodie, who'd delivered cocktails to their table a few times tonight. Pretty much everyone at Envy thought that he was Christine's boyfriend, and he used that to his advantage now.
He stopped the young woman, who looked up at him with a harried smile. "Hi, Jodie. Have you seen Christine?" he asked hopefully.
"Actually, yes I have," she replied. "Mr. Crosby had me take her down to the wine cellar to pick out a bottle of champagne for her birthday. That was a while ago, so I can't imagine that she'd still be there, though."
Just the mention of Craig's name had Ben's stomach twisting into huge, gigantic knots. "Was Craig with her?"
"Not when I left her there, though I did see Craig go in that direction soon after, probably to help her pick out one of the champagne's from his private collection."
It was clear to Ben that Jodie was oblivious to Craig's nefarious side. "Look, I need you to take me to wherever the wine cellar is."
"Can it wait a few minutes?" She indicated her tray, brimming with bottles of beers and other cocktails. "I've got to get this drink order delivered."
"No, it can't." Ben didn't have a few minutes to wait, or to waste. "I need you to take me there, now," he said urgently. "Christy might be in trouble."
A startled look passed over Jodie's features, but thankfully she didn't argue, or try to assure him that Christine was okay. Instead, she caught the attention of another bar waitress and asked the other woman to deliver the drinks for her. Then she led the way down a private corridor behind the main bar. They came to a stop at the last door at the end of the hallway.
"Here's the cellar. I left the door open. I really do doubt they're here." she said, even as she fished a key ring from her front apron pocket. "But if it makes you feel better, we can double-check to be sure."
"Thanks." Ben wasn't going anywhere until he knew for certain that Christine wasn't down in that cellar.
She unlocked the door, and as soon as it opened Ben heard a woman's muffled attempt at yelling, some scuffling, then Craig spoke.
"Who's up there?" he demanded harshly, making Ben realize that he couldn't see all the way up the stairs to the door, which worked to his advantage.
Jodie was staring at Ben with wide, startled eyes. Apparently, she had come to the realization that Craig had set her up to get Christine down in the cellar alone. Ben nodded his head, indicating for her to reply.
"It's Jodie, Mr. Crosby," she said, her voice steady despite the look of dismay on her face. "Is Christine down there with you?"
"No, she's not," Craig replied in a crisp tone, and again there was another noise that sounded like he was trying to restrain or subdue someone. "She left a while ago. Now, I'd like some privacy down here and I don't want to be bothered or interrupted. Make sure everyone upstairs knows that."
"Yes, Mr. Crosby."
Jodie drew the door closed, but left it so that it didn't shut tightly and Ben could easily push it back open. When she glanced back at him, her panic increased when she saw that he'd withdrawn the gun he'd had concealed.