AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She let out a disgusted-sounding laugh.
“To think I was foolish enough to believe we had gotten beyond this stage,” she said.
My temper spiked. “We will never be beyond this stage, Kayla. Because you know that anything you have, including your father’s life, is at my pleasure. And could easily be taken,” I said.
My gaze was lasered on hers, and I could feel the hardness of my expression.
Kayla, who somehow always managed to surprise me, did just that.
She just rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“I just know that Todd is pursuing some new investment for my father’s company. It’s supposed to make the business stronger and help expand the business’s trade routes.”
“A simple enough explanation. But you had suspicions, didn’t you?” I asked, even though there was no question of it.
I knew that, and I wanted to see how she would play it.
She was smart enough to look concerned as she considered my words. Then, she finally said, “Some. But nothing concrete.”
“And you didn’t come to me with those suspicions?”
“Why?” she asked, her eyes flashing, “so you could threaten my dad some more? Threaten Todd?”
“No,” I said, my voice starting out loud and then lowering as I fought to regain control of myself. “Because you know I need to know.”
A fleeting look that I couldn’t quite interpret crossed her face. Then, she looked away, clearly gathering herself. I wanted to push but somehow managed to hold back, sensing that she needed a moment and feeling compelled to give it to her, despite my instinct not to.
I watched as she composed herself and then she finally turned her gaze to me. I saw a look on her face that I had never seen before, her silently pleading in a way she hadn’t before, not even the first time I’d met her.
“Elias, I do what you tell me to. I’ve sacrificed my dreams—and more, my morals—to repay the debt. What else do you want from me?”
Silence filled the room after she spoke because I didn’t answer immediately.
I couldn’t, not when I was so torn. Torn between the need to make her bend to my will and the even stronger need to comfort her.
“Everything.” I breathed out deep, feeling like I had made a confession. I looked away and then looked at her again. “But it’s not me you need to be worried about,” I finally said.
She stood, walked over to the window, and lingered for a moment, watching the street below. After a few minutes went by, she walked across the office and sat on the small love seat off in one corner.
She probably thought she was putting distance between us, which was something I wouldn’t tolerate.
“What does that mean?” she finally asked.
I crossed the office and sat next to her, close enough that our bodies were touching.
And I could tell she was trying to ignore that.
I refused to let her.
Stared at her until she met my eyes.
Needed her to understand what was at stake here.
“Think about it, Kayla. Others aren’t as indulgent as I am. What do you think my father would do to you if he thought you were working with someone else?”
“Indulgent? You? That’s not how I would describe it,” she said.
“No matter how you’d describe it, you know what I say is true. Who but me would even give you the courtesy of asking the question?” I asked.
