It's just Kiara's luck that she would be kidnapped and then locked in the same room as her enemy; Rafe fucking Cameron.
An intimidating man by the name of Singh wants them for a diary neither of them have. No matter how much they reiterate that they don't have it, he doesn't believe them. Kiara lets out a huff and stops herself from rolling her eyes as Singh goes on some sort of rant. His logic is that they must have the diary if they both have had the gold Cross of Santo Domingo.
At least she knows Rafe isn't lying about the diary, but only because he stole the cross from the pogues. They did all the hard work of finding it for him!
Singh leads them up to the room she changed in earlier and makes sure they know how serious he is about wanting the diary by killing the pilot that took the pogues off of the island.
So, he isn't afraid to kill them either.
Kiara blinks back tears and moves away from the window where Singh had them stand to watch and sits on the bed. He locked the door behind him when he left, so there is no escape. She wants to scream out in frustration and fear, but she sits silently. The room seems so small with Rafe and his stupidly broad shoulders taking up all the space.
This is the closest they have been in months and for some reason he thinks they're friends.
They'll never be friends.
"Kie," he says, and the use of her nickname startles her. She looks over to see him nervously biting his nails and it throws her off. Is he scared, too? Then good, he should be. Serves him right. She hesitantly makes eye contact with him, and it spurs him on. "You're going to have to talk to me."
She looks away, to the ground. Her painted toes stick out from underneath the hem of the red dress Singh made her wear. The nail polish lasted well for living on a deserted island for a month.
And then her vision is obstructed by Rafe kneeling in front of her.
His head is bowed and her eyes widen as his hands come near her legs. When he looks up at her, she can see that this is not the maniac Rafe she is used to. She doesn't speak, only holding up a hand and he stops right before he touches her.
Something about him in this moment is sincere and it makes her squirm in the skintight, silky fabric of the dress.
"Look Kie, I'm the only friend you've got and I have a boat that can get us off the island, but we have to work together."
The desperation in his voice isn't unusual, but never is it aimed at her like this. His words stump her because they sound too good to be true. He wants to escape with her? Rafe is selfish. If he can get out of here, he would never bring her with. It has to be a trick and he intends to take her as a hostage for leverage over her real friends.
"How can I trust that you have my safety as your best interest?" Kiara asks skeptically, because she is curious as to why he wants to risk taking her with him.
Rafe laughs as if she is stupid for not realizing something. "I've always liked you, Kie."
Her immediate reaction is to scoff at his words, but she holds back. She has to remember that Rafe isn't a normal person. Maybe in his warped sense of the world he does like her. And she supposes that he always tried to keep her out of the fights and sought her out whenever he had a chance too. But then, why choke her?
"You grabbed me by the throat," she sneers.
Anger bubbles in her chest as the memory takes over and she doesn't hide it. She never admitted it out-loud, but before that day in the boathouse, she had felt guaranteed to be safe with him; no matter how cruel he was to others. Never, did he lay a hand on her until that moment.
