of what appears to be a grim take on a fairy tale. Snow White isn’t singing to the birds in this painting. Her dress is torn to shreds, exposing one of her ample breasts. Blood runs down one leg. Dirt is caked and coated onto the rest of her pale white skin, darkening her once bright face. She’s running from a shadowy figure lurking behind her, directly into what looks like a haunted forest.
“Interesting taste in art,” I dryly point out.
Chase says nothing. He simply glances at the portrait then back at me. His green eyes deepen with all the answers he’s not giving me.
His silence is more frustrating than telling me that he can’t tell me. Or won’t. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I’m here, and I know absolutely nothing as to why. “Are you going to tell me anything at all?” I ask, tugging at my restraints. The cuffs clank as metal scrapes against metal, but Chase is right, there’s no going free unless he releases me. I’m entirely at his mercy.
A sharp thrill weaves its way around my body, settling at the base of my spine. I shift to avoid the uncomfortable feeling, but it only seems to make it worse.
“What do you want to know, Princess?” he asks, tucking a hand into his pocket and leaning up against the wall next to the window like some sort of dark and dangerous Gucci model fresh off the kidnapper’s runway.
I think carefully about my next question. “Where are we?”
“It’s called New Amsterdam. It’s my family’s ancestral home. Well, the main one, anyway. I’m the only occupant currently, besides several dogs and my very bored housing staff.”
I scrunch my nose. “I thought you were disinherited?”
I mentally admonish myself for being so blunt, but my question doesn’t anger him. He smiles. “They did, but I came back with a vengeance and earned my own way. My father put the place up for sale after my mother decided to move to West Palm Beach without him. He moved into a penthouse on Park Avenue. So, I bought it.” He rubs the stubble on his jaw. Even the scraping of his nails against the coarse hair echoes in the silence of the massive room.
“What else would you like to know? I’ll tell you what I can, and I won’t lie to you. That I promise.”
I scoff. “I don’t trust the promises made to me by a man who ties me naked to his bed.”
“You prefer men who keep you tethered but clothed, then? Sounds not nearly as exciting as watching you writhe around naked on my bed. Your pale skin flushing to red. And you flush everywhere.” His gaze drops to between my legs, and I snap the ropes in an attempt to close them but all it does it create a burst of pain around my ankles.
“Is that your attempt at a joke?” I ask with a burst of frustrated laughter.
“No, it’s the truth…that happens to contain a small fragment of humor.” He smirks, and I want to bite his sexy lips right off his smug face. “Did you have any more actual questions, or are we done here?”
I stop tugging on my restraints and drop my shoulders. “Please, Chase, just tell me why I’m here.”
He glances out the window yet again and sighs. “Because you have to be here. That’s all you need to know for now.”
I snort. “Just like I don’t need to know why you’re trying to take over my family’s company? A company that as of midnight last night is now mine?”
Chase chuckles, folding his arms over his muscular chest revealing even more muscular biceps ready to burst from the sleeves of his black button-down shirt. “As of midnight, Blanca enterprises belongs to Regina.”
I roll my eyes. “No. You see, it’s my birthday and on my—”
“Yes, I’m quite familiar with how trusts and inheritance work. You should remember that I grew up as one of the privileged pampered children of Manhattan, but what you’re not understanding is that you can’t inherit a company…” He strolls back over to me, and I’m breathing hard as I anticipate what his next move will be. He reaches out and places his palm over my rapidly beating heart between my breasts. His lips part. His eyes locked on mine. “When you’re dead.”
“Dead?” I repeat with a laugh. “This place needs a little work, but it’s far from hell, and you are way too attractive to be the devil.”