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Chapter Three
- Lilly -
Warmth and strength... two other things that had been missing from my life the last few months. The man who had stolen them did his best to restore those feelings, at least for the few seconds I allowed him to try. A few hugs wouldn’t take away the hurt, the pain of having been used and tossed away.
With one last burst of energy, I raised my hand and slapped him across the face. His head barely moved, but he blinked and ran his hand along the side of his cheek where I’d struck him. He said nothing.
Nothing I could do to him would make a difference.
I put distance between us by sliding to the other side of the seat.
“Put your seatbelt on,” he said clearly. Coldly. Completely unaffected by... anything.
I did what he said as the SUV pulled away from the curb.
My acquiescence irritated me. I knew I wasn’t in danger, not really. I couldn’t picture Sebastian hurting me, but was that wishful thinking? I had gotten into a car with him once before and my life had changed because I didn’t read any warning signs. I could have screamed. I could have fought.
I would have lost the physical fight, but there were other ways to win.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s bottled water in the cooler, or would you prefer a glass of wine?” Sebastian reached into the cooler of his tricked-out SUV and waved a bottle of sparkling water at me.
I eyed him suspiciously and decided on the water, something he didn’t have to pour for me.
I reached out for the bottle of water, though the absurdity wasn’t lost on me. “How kind of you,” I sneered. “Now let me go.”
He handed me the bottle, then turned his head away. “In time. This isn’t a permanent arrangement.”
He was a dead man. The anger subsided for a few seconds while the enormity of what was happening sunk in. Sebastian had kidnapped me. Taken me against my will.
Or was it?
He’d waved a gun in my direction, but even I knew he wouldn’t use it. But no one else would know that. Not Gabriel...
And certainly not Dante, if he found out. And if Gabriel was in contact with Dante somehow, then he would tell him. Dante was head of our family, ourrealfamily, not this hereditary crap. Gabriel would tell him I was missing if he could. If something happened to me under Gabriel’s watch, and he neglected to share information with Dante, Dante would never forgive him. It would tear our family apart.
Gabriel was protective, but Dante was territorial. There was a difference between the two. Gabriel took measures to make sure I was safe... although now I once again questioned the safety net he provided. Or maybe he, too, never imagined a world where Sebastian St. Valentine took me hostage. Sebastian said it wasn’t a permanent arrangement, which meant... ransom? Did Gabriel have something Sebastian wanted?
I kept my distance from Sebastian as the vehicle made its way out of town. As the streetlights diminished, the SUV’s interior darkened. This part of the drive was eerily familiar, bringing me back to the last night we’d spent together. We were on our way to his home in the country.
“He’ll find me, you know,” I warned him. I took a swallow from the bottle of water. “He found me before. Twice, actually. He tracks my phone. You know that.”
“It’s handled. I told you, he won’t find you until I want him to.”
We faced each other in the darkness. When I should have wanted to be the one to kill him myself, I was more worried about what my brothers would do to Sebastian. Gabriel was expecting me home, literally any time. When Martin and crew didn’t check in with him, all hell would break loose. I’d kept my end of the bargain the past few months. I did everything I was told to do. I stayed home. I only went where I was “allowed” to go. I was the model prisoner.
And now I had to play the role again.
If I wanted to keep Sebastian alive.
But why the hell should I care? Why should I give one millimeter of a fuck about the man who abandoned me and then walked back into my life just to kidnap me?
I took a deeper drink of the water, followed quickly by another. Buying time. I had so much I wanted to say, to ask. And I could have done with another bout of smacking him around. I didn’t induce any damage or pain, but if nothing else, the physical aggression felt good. Sebastian better have a gym wherever the hell he was taking me.
The thought brought a sneaky smile to my heart, along with a bit of satisfaction. He may have wanted to spirit me away for his “non-permanent” arrangement, but I’d made it too easy on him already. That would end when we reached his house in the woods, which we were approaching. I sat silently in my seat, thinking and planning, and deciding just how low I would go to make Sebastian regret his recent decisions. All of them, in fact.
I barely paid attention as the massive gates opened and the SUV pulled down the drive. Lights framed the driveway. We were met at the end of the drive by six men standing next to another vehicle. When we parked, the door clicked as it was unlocked.
