Emily
My index finger can almost slide under the underside of the top drawer.
I thought I saw something to help me cut off the monitor on my ankle.
I pull my reddened finger out and stomp across the floor, out of the bedroom he’s put me in.
Not just any bedroom. His. His damn bedroom.
I’m not sleeping with him. Did that, got the T-shirt, and lost my heart. I’m not going to do it again.
After the first drugged night, I slept on the floor.
At least until I realized he wasn’t coming back.
I have no idea if he’s even here. I haven’t seen him since the night of the wedding.
Would I have DMed him on social media if I’d been able to find an account?
Probably. I had a few glasses of wine in me, and both Anders and Ryder were out on charters.
Would it have meant anything? No. But luckily, Prosecco and time both faded away.
That was, until earlier this morning when he knocked on the door.
We had words. Or mostly I had words. Loud words. Many loud words.
“Holloway,” I yell, stomping out into the hallway.
When I woke in the middle of Thayer’s bed from whatever sedative the brute gave me, there wasn’t a soul to be found.
Shockingly, the door wasn’t locked. Of course, I still didn’t know it was Thayer’s.
Not until I dug through every pocket in his perfectly aligned suits in the closet.
Who does that, buys ten of the same thing in the exact same color and style?
Fine, I have a half-dozen of my favorite T-shirts, but they’re all from Pine Green and each has a different homecoming year on them. His closet? Yeah, it’s the mark of . . . a crazy man. I was so over the top in love with him. How was I ever so young and stupid?
It’s been an hour since Holloway handed me his cell phone and told me it was Thayer on the line.
I still don’t know what to do about Ryder and Anders coming all the way across the Atlantic to save me.
And I don’t really want them to come here.
What if Thayer slaps one of these bad boys around their ankles?
I’m never putting a collar on a dog again.
This is utterly humiliating. But I don’t really believe he’ll bring them here, anyway.
“Holloway!” I scream, going through the halls of the house.
Yes, I’ve tried walking out the door. But there are men with guns who wordlessly encourage me to stay inside.
“Holloway!” I run down the wide marble steps, doing my best to ignore the beauty of this estate.
If I wasn’t being held hostage, I’d be in awe.
But there’s no aw-ing, right now, only shouting.
“Where in the hell are you? Holloway?” I race around the corner and bounce off the iron beast.
“Here. Did you need something?”
“Yes. Cut this off.” I stand on one leg, holding my ankle up. Madame Grant would be proud. I never got far in ballet. Never saw the reason. But I’m flexible. I guess that’s one good thing.
“No.”
“Give me your cell phone.” I glare at the big guy.
“No.”
I squint at him. He glares back. “I need tampons and chocolate.”
“Oh.” He recoils. “I’ll . . . I’ll find some.” I don’t need either, but watching him squirm brings me some satisfaction.
He pivots back the way he came, heading to a little room across from the kitchen. I have to wonder if it’s a security room with a wall of CCTV monitors—the door is always closed.
I make my rounds, looking in each room for something sharp. But this is my third time around and so far, nothing.
I’m walking by the front door when a car pulls into the gravel driveway.
The front door is locked, but I pound on it.
Maybe if it’s a delivery driver, I can get them to call the police for me.
I bang on the wood until the side of my fist is red, then switch to knocking on the window.
Break it, waves through my brain. But the window is too small to fit through and too high up to be able to do it with enough speed to get to the car before whatever guard is outside gets to me.
But then I stop because out of the driver’s seat stands Thayer.
Just in time for a second car to pull in behind his.
I bang on the window again and shoot him my middle finger.
His head tilts back. I can’t hear it, but he’s laughing.
And fuck him. He speedwalks to the front door and unlocks it.
“Move away from the door, Emily.”
“You son of a . . . gigantic asshole. And that’s putting it lightly. You’re just as bad as your father,” I say as he opens the door.
He shuts it behind himself, and his fingers ring my wrist as I’m about to punch him in the face. He pulls our joined hands down to my side. There’s an iron mask over his face. “Now Emily, that might be true. But I’m—”
“Don’t start with that you’re trying to protect me bullshit. You said that to Easton too. You should just stay the hell away from me, from my whole family.”
He drops my hand. “In that, you’re right. And I did, for a long time. Until I didn’t. And now we’re in a predicament.” He squints at me. As there’s a knock on the door behind him.
“Emily, are you in there?” Anders says.
“I saw her before Thayer shut the door.” Ryder must be the one knocking—no, pounding. Unlike when I did it, the massive door shakes in its frame.
“Hold on,” Thayer throws over his shoulder.
“Open up, Zambrano,” Oliver adds.
I lift my eyebrows to Thayer. “What are you going to do now? Keep us all prisoner?”
