21. Emma
My mouth felt like cotton and everything was dark. There was a dull throbbing in my head, and even though my body felt like lead, I strained to hear and pick up the words floating over me.
The voice was frantic and hushed and… were they crying?
Choked sounds came and my ears tuned in to pick up snippets.
… ”I”m sorry, Dad. I don”t know how to fix this…”
… ”I messed up bad. What do I do now?
… ”I just wanted what was owed to me…”
Those last words flipped a switch inside me. Andrew Jr.
That”s right. He”d come to my room, started rambling on about promises, then put that god-awful rag over my mouth, and it was lights out for me.
What was I thinking just opening the door like? It was all coming back to me and I realized the horrible situation I was in.
I flexed my fingers. They felt stiff, and I realized my hands were tied together behind my back.
Fuck.
I was still only in the nightie and nothing else, laid out on something hard.
I could see bits of light coming through a window, but I couldn”t see Andrew. I just felt his foot pacing at my feet as he muttered into a phone.
I shut my eyes again, trying to concentrate on what I could figure out with my other senses.
I smelled… what was that smell? Motor oil? And wood shavings, and outside?
We were in a building, but it didn”t feel like a finished room.
Okay, Emma. You”re going to have to gather your courage and start asking questions.
But what the hell did I ask this lunatic?
”Andrew?” My voice came out rusty.
”Oh shit. I gotta go,” he said, and then he was addressing me. My eyes could barely make out his silhouette looming over me in the dark.
”Where are we?” I dared to ask.
”Don”t you worry about that,” he snapped, ”Not until I figure out what our next move is.” I could see his shadow running a worried hand through his hair as he continued to pace.
”You know, it was never supposed to go this far, Emma. If you would have just cooperated…”
I was silent for a moment as my brain scrambled to think of the right words to say that wouldn”t get me killed. ”You know,” I stuttered out, ”It”s not too late to make things right.”
He snorted. ”Yeah, and how do you propose to do that? I mean, I just drugged a woman and kidnapped her. Not really sure how to come back from that, but I have to figure out something—my old man has been no help. ”
”That”s something I”m familiar with,” I”m muttered.
”I know, I mean, they make all these promises, and then they just do whatever the fuck they want. As if there are no repercussions.”
I nodded, but stopped when the movement sent a sharp spike of pain through my head. ”We have that in common,” I said, trying to keep him talking, hoping to calm him down.
”I know. You see? We”re better suited than you thought. But you didn”t want to give me a chance because of that stupid bartender. I told my dad he was going to be a problem. Anyone with eyes could see that.”
”Andrew,” I said, bringing attention back to me and away from Jaime, ”Let’s forget about our fathers for a moment, because obviously neither one of them is interested in helping us. You and I are two capable adults. There”s no reason we shouldn”t be able to figure out a path here.”
”That may be true for you,” he said. ”But it’s too late for me.”
I had to keep him talking. ”No, it”s never too late. What exactly did my father promise you?”
Andrew launched into details of our proposed marriage and merging the family businesses. How the new company would build boutique businesses off the back of the resort and we would ”make millions.”
When he mentioned we would be expected to produce multiple heirs to inherit the family fortune, I swallowed back the bile rising in my throat.
But he was talking, and as long as he continued, I could test the strength of my restraints. They didn”t seem impossible to get out of. I tried to keep him talking as I carefully worked my wrists out of the restraints.
He was complaining about how his father had never seen him as anything other than a boy when he paused. ”What do you think you”re doing?” he asked tersely.
I sucked in a breath. ”I”m having a conversation with you. We”re sorting out this mess.”
”No. No, you”re just trying to play me like the rest of them so you can get out of here… And then what? Tell me, Emma, what happens when you leave here? Are you going to act like this didn”t happen?”
I swallowed hard before I said, ”I can keep a secret if you can.”
He snorted. ”Yeah, I don”t believe you. Your father was right about one thing—women are conniving, and you have to watch them every step of the way. You”re not going anywhere, Emma.” As he closed the distance between us, there was a loud crash from the door being kicked down.
”Jaime!”