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Seamus frowns, his fingers dropping from my face. “Who?”
“Your girlfriend.”
He rises back up, looming over me. “I already told you. We ended things a long time ago. I lost my job after what happened, you know.”
I blink up at him. “What are you talking about?”
“You returned to the States and your father got me fired.” His mouth firms into a straight line. “My girlfriend left me soon after. Everything I’d ever built in my life, destroyed by a few passionate months with a girl who ran away and never reached out to me again. Your father took everything away from me, Charlotte. My career. My relationship. My life. I returned home a broken man. Ashamed. What happened made me feel like a lecherous old man, even though you were eighteen and you knew better.”
Victim blaming. Nice. I was young, and he did take advantage of me.
“Next thing I know, I hear you’re getting married to a goddamned Constantine and I knew I had to steal you away from him. Just to throw a wrench in your family’s plans,” he says, glancing over at me. “So I did. And now here we are. Together again.”
His gaze seems to caress my face and I stiffen my body to contain the shiver that wants to take over.
It’s clear he’s completely deranged. I don’t bother saying anything because I don’t think he’s really paying attention to me in the moment.
He appears too caught up in his memories. Again.
“Your father thought he could end my career, and initially, I believed he did. But he was wrong. He didn’t realize who I am, or how important I am to my hometown. My country. I went back feeling like a disgrace, but eventually they all lifted me up. I’m a professor at University College in Cork now. Did you know that, Charlotte?”
I shake my head, remaining mute.
“It’s true. I thought I wanted something different, but in the end, I found success in my home country and I’m quite all right with that. Paris feels like a long time ago. My time with you, a dream.”
More like a nightmare, but I don’t bother correcting him.
“Now I want my true love by my side when I return home.” He rises to his full height and heads for the door. I watch him go, my stomach curdling, my appetite disappearing at his words. “I know you probably believe my actions are rash, but when a man knows what he wants, he goes after it. And I’ve come after you, because you belong to me, whether your father likes it or not. No one looks at me the way you do, Charlotte. No one else has ever believed in me so strongly—until you.”
“Seamus.” I clear my throat when he jerks his gaze to mine. “I’m married to someone else—”
“That won’t stop me. You were forced to marry him,” he interrupts, his voice flat. “We’ll get it annulled.”
What? I don’t want my marriage annulled.
“But—”
“You’re not going back to him!” The roar of his words makes me recoil against the wall and we stare at each other, Seamus’s dark eyes so cold.
The coldest stare I’ve ever seen.
“I’ll bring you your dinner in a bit. Allow you a break. If you try to get away, try to harm me or yourself, I willendyou, Charlotte. I don’t care how much I love you. I won’t tolerate insolent behavior.”
He’s gone before I can say anything, the slamming door almost a reprieve. I sag against the wall, tears suddenly streaming down my face and when I wipe at them with my bound hands, I scratch my cheek with the rope.
Of course I do.
Closing my eyes, I press my forehead into the wall, my thoughts flooded with images of Perry. He needs to find me, but does he actually care? I know we’ve grown closer, but I also frustrate him. Maybe he’ll realize life is easier without the little wifey around. I’m a pain in his ass. A burden he didn’t ask for—and now I’ve become an even bigger problem than he ever bargained for.
Seamus is also a Morelli. The Constantine family’s biggest enemies. It might be easier for Perry and the rest of his family to leave me with Seamus because they don’t want to deal with the Morellis. I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m sure my own father feels the same way. Everyone does.
And the idea of that…
Devastates me.
Tears streaming down my face, I realize there isn’t a single person in my life I can think of who would drop everything and come save me.
Looks like I need to figure out how to save myself.
