Chapter Seven
Drew
New York City
Outside of a warehouse on the West Side of Manhattan, I waited for Bella.
She arrived at exactly the time I’d included on the invitation and stepped out of the back of a black car at the curb with a confidence few would have.
With no hesitation in her stride and no uncertainty in her posture, she approached me in a tailored coat and heels.
Her hair was pinned back with ruthless efficiency.
Her gaze flicked over me the way it had at The Beacon.
Carefully. Cautiously. She was a beautiful woman, but so off limits I didn’t allow myself more than a brief acknowledgement of her attributes.
Briefly, I thought back to how much she’d changed over the years.
Although we’d scarcely interacted, it was impossible to summer in the same small town and not be aware of each other.
Memories of a much younger her, pristinely dressed, hair as perfectly in check back then as it was now, herding her younger siblings around. Quiet and serious then tall and gangly. Then this fucking stunning version before me.
“A warehouse?” she asked, glancing at the warehouse door, which lacked any sign or security. “Really?”
“I hear it’s impressive inside,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You hear? Don’t you know?”
“A friend designed an experience for us,” I told her, holding her gaze as her lips pressed together with the smallest sign of irritation.
“I agreed to meet you—not experience anything with you.”
How she could utter those words in such a formal tone and still fill them with innuendo was impressive. Don’t smile. This is serious. “It was designed to help us get to know each other better.”
That widened her eyes. She glanced at the door again, then back at me. “No. We can talk here. Whatever is in there, I’m sure I’m not into it.”
I barked out a laugh. “What are you imagining I’m inviting you to?”
She did not look amused by my humor. “I’m not imagining anything, simply stating boundaries.”
“So, no sex dungeons,” I said deadpan.
Her mouth rounded, then pressed tight again. “I’m so glad you find this amusing.”
My grin was sheepish. “Sorry, I didn’t intend to, but you’re so . . .”
She tipped her head to the side, daring me to label her.
So many options came to mind. Uptight. Paranoid. But those were quickly followed by a realization that she’d come alone to meet someone she had no reason to trust. Brave. Strong. Sexy. I shook my head to clear that last thought away.
Finally, I chose a term that was least likely to offend. “Afraid.”
She huffed out a breath. “Sorry, if your goal was to intimidate me, it’s not working. People know where I am. You wouldn’t dare hurt me.”
“Wouldn’t dare,” I echoed. “Let’s get something straight. I’m neither interested in hurting you nor am I interested in you. You’re safe.” I winced at my own knee-jerk reaction. If there was one thing Hollistons did well it was to bring out the worst in a Burke.
Her forehead wrinkled. “Well, aren’t you a charmer.”
I threw my hands up in frustration. “Would you rather I threaten you?”
“I’d rather you tell me whatever it is you learned about Brady and Nora and not put me through . . . whatever nonsense is in there.”
After inhaling to regain my calm, I said, “You don’t have to go in with me, but if you don’t, you’ll never find out what I learned.” The best part of this cat and mouse game? I didn’t have any additional information.
And I didn’t even feel bad about that. Alethea, Dominic’s security guru and the person he’d given me the contact information for, had told me she could create an escape room scenario that would reveal exactly what kind of person Bella was.
I felt like I already knew. After all, we weren’t total strangers to each other. But the idea of seeing past her oh-so-perfect facade and getting a glimpse of her weaknesses . . . well, it was too tempting of an opportunity to pass up.
She held my gaze for a long moment, long enough for my blood to start pumping and my body to confuse her attention with attraction.
I told myself my rush of adrenaline was from stepping into an experience crafted by someone who loved technology and puzzles.
It definitely had nothing to do with the woman standing close enough to me that, had I wanted to, I could have leaned down and tasted those lush lips of hers.
With a huff, she said, “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”
Get what over with? Oh, yes, the warehouse and the escape room experience.
I turned and opened the door. She followed me into what appeared to be a converted lobby.
It was industrial chic: polished concrete floors, exposed beams, and high ceilings.
The kind of place a tech founder would call “authentic.”
A man in a black suit and dark glasses approached us and held out two sleek, matte cases. “No phones,” he said.
Bella hesitated and I silently challenged her to protest. Payback is a bitch, isn’t it? Chin high, she took out her phone and handed it over. I dropped mine into the case too. The man nodded and stepped aside, motioning toward a steel door at the far end of the lobby.
