Secret (Betrothed #9) - Penelope Sky Page 0,5

was sheathed. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“Trust me, this is nothing. I’ve been through much worse.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I snapped. “You’re just proving my point, Damien.”

He sighed in irritation, his gaze moving out the window. “I appreciate your concern, but let it go.”

“You’re the one who needs to let this vendetta go, Damien.”

He turned his gaze back to me, his eyes cold. “Would you let it go? If there was a man you loved and someone took him away from you, would you fucking let it go?”

I inhaled a deep breath because one man popped into my head, but I had to force him away, not allowing this man to have a face… and definitely not to have blue eyes and an intense stare. “You have Anna and you’re happy. That’s all that matters. Leave the past in the past.”

He shook his head in disappointment. “I never let anything go. And I’m not gonna let this fucking go either.”

I had practice at the theatre, so I didn’t get to Heath’s place until nine. I parked at the curb and walked up the steps until I arrived at his front door. There were two doors, both deep brown and ordinary. It didn’t seem like they were thick enough to stop a militia from getting inside, but I knew it was probably all for show, so when kids came to the door selling candy they wouldn’t have a clue what they’d walked into.

There was a camera in each corner, protected by a thick frame of glass, probably encased in bulletproof material. A keypad was on the wall, black and sleek. I typed in the long combination then heard the sound of air compressors erupting from behind the door, the same sound a safe made once it unlocked.

Then I slipped the ordinary key inside and got the doors unlocked.

When I opened the door, I came into contact with a metal wall. The wooden door had opened outward onto the street, but the metal one swung inward. When I started to push it, I realized how heavy it was, and then I realized it was several feet thick.

Whoa.

I stepped inside the house and shut both sets of doors. When the metal door was shut, the mechanisms inside immediately came to life, clicking and locking as all the bolts within it returned to place.

Shit, he wasn’t fucking around.

I turned around and saw a sitting area in front of a fireplace. It looked untouched, like it was staged for visual purposes. To the right were the stairs that led down to the basement.

The basement where he’d kept me.

I couldn’t believe I was there again…under completely different circumstances.

There was another set of steps in front of me, so I walked up until I emerged into a large living room, floor-to-ceiling windows comprising one entire wall. Everything was modern and sleek, like it had been renovated recently.

He didn’t seem to be anywhere.

I explored his place, seeing the three couches that faced a large TV on the wall. Shelves were on either side of it, and he had unusual sculptures, all made of gray metal. A large fireplace was against one wall.

I kept moving, coming across an enormous kitchen, a fridge with a glass door, and an island bigger than my entire kitchen. My hand dragged across the granite countertops before I stepped into the hallway. There was another set of stairs that led to another floor, but I looked down the opposite hallway, assuming that was where his bedroom was located. I wanted to put my bag down, but it seemed presumptuous to enter his private bedroom without permission, even though he claimed not to care. “Heath?”

No response.

I set my bag on one of the couches and took the stairs to the next level. There was another sitting area, but smaller than the first. I moved down the hallway and saw glass walls that enclosed a private gym.

It was decked out with all kinds of equipment, from cardio machines to full weight machines.

Then I spotted him lying flat, picking up a bar stacked with weights as he did his bench presses, letting the heavy weight sink to his chest before he pushed it back into the air, struggling but completing the set.

Shirtless and covered in sweat, he had clearly been working out for a while. Black headphones covered his ears. He racked the bar and lay there for a bit, catching his breath before he grabbed the bar again,