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A burst of light floods the room, and I’m suddenly shoved behind a wall of pissed-off men.
“I didn’t believe what I saw on the security cameras. Thought for sure some other poor woman was being ravished by my security team.”
“Cameras,” I say and try to push past the men. I grab a sheet and wind it around me, but the men are not budging. They, on the other hand, have no issues about being fully naked in front of my mother and whoever else she’s brought to barge into my apartment.
“You didn’t think I would just give you an apartment, did you? Everything you do inside these walls, I know about.”
Realization dawns and my stomach knots so fiercely I want to throw up.
She’s watched me all these years? I thought I felt humiliated before. My blood turns cold, and chills erupt over my skin. My mother bugged my apartment with cameras. Was there audio? Would she blackmail me into doing things her way? Blackmail my men?
My mother continues her rant, and my momentary stunned reaction goes unnoticed by all.
“I sent you to save my daughter, not defile her, you grotesque beasts. Either give her over now willingly and walk away, or the wrath that comes down on you will be your own personal hells. I’ll drag your names through the mud like the trash they are. I have enough video evidence to trash you nationwide. Bury you in a prison where they will ruin you for society. Treat you like the filthy animals you are. Perverts. Each of you.”
My heart sinks at the familiar icy voice of my mother.
A group of men moves in behind her and I shrink back, exposed. Humiliated. Lust and desire are quickly replaced with fear and a bone-deep chill.
“Do whatever you want. Raise all the hell you think you need to. You can’t have her.”
That is Seth.
To my right Jacob stands off with one of my mother’s new men. It all happens so quickly I barely have a chance to think, to react.
The new guy tries to push Jacob, but he’s a good fifty pounds lighter and ends up taking a hefty punch to the face for his efforts. Jacob looks like he’s ready to go in for more when I find my voice.
“No, stop. Jacob, it’s okay. Just stop. No one is going to get hurt because of me.”
I’m grabbing at the sheets to cover myself better. Pretty hard to be modest and elbow my way past three very protective men.
“Seth, Lucian, Jacob, Please,” I try and look each of them in the eye.
Reluctantly they let me step by them but I feel their pain like it’s my own. Warm fingers skim my shoulder and brush over my disheveled hair.
“You, get her out of here and you...” The ruthless ice queen points her spindly finger at Lucian’s chest after barking an order to one of her men. I can tell Lucian wants to clutch me to him and never let me go, but I plead with him to back off with a single look. My mother has high connections to match the massive numbers in her bank accounts. Armed with enough material to deliver on her threats, I don’t want to see them hurt because of me. I clutch the sheet to my chest as a thin cold hand clamps over my arm and tugs hard. I’m thrown into hard chest as unforgiving as cinder blocks.
“Get her out of here. Take her to my condo.”
Seth steps in and clocks my mother’s new guard across the jaw, forcing him to let go of me. The new guy stumbles back, and I’m released so fast I fall to my knees. Familiar hands are there to hoist me up, and I’m pinned against a hard chest. Tears stream down my face for what I’m about to do.
I breathe in one last breath and fill my soul with Seth’s scent.
Jacob is in my mother’s face, and for the first time I see the killer hidden beneath the composed man he always holds in check. I know he’s thinking of the promise he made, that no one would ever take me from them again, but I can either follow my heart and give them each a miserable life because I know my mother would make sure of that. Or I can step away.
They are too important to me and if being with them means bringing hell to their lives, well, that just isn’t fair. They might own my soul, but the devil will burn theirs if my mother gets her way. I have to protect them no matter the price to myself.
Deep down fear grips a tight hold around my gut. It’s fierce and primal. Masculine in every sense and so unlike me. Yet I cling to it. Whispers of dread fill me, but I steel myself against the bombardment of emotions. I have to.
Half-formed sobs threaten to tear from me, but I force them down. I swallow my misery to spare the men I love. I might not have died back at that warehouse, but I have now.
“Let’s go, Mother. They were nothing more than a way to erase my ordeal. They mean nothing to me.” With shaking hands, I clutch my sheet tightly to my chest and turn on my heel. It’s only a few levels down until we reach her condo. With each floor we descend, I fall deeper into hell.
Six
Justice, three years later
“Are you sure about this? Once you’re up there, there’s no going back? Rules are rules. You step through the doors of House Pandora and you belong to them.”
