She exploded into action, driving toward him with her head. She planted the top of her skull hard in his gut, using the strength in her legs to knock the wind out of him as she took him down. Straddling him, she punched and she punched hard. Three wicked blows to his face. One to his jaw. She rolled off when he went to snag her wrists, and she kicked him as she rolled away, a hard heel to his thigh.

He caught her ankle and twisted, rolling her over to her stomach. He didn’t want to hurt her, but she was wild, trying to lunge up. He pinned her down with his weight, caught one of her wrists and snapped cuffs around it.

“Settle down, Cat. I’m not leaving you here for him to find. You’re coming with me.”

“You have nothing on me. You can’t arrest me.”

“I’m not arresting you, I’m taking you out of here. Stop struggling or I’m going to have to knock your ass out.”

That only served to make her struggle harder. He clipped the other bracelet to his own wrist, caught her free arm and dragged it behind her back, locking it high.

“You keep this up and you’ll break your own fucking arm. Be smart,” he snapped, using his toughest no-nonsense voice. He was deliberately rough with her. She expected gentle from him and he wasn’t going to give that to her. It was imperative he got her moving fast and the only way to do that was to be himself.

He’d never been kind and gentle in his life until Catarina. It wasn’t in his nature. He was rough around the edges, used to getting his way, and when he said move, people moved. She wasn’t doing any of that, and she still looked at him with blank eyes as if she were totally dead inside.

He yanked her to her feet, dragged her to the other side of the bed, where he scooped up her clothes and stuffed them into her travel bag. “Anything else important to you?” he snapped.

She didn’t answer. He left the cash behind and dragged her through the dark warehouse toward the door. She tried kicking him twice so he lifted her, one-armed, and tossed her over his shoulder. She sank her teeth into him. It hurt like hell, but he kept walking straight out to his truck.

He dumped her in the cab, unlocked his bracelet, hooked her seat belt and locked her free hand with the other cuff. He then locked the handcuffs to the small bolt he’d installed in his dash. She was forced to lean forward, her head down so she couldn’t be seen. He scanned the rooftops and high places as he hurried around to the driver’s seat.