“No, they’re here because they care about you and they’re going to understand how important it is for you to stay here. They’re going to convince you I’m correct.”
“The three of them?” I point at the closed door. “You’ve lived in England too long. Your brain has gone moldy from all the rain.”
“You think I don’t know that you’ve got something with each of them? I’m thorough, Emily.” He stands closer to me, and his clove and citrus scent surrounds me. What is it about guys who know how to use just the right amount of cologne as a weapon?
“Whatever, Thayer. Are you going to tell me why I’m here?”
“Yes, but first . . .” He reaches behind him and opens the door. The three guys tumble in, Anders in front.
“Em, are you okay?” He holds me by my shoulders, scanning my body before pulling me into a hug, squeezing me tightly. When he lets me go and steps out of the way, Ryder’s beside him, smiling like a sunny afternoon with a light breeze.
“Emily.” His hug is lighter.
Oliver’s next. “I’m sorry I thought you canceled on me. If I’d had more common sense, I would have figured it out sooner and found you.”
“It’s not your fault.” I glare past Oliver’s arm at Thayer.
“Now that you’ve had your little reunion, we need to talk.
” He marches us to a room I haven’t been in.
When we’re standing in the middle of the dark-paneled office, Thayer reclines against his desk.
His wavy hair isn’t smooth, like he’s run his fingers through it.
Why does his serious calm expression give me sexy principal vibes?
The better question would be why am I feeling drawn to him.
I clench my stomach flat. Focus Emily: We don’t like Thayer Zambrano.
The study was one of the locked doors. And I can see why.
Unlike a lot of the other rooms on the estate, this is clearly one that Thayer actually uses.
I’m eyeing his desk drawers as I sit on the sofa.
There’s definitely something sharp in one of them.
A pair of scissors, a letter opener, heck, maybe an extra-large binder clip with a razor edge.
Anders has taken the arm of the sofa next to me, and Ryder’s on my other side.
Thayer steps away from his desk where my dangerous and pointy object has to be living.
Oliver’s sitting on the large marble windowsill in front of the diamond-paned lead glass window.
I have to force myself to focus on what Thayer’s saying.
“Emily, first, I’m sorry for bringing you here.”
“You mean drugging me and sneaking me out of a hotel in the middle of the night?” I lean forward, but Thayer doesn’t respond. He’s too well-trained.
“I’m the reason you’re here.”
“Again, the drugging, so yes.”
“No, Emily, please focus. Your life depends upon it.”
I cross my legs, bouncing the ankle monitor in the air. There’s a bruise on my knee I don’t remember getting. I frown at it but turn my face to Thayer. “Fine.”
“I’ve explained to the guys what happened. And I owe it to you too. James Zambrano, my father, is a man full of hate. There’s only one thing he loves.”
“You mean two things. He loves money, too,” Oliver says from the heavily draped window.
“Fine, two. He loves family. He has a crazy way of showing it, but he does, in his weird way.”
“Didn’t you imply he killed his nephew?” Anders grabs my hand.
Thayer shakes off the comment. “He wants to control me, and I let it slip how important you were in my life.”
“I’m not in your life. I haven’t been for over a decade.”
His eyes flick up my legs to my face. “True. But James doesn’t see it that way. And I suppose I don’t either. I let it slip, which is my fault, and I hope one day you’ll forgive me.”
“You’re forgiven. Not to be flippant, but can you cut this off so we can go?”
Ryder puts his hand on my leg. “You need to listen to what he has to say.”
The looks on Anders’s and Oliver’s faces are beyond sobering. “Fine.” I drop my foot to the floor.
“Anders is right. My father has no qualms about getting rid of people to control others. And now he’s figured out that if he controls you, he controls me.”
I swallow down my initial thought. That sounds like a you problem.
“He made threats against you last month. And two weeks ago, I went against his wishes again. That man who was in the lobby of the tearoom? He’s not one of my guys but one of my dad’s.
I was lucky enough that I got the message in time that they were coming after you in London.
I’d had guys on you since you landed. But it’s too much.
It came down to either I grabbed you or he would. ”
“So I have to live my life as a prisoner?”
“No. Like I said, my dad cares a great deal about family.”
“How is your brother?” I ask. Darius was a few years younger than me but didn’t go to school in the States. He stayed in Switzerland. People forget Thayer has a brother all the time. In Susan’s entire trial he was brought up only once.
“Good.” Thayer’s words and face aren’t in alignment.
“Emily, you’re not going to like what Thayer’s about to say. But it’s going to be what gets you your freedom and keeps you safe.” Oliver folds his hands in his lap.
“I have to change my identity.” I laugh.
“No, but I did consider that. My father’s men are too good. They would find you.”
“Then what is it?”
“You need to marry him,” Ryder says.