“You’re enjoying this too much,” she snapped.
I hid a smirk. “I enjoy an adventure. Everything from here on out is as much a surprise to me as it will be to you.”
“I don’t believe you,” she replied, certain.
“I don’t care what you believe.”
Hands on hips, she said, “This is so unnecessary.”
“Is it?” Alethea had described the escape room as an experience on a technological level beyond anything commercially available.
She told me to consider it a personal gift from the Corisis.
The only caveat to her agreeing to create it for me?
That I would go into it as blindly as I would be asking Bella to.
“Maybe, but if you let yourself, who knows, you might actually enjoy yourself.”
She didn’t need to say with my presence there, it was highly unlikely. The look she gave me made her feelings quite clear.
Only when we reached the steel door did Bella slow and tense. An almost imperceptible hesitation. It was fascinating to watch her work through the moment. She was realizing that beyond that door she might be entering into a situation she couldn’t talk her way out of.
I felt a twinge of guilt. Was I taking things too far? I stepped closer, lowering my voice. “Scared?” Close enough to feel the warmth of her through her coat, close enough that I was suddenly aware of the shallowness of her breathing.
Her chin lifted. “Should I be?”
Yes should have been the easiest response for me to make.
Considering all the times her father had come after mine.
Financially. Socially. Reputation-wise. She didn’t deserve my sympathy, but in that moment it was difficult to remember all the reasons I didn’t like her.
In a low, gravelly tone, I said, “Not with me.”
She searched my face, then mocked, “Oh, I see what you’re doing. You hope that by putting me in an uncomfortable situation and then acting like you care, I’ll believe you do? Your father might have fooled mine into trusting him once, but Hollistons learn from their mistakes.”
My temper flared. I bit my tongue and counted back from ten.
Still, that didn’t stop me from saying, “Your father can say whatever he wants, but if he spent as much time building up his company as he does trying to tear down my father’s, he might become someone I could admire.
Burkes believe respect is something that’s earned not inherited. ”
Her nostrils flared. “And we believe that success based on someone else’s work is no success at all.”
Just like a Holliston to spin the cause of our family’s feud to something that made them the original victims when the opposite was true. We stood there, toe to toe, glaring at each other. The air between us was thick and charged.
Beside us, the steel door swung inward on a hydraulic hinge. I tore my attention from the infuriating woman in front of me, and looked down a stark, clinical corridor lined with lockers.
Defiantly, Bella stepped inside before me. I strode after her. We both stopped short at the sound of the door closing behind us. A quick scan of the area revealed a wall-mounted panel with crisp lettering.
WELCOME. BIOMETRIC LOCK ENGAGED UPON ENTRY. THE ONLY WAY OUT IS THROUGH. SUIT UP AND REMOVE ALL JEWELRY.
Beside me, Bella read it aloud before looking around. “Is this a joke?”
“No,” I said with certainty.
“I’m not suiting up.”
“Then I guess we’re never getting out. Pity. I had plans with friends later.”
She side-eyed me. “You have friends?”
I shrugged. “Don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” she said defensively. “Although I can’t imagine who chooses to be with you.”
Rather than getting offended, I smirked. “Today, you did.”
She rolled her eyes then looked the door over. “There’s no handle on this side.”
I pointed at the sign.
She growled a question. “So, this is an escape room experience?”
“Something like that.”
Bella stared at me for a long beat before reaching up to remove her earrings with steady hands. “I want to be very clear that this is absurd.”
I leaned against the wall, watching her. “You’re the one who invited me into a mirror maze run by a secret society.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
Rather than answering me, Bella approached a locker that had her name on it. She studied the panel beside it, then held out her hand above it and the door of the locker opened. When she pulled out a full-body black suit and held it up in front of her with disgust. “I’m not wearing this.”
I went to my locker, held my hand above its panel, opened it, and held out a matching albeit larger body suit for myself. “I don’t recognize the material.”
She blinked a few times, turned her attention to the suit in her hand and frowned. “I don’t, either. It’s weird.”
Returning my attention to the locker, I pulled out boots and gloves in the same material. One stuck to the buckle on my belt. “They’re magnetized.”