Chapter 4
“What’s going on?” Sadie demanded, standing in the way of the front entrance with her hip jutted out and her arms folded across her chest, since she had the distinct impression Luca would try to duck out of her home without providing any answers.
He might be the resort's biggest investor, and therefore, her ultimate boss whose word was law, but Sadie had made a pact with herself long ago, never to allow a man to trample over her, or steal her autonomy ever again.
Not even if that man held all the power Luca did over her life.
Especially not then.
Luca sighed. “Honestly, Sadie, I’m not entirely sure,” he said, his hands raised in supplication.
Sadie was an expert at reading people, and she narrowed her eyes, recognizing that he wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“Then tell me what you suspect,” she insisted.
“I heard you tell Blake not to officially file Mr. Stephens’ injury as a gunshot wound, that implies you don’t want any kind of investigation. ”
She paused a moment for her words to sink in, and to his merit, Luca had the decency not to look away. “Who are you trying to protect, Luca?”
“Sadie…”
She could hear the excuses bubbling up, about to be spilled, and held up her hand. “This is my home, Luca. It may be your island - yours and Saul Stephens’, among others, but this is my safe sanctuary, and I deserve to know whether the man currently lying injured in my bed is a threat.”
Luca took a step forward and placed his hands on her shoulders while Blake politely looked away.
“Saul is absolutely, one hundred percent, not a threat to you,” he said, his voice ringing with certainty.
Still, the slight inflection on the word ‘you’, which most would have missed, had Sadie thinking the man was likely a threat to others.
But in what capacity? “But if you’re concerned, I will happily remove him from your home… ”
The sentence remained somehow unfinished, and Sadie glanced at Blake, who had turned back and looked ready to object.
She knew, objectively, that Saul was too compromised to be manhandled right now.
That he needed rest and recuperation. And she knew the fewer people who knew about his presence, the better right now.
“What aren’t you telling me, Luca?” she asked instead, pushing away her natural empathy and refusing to back down. Anyone who knew her would say she was the toppiest bottom they knew. Luca should know she wasn’t going to let him get away with a non-answer.
Luca's hands dropped from Sadie's shoulders, and he ran one through his hair, a rare gesture of frustration from the usually composed man. “I promise you, Sadie, Saul is no threat to anyone here on the island. If anything, the wrong word to the wrong people about his presence and condition here might be a threat to him, personally. I know that doesn’t answer your question,” he hurried on when she would have objected. “But I’m really not at liberty to say more. It’s really not my place.
All I can ask is that you trust me. If that’s a problem, then I will absolutely take Saul elsewhere, and all I would respectfully ask is that you don’t mention anything about his presence to anybody. ”
Sadie studied Luca's face intently, searching for any hint of deception. Her instincts told her he was being truthful, at least about Saul not being a threat to her or the island. But there was clearly more to the story.
After a long moment, she sighed and stepped aside from the doorway. "Fine. He can stay. But I want answers, Luca. Soon."
Luca nodded, relief evident in the slight relaxation of his shoulders. "Thank you, Sadie. I appreciate your faith in me, and your attentiveness to Saul; I know how hard this is for you.”
As Luca and Blake left, Sadie closed the door behind them and leaned against it, her mind racing.
What had she gotten herself into? She'd always prided herself on being level-headed and rational, but here she was, harboring a mysterious, injured man in her home based on nothing more than Luca's vague assurances.
She made her way back to the bedroom where Saul lay sleeping, his chest rising and falling steadily.
In the soft lamplight, he looked vulnerable, almost boyish.
It was hard to reconcile this image with the suave, confident billionaire the world saw.
The playboy who was plastered all over tabloids and trash magazines.
And in that moment, Sadie was somehow certain there was a lot more to Saul Stephens than met the eye.