Page 42 of Marrying the Silver Fox

They stand there for a moment, unmoving. I narrow my eyes at them. “What the hell are you waiting for?” I bark. “Now!”

They take off, rushing to do as I command, knowing full well what the punishment will be if they don’t. Seeing them hurry to do as they’re told brings me some level of relief, knowing that at least she won’t be able to get far, but I will not be able to relax until I know for sure she is safe. That she’s back here with me, where she belongs.

I head back to my office, pulling up the CCTV feeds around the building to try and figure out where it is she might have gone—and my heart sinks as I scrub back through it, watching her as she sneaks to the front of the house, pushing open the door slightly to cast her eye around and make certain that she’s not going to be stopped in her tracks.

Those fucking idiots. They left her with no protection, no nothing. I clench my fists at my sides, telling myself that there’s not a damn thing I won’t do to make them pay for this given the chance.

She slips out the front of the house, down the path, and toward the gates, hurrying along as though she’s terrified that she will be caught and stopped if she slows her pace, even for a second. She makes it out of the gate and takes off to the left, rushing away down the street and out of sight of the cameras.

My hand freezes over the computer. Is she gone?

I think back to our last conversation, the way she looked at me with such fury in her eyes, as though she could barely believe I had the nerve to meet her gaze. As though she thought I saw her as nothing more than a piece of meat, someone to carry my child, to do as she was told any time I wanted.

I should have done more to convince her otherwise. God, I should have done something.

I run through the rest of the footage, half expecting her not to turn up again. She could be gone by now. I’ll get my men out looking for her, but if she truly doesn’t want to be here, then there’s nothing I can do to⁠—

And then, in the corner of the frame, I see her emerge once more. My chest tightens. She’s looking back over her shoulder, seemingly nervous. About me? Worried that I sent someone out after her?

She reaches the gate again, and has her hand on it—when I see something else move at the edge of the camera. Something dark. An image that, for a second, I can’t place. I squint, watching as the dark shape moves toward her, and then, as they are illuminated by the light of the house, I see it. A man. Closing the distance on her fast, faster than she can escape.

I grit my teeth, knowing there’s nothing I can do to change it now, taking in as much detail as I can in the hopes of figuring out what’s going on.

He grabs her, and fury courses through me. The thought of another man’s hands on her makes me sick to my fucking stomach. No matter what Andie thinks of me, she is my wife, and I hate the thought of anyone laying hands on her who isn’t me.

The man clasps something over her mouth, and she goes limp, slumping back against him helplessly. I peer down at the screen, pushing all the anger from my head, forcing myself to try and figure out, instead, who exactly this man is. Because someone making a move against my wife like this, they have to be pretty goddamn certain of themselves, and I don’t know who would be stupid enough to⁠—

And then he turns. Just slightly, just enough that I can get a look at his face. And when I see who it is, who is standing there with his arms around her, the glimpse of his narrowed eyes in the frame—it all makes sense.

It’s Max.

My fucking brother.

Taking what he clearly thought should have been his.

I pause the camera, zooming in to check that I’ve read this right, but there’s no way around it. It’s him. His eyes are nearly black with anger even on the fuzzy footage, the same way they were when he confronted me, drunk, in my father’s mansion soon before we left.

I should have known that he wouldn’t give up so easily. But that sure as hell doesn’t mean that I’m going to let him get away with it. No, he is going to pay for what he has done.

And I’m going to rain down holy fucking hell on his head for daring to make a move against my woman.

21

ANDIE

The first thing I’m aware of as I slowly lift my head from the pillow is the pain in my head. And that distinct feeling of tight, grasping panic in my chest, even if I don’t know where the hell it might have come from.

I sit bolt upright, trying to piece it all together, feeling around me for the light that will pull me back to reality. I’m in my room, back in the townhouse. Nikolai is along the corridor, and if I call out, he’ll be here in an instant…

But the covers feel wrong beneath my fingertips, and I grope at the darkness uselessly for a few moments, unable to find what I’m looking for.

Fuck. I’m not in that bedroom. I’m somewhere else entirely. Slowly, the pieces of my fragmented memory fall back into place, and I begin to recall just what it was that brought me here.

I snuck out of the house. That was, I suppose, my first mistake.

And then I was walking around the block, breathing in the fresh air, when I heard something that sounded like footsteps behind me. And⁠—

And then the gloved hand over my mouth, the thick scent filling my nostrils, my vision turning black as all the strength just poured out of me. Oh, fuck. I don’t know where I am right now, but I know it’s nowhere good, not if whoever brought me here had to drug me to make it happen.