sign her skull is fractured. She’s got a nasty knot, but the bone is intact.”
Zipping my bag closed, I make a decision that might end up killing her if she has internal injuries, but it’s what has to be done.
“Take her back to my penthouse. Put her in one of the guest rooms and keep her in there.”
“Ari, that’s not a good idea. She’ll figure out-“
My voice is a razor sharp blade. “Don’t you think I already know that?”
We both go silent, and I clench my eyes shut thinking about the shit storm this situation is about to become. I consider having Lincoln take her to her old house, but it will be the first place Grant looks, and while Lincoln could stay with her and kill the bastard if he shows, I’m too selfish to let that happen.
Grant Cabot is my prey to run down. Has been since the moment he laid the first hand on Adeline.
“Keep her in the guest room. There’s nothing in there that will give away what I’ve been doing. I’ll be home in a few hours.”
I end the call and step outside to cross the parking lot and get in the rental car. Peeling away from the parking lot, I hope like hell there is an earlier flight home.
Grant Cabot is about to meet the demon in Adeline’s life. And while that thought brings me so much joy I’m fucking swimming in the heat of it, a cold wave of dread washes over me like ice water.
He isn’t the only one about to come face to face with a monster.
Adeline is about to learn the truth of her demon as well. And there’s no telling how she will react to it.
Ari
I pace the airport like a caged tiger, the minutes ticking down while I wait for the flight to be called.
Around me, people keep their distance, their expressions wary, a few security guards eyeing me like I’m a fucking terrorist having some internal battle with myself about whether I’m willing to die for my cause.
In a way, I am. But it’s not random strangers I want to take out, it’s one particular man who doesn’t know he’s dead yet.
Once again, Adeline is causing me to act out of character. I know better than to draw attention to myself. Airports are filled with monitoring devices, and here I am, allowing them to record my rage.
I’m a smear against the polished floors and glimmering ambiance, a stain ruining the cheerful fucking music and fake as hell smiles adorning all the employees’ faces.
And I’m making people nervous.
I call Lincoln every five minutes, annoying the piss out of him because all he can tell me is that he cleaned up what he could on Adeline’s face and she won’t wake up.
Not that we want her to. I’m too worried. Grant has no doubt drugged her again, just like he always does, the pills keeping her in a far away oblivion before she’ll wake up to the truth of her life.
How the fuck am I going to explain it?
Eventually my flight takes off, and I’m surprisingly allowed on the plane, the entire flight a fucking nightmare because I’m cut off from keeping a distant watch on a woman who has turned me into a stalker.
Thankfully, they don’t put me in the emergency exit aisle. That would end badly.
In the mood I’m in, I’d pop the hatch and toss every asshole out at 35,000 feet because they looked at me funny, coughed, slurped their drink a little too loudly, or hell, just existed at a time I feel the need to kill, to shred, to fucking destroy and tear down the entire world if need be to get at Grant Cabot.
I’m not in a better mood by the time the flight lands, but I’m on the phone with Lincoln immediately to find that nothing has changed.
Adeline is still sleeping with no idea she’s locked in a space with her entire life surrounding her, some parts of it visible, others hidden.
The first step I take off the flight is made with the knowledge that it won’t matter what she thinks of it.
Adeline is mine now.
I have no plans to let her go.
I’m not the hero in our story. Never have been. And you need to remember that. I’m just a man with an obsession that’s lasted too fucking long, the truth of it carved into every bone, seared into every muscle, and spread out over my entire penthouse so that there’s