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She wouldn't even come looking for me because of the stupid work trip I’d told her I had scheduled. Hell, she'd even gone so far as to tease me about meeting somebody hot in Barcelona. Little did she know I hadn’t even left England. The problem was, neither she nor Talia would come looking because I had a tendency to get tunnel vision about my work. They would assume that I was just in full concentration mode when I didn’t answer their calls. Hell, I didn't even know where my phone was.
From what I'd seen from the windows, we were pretty far out in the countryside. But there had to be civilization somewhere nearby. I just had to get out of here. If I could do that, I could run across a person, a town, something. But first, I had to escape.
One small problem with my plan. I’d already checked. The window did open, but there was sheer two story fall to the secondary roof wrapped around below it. If I survived that fall, I'd be able to jump down on it. There were shrubs around the living area. I'd seen them. They would break my fall from there if it wasn't too far to the ground. And then I would need to run.
But how are you going to survive that fall? Two stories Daphne. Use your head.
I pressed the buzzer, and several minutes later Reginald came in. "Are you all right, love?"
"Yeah, if you could just undo these so I can go to the loo."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about those, love. But he was quite perturbed last night."
"I asked for your help."
Reginald winced. "Yeah, but like I said, he was not hurting you."
I jingled my cuffs. "What do you think this is?"
"I think he's keeping you here for your safety."
"For my safety? That's a joke, right? Are you having a laugh?"
He sighed. "Look, that lad hasn't had an easy time of it. With both his parents gone, and then his uncle, I took over. I did the best I could. He knows the right thing to do. He has a huge capacity for love. He built me this house."
He uncuffed me and I frowned up at him, wondering if I'd be able to take him in a fight.
He smiled down at me warmly. "Now girl, I'm an old man, but I can restrain you if I have to. I have the necessary skillset, but I don't want to use it if I don’t have to. I don't want to hurt you. I want you to walk out of here and go back to your family or whoever the hell is waiting for you, whether that's a boyfriend or someone else."
"I don't have a boyfriend. Last one dumped me before we were meant to bungee jump."
His gaze was sympathetic when he said, "Well, you deserve better than that. You deserve better than this. I'm glad he moved you in here though."
"Look, you seem like a kind man," I said as I rubbed my sore wrists.
"I'm glad you think so. I try to be a good one."
"I have a sister. If you could just bring me my phone, I just need to text her."
He smiled at me softly. "There's no reason for your sister to worry."
"Yes, there is. I'm being held against my will. Her wedding is in three fucking weeks. I'm the only family she's got. My mum, she's terrible. My sister needs me."
"Is your sister expecting you?"
I lied as best I could. "Yes. She is. She’ll call the police."
"Believe me, Drake is well aware of your commitments and how much time he's got. He’s very good at what he does. Likely he’s left a text for her from you. But don’t worry. He has every intention of returning you."
"You saw what happened last night. He was a monster."
Reginald leveled me with a stare, and I could almost believe that he was the grandfather I'd never had. "Did he hurt you?"
I clamped my jaw shut tight. Because despite having held my wrists above me and using his body to block mine, the only thing he'd really done last night had been to stop me from hurting myself, just like Reginald had said. Any bruises I'd sustained last night had been self-inflicted, not caused by Drake.
“He won’t. On my honor, that won’t happen. Now why don't you go ahead and use the loo and freshen up a little? You'll feel better. And then come on back."
I frowned at him. "Come back and be handcuffed again? You don't have to handcuff me. There's nothing in here to hurt me."
