when I was taken.
I was a terrible person.
Evil.
The longer I was there, the less I thought about Jacob, and that realization made me hate myself even more. I was slowly forgetting about him, accepting my new life completely. Italy was now my home.
What kind of person was I?
Guilt dragged me down, and I couldn’t breathe. I was drowning in my own selfishness. While Jacob was at home suffering over me, I was trading buttons with a possessive man who would only sell me my freedom—in the form of sexual favors.
And I liked it.
I couldn’t continue living like this anymore. When I stopped thinking about Jacob, I felt better. But when I realized I stopped, I would feel even worse. Something needed to be done.
Crow came to my room that night. I hadn’t come down to dinner or breakfast, and he didn’t chase me. He gave me space when he understood I needed it. But when the silence stretched too long, he made his move.
He sat next to me on the couch, wearing his sweat pants and t-shirt. The muscles of his body were highlighted in the fabric. Everything about him screamed sexy. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever laid eyes on. “What is it, Button?”
I wasn’t sure if I should tell him, but I didn’t have any other choice. Crow was the only friend I made since I was abducted. Despite his darkness, he was trustworthy. I could tell him things I wouldn’t tell anyone else. “I feel guilty, and I can’t shake the feeling.”
“What do you feel guilty about?” He rested one arm over the back of the couch, his warm skin touching the back of my neck.
“Us.”
He looked down into my face, waiting for an explanation.
“You kidnapped me, but I still love having sex with you. You’re holding me here against my will, but I trust you. You’ve slapped me and whipped me, but I feel safe with you.”
“That’s nothing to feel guilty about. We’re attracted to each other.”
He didn’t understand. “I have a boyfriend…” Crow knew about him. He saw it in my file. “And I feel bad for enjoying you when he’s at home worried sick about me. He doesn’t know what happened to me. He probably can’t sleep or even think…”
Crow tensed beside me, clearly irritated by the subject. “You’re mine now, Button. Forget about him.”
“But I can’t. We lived together. We were together for a year. We had some hard times, but I know that didn’t change our feelings. I know he’s trying to get through each day, hoping I’m not dead in a ditch somewhere.”
Crow looked away, his cheeks red and his nostrils flaring. Rage built inside him and reached a breaking point. Then violence shook him, making him a man I didn’t recognize.
“Don’t be jealous.”
He clenched his jaw and stopped himself from speaking.
“Please let me call him. Just let me tell him I’m okay, and I’ll be back in a year.” That would alleviate some of my guilt. Jacob would know I was alive and taken care of. I wasn’t drugged in a brothel somewhere in the Middle East. I lived in luxury with a man who protected me.
“You aren’t calling him.” He pulled his arm away and scooted to the edge of the couch. He rested his arms on his knees, his head tilted toward the floor. “Don’t feel guilty for anything. Don’t even think about him. Pretend he doesn’t exist.” Anger burned in his voice. “He’s a piece of shit. Don’t you dare think about him.”
I knew Crow was possessive of me, but I never suspected him as the jealous type. I was his slave, his plaything. But I was never his girlfriend. I was never his lover. He made that abundantly clear. “Please let me call him. Just two minutes.”
He rose to his feet, his arms shaking. “No.”
“I’m not going to tell him where I am, okay?”
He turned around, giving me a look that actually scared me. “No. Now drop it.”
“Crow—”
“You’re forbidden from thinking of him. End of story.”
“Forbidden?” I asked. “Crow, there’s nothing to be jealous of.”
“I’m not jealous,” he snapped. “I hate that fucker with every fiber of my being. Just listen to me. Don’t think about him. Forget you ever knew him.”
The conversation wasn’t adding up. Crow claimed he wasn’t jealous, but he was violently angry, angrier than I’d ever seen him. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He avoided my look, staring into the dead fireplace.
“Crow?”
His jaw remained clenched, refusing to speak.
I rose to my