He gave me one long look, then focused on Donovan once more. “When this all started, it was the plan. Way back before I tried out for the talent show in London.”
Donovan nodded. “All right.”
“But once I started advancing into the finals, I wanted it to be about me. Not their plan.”
“And still you used Simon’s name instead of a stage name.”
“I did. Jerry was always watching, but then I thought maybe I could do enough on my own to repay my debt. To them it was always about the money. Simon had tons of it, what did it matter if I took a little? But I changed the script. The more I pissed Jerry off, the more they tried to put me back in line.”
“I think they tried to use me too.” I tightened my hold on Ian’s hand. He frowned down at me. “Those pictures? I got them more than just once.”
“Zoe…”
I shrugged. “I just thought they were from fans upset because I was with you.” And because I knew more about pictures than the average person, I should have picked up on it. I’d been too wrapped up in Ian and my own artwork. “They weren’t crappy phone pictures.”
Donovan stilled. “Like surveillance instead?”
“I mean, I can’t know for sure, but it feels like something someone from the paparazzi would take. Wide angled lens for maximum coverage.”
Ian cleared his throat behind me. “It seemed like there were people taking pictures all the time. I know I was starting to blow up, but for the amount of pictures that ended up online, it didn’t really add up.”
“No. All right, I’m going to have you speak with Aidan Roth. He’s the head of a specialized security company I’ve been using.”
My eyes widened. I knew Donovan was powerful, but that seemed excessive.
Donovan nodded to the door. “We’ll be going to a more secure part of my building.”
We followed him out and a large, imposing man was waiting in the hallway. He wore dark clothes with more weaponry on his person than I’d ever seen in my life.
I curled both of my hands around Ian’s as we walked behind them. There were rapid-fire questions between the two men about money, drop-offs, proof of life. All terms that made the oxygen back up in my lungs.
Once we were in a more secluded area of the already imposing Lewis Corporation tower, they finally stopped just outside a heavy door. Donovan’s hand stilled on the doorknob. “Once we go through this door, there’s no going back.”
“I understand.” The hesitation was gone from Ian’s voice.
I wanted to scream at all of them, but it was out of my hands now.
It seemed like everything was.
Four
Hacking off my right arm would’ve been easier than walking through that door. But as Zoe reminded me, it wasn’t about me. Not that she’d meant this when she said it.
The room was full of voices. A half dozen men were dressed as the alpha dog headed by one who stood next to the more elegant version of the same.
The air crackled around the two men in charge of this operation. Donovan was full of
power and purpose, and the bloke with the buzz cut had the military bearing of a captain or something more ominous.
Me and the military hadn’t been on the same track.
But the way the entire room came to attention when they walked in—yeah, that was some seriously paralyzing shit.
“This way, please.”
I followed Roth to a command center of sorts. I glanced over my shoulder where Zoe stood with Donovan. He nodded to me as if to say he’d take care of her.
Zoe with her frazzled braid and her angel-colored hair haloing around her head. The purple ends showed her devil side. Almost as she’d been dipped into my fetid past and it was creeping up into her perfection.