Billionaire Protector - Alexa Hart Page 0,61

it’s frustrating. I’m sorry. I’ll never speak to you like that again, I promise.” I put out a hand, meaning to place it gently on her shoulder.

She ducked away from it like my hand was made of lava. And there was something new in her eyes now. It wasn’t just rage – her eyes were hateful.

“Yeah. You promise. That’s funny. You’re all the fucking same. Money and this big castle and all your goddamn horses – none of that changes anything. You’re exactly like every other man.” She turned, but not before I saw a tear slip from her eye. “I’m going to get Murphy, and I’m going home.”

“Anne, come on. Don’t do that. Not again. We can talk this out,” I stupidly reached out to her once again and this time she slapped my hand away.

“I. Am. Leaving. And I don’t want to see you ever again, do you understand me? Don’t show up at Kate’s. Don’t show up outside of Kate’s. Stay the hell away from me!” Her face was rock hard with a mix of anger and determination and sadness. She was literally crying while she screamed at me.

She started across the hall to get Murphy and I went after her. “Anne, the front gate’s locked by now. You’d need a series of codes to –”

“Fucking unlock it, Penn! You cannot keep me here! I’m not a fucking horse! I want to leave, and I’m leaving!”

I stood helpless in the hallway, disbelieving that this was even happening. We’d had such a phenomenal day... And just like that...

Anne stormed out of the room, a still passed out Murphy asleep in her arms. She only looked at me once more, and that was only to say, “Open the damn gate.”

Then she was walking down my hall, into the main hall, toward the stairs and down. I walked to the nearest control pad in the hallway and typed in five different codes just to get her out the front door and through the mansion gate, then five more to unlock the entry gate at the road.

My chest burned. I felt like I’d just swallowed a series of knives.

And in that moment, I decided.

I walked quietly down my hall, into the main hall, and towards the door to Dad’s office. The light was still on.

I knocked once. “Dad?”

“Come in, Penn.”

I entered, and by the concerned look on his face, I could tell that he’d heard at least some of the screaming match. We lived in a mansion, but it sure as hell wasn’t soundproof.

“Call the P.I.” I told him firmly.

“You’re sure?” His eyebrows raised.

“Call him. Find out everything.”

With that, I turned and calmly walked all the way back to my room, turned off the light, and crawled into bed.

Maybe Anne really would never talk to me again, but I would know why. I was going to know why, dammit.

Funny how Preston had been so convinced that Dad and Pierce would send the hounds out after Anne’s past, and in the end, I was the one who made the call.

Sleep wasn’t happening. This wasn’t how I’d expected the night to go, and though I’d been worried about Anne basically since the day I met her, I was filled with something else now.

Some type of nameless dread.

She was angry that I’d even approached the subject of her safety. And when I’d gotten emotional, raised my voice – her anger had switched to something else.

Rage. But... a sad rage. Like I’d just disappointed her in the hugest way possible. She’d looked betrayed. And every attempt to touch her after that had made her even more rageful.

She had turned from the ever watchful, on alert deer to a roaring lioness. But she hadn’t attacked. Only retrieved her child and fled.

My mention of the gates had intensified her horror instantly.

As if I would ever “keep her here”. Of course she wasn’t a horse. Why had she even said that? Like I was going to lock her in the paddock or something and simply refuse to let her leave.

I began to understand suddenly. Not everything – the maze of Anne Johnson’s life was much too complicated for me to have a clear picture of it just as yet. But a few little puzzle pieces were becoming apparent.

Anne seemed scared of everything, yet angry that someone would feel the need to protect her. As though she’d freed herself from some type of trap and refused to be caged again, but couldn’t, for the life of her, stop looking