I guess I could have hidden her better and not sent her to one of my vacation homes. It’s my fault. She said they told her to return to me. But the auction was supposed to be anonymous. How do they know I was the one who bought her?
I thought shipping her away was the right thing. I run my knuckles over her chin and down her neck. I can feel her pulse, slow and steady.
Now what the fuck do I do?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MIA
I WAKE IN a dark room. I sit up and run my hands down my T-shirt. I’m still dressed, but my shoes and socks are gone. My hands roam along the bed next to me for my phone but don’t find it. Leaning to the other side, I find a nightstand and touch something that feels like a lamp. I twist the knob at the top, and it lights up the room.
Walls the color of a thunderstorm rolling in. Black hardwood floors with a dark gray area rug. A black four-post bed sits in the center. I lie on top of black silk sheets and matching pillowcases.
I get out of the bed and sway on my feet. Thick black curtains run along the far wall. I walk over, shoving them open to reveal an Olympic-size swimming pool and hot tub attached, but I can’t see much else. It’s too dark.
“How long was I asleep?” I ask myself through a yawn.
“Almost twelve hours.”
I spin around at the sound of his voice and place my hand on my chest as he enters a set of open double doors. “Dillan,” I breathe. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here,” he states, bringing a tray over to the side of the bed. He sets it down and then starts to walk over to me.
I stand like a statue, trying to remember what happened last. I was at the hospital. They discharged me … car ride … I closed my eyes just for a second—that’s the last thing I remember. “How did I …?” I stop that stupid question. There’s only one way I got into this house—he carried me and removed my socks and shoes. The thought makes my cheeks redden. I keep finding myself in vulnerable positions with him.
He stops before me and reaches out, running his hands down my side, and I hold my breath, hating that I like the way he’s always touching me. “How do your ribs feel?”
My eyes lift to his when his hands pause, but he doesn’t pull them away. He’s the first man to ever touch me at all, in the limo, California, here in his room. My heart races, and the blood rushes in my ears. I hope he doesn’t notice how my breath hitches at the contact. “Fine,” I lie. My side still hurts. “Why did you let me sleep for so long?”
“You needed it.” He steps back, his hands falling from my body.
The fact that he no longer touches me allows me to think clearly and helps me remember why I’m here, making my eyes narrow on him. “I need to be with my brother.”
“I just hung up with Haven. He’s not any worse, not any better. And you can’t go see him.”
I let out a long breath. “I don’t need your permission to do something.”
“Technically, I own you,” he says as if he’s talking about buying a car. Like I’m something so insignificant that can be bought and sold like an object.
My blood instantly boils at those words. “Don’t say that.” I manage to get out through gritted teeth.
“Or what?” He tilts his head.
This has been my life for twenty years. Men owning me. First my father, but then he sold me, hoping that some bastard would buy me and he could take over their fortune. I’m a card to be played. A toy to be used. Just because Dillan doesn’t share my blood doesn’t mean he has any less power over what I do, who I see, and where I go. I’m just as powerless with him as I have been all my life.
“That’s what I thought,” he says before turning his back to me and exiting the room.
I bite my lip and turn to face out the window again. I miss Italy. I didn’t realize how much I loved that prison. I spent most of my days in the pool. Maybe that’s what I need. Silence.
I unlock the sliding glass door, walk outside and begin to remove my clothes. I need to feel free. I need to clear my head. This is the only place I have to do it.
BONES
I WALK BACK into my master suite to go take a shower. I’ve been in my study here at the house for the last twelve hours while she slept. I need to go to Kingdom, but my ass could use a shower first. I go to enter the bathroom but stop when I look through the sliding glass door to see she is by the pool.