AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Anya was supposed to brief you.”
“Been a little busy, if you hadn’t noticed.”
Busy stealing my weapon.
Along with my heart.
“Considering I’ve been with you for ninety-eight percent of the time since you’ve been home, Lindsay, how could I not notice?”
“And yet you haven’t.” Hurt shines in her eyes as she looks at me. “Tomorrow? The official announcement’s tomorrow?”
“He waited until you were home. We’ve kept the car crash out of the papers so far, but he wants to declare. And you have to be on stage.”
“I don’t have to do shit.”
She’s all bark and no bite. She’ll go.
She has no real choice. All the rules are different when you’re born into money and power.
If she refuses, Monica and Harry will put the thumbscrews on her. I should know.
They’ve gone over this contingency plan.
They’ll call Stacia from the Island and turn her into Lindsay’s on-site, 24/7 therapist. Therapeutic babysitter. If Lindsay thinks it’s bad having my security detail on her like ants in a sugar bowl, wait until she sees the back up plan.
She’s watching me as I think it through, waiting her out.
“They – those bastards can’t get me. Not again.”
“They won’t.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true. Do what I tell you. Do what Harry asks. Just stick with the plan and don’t deviate and we can get through this.”
“The campaign?”
“No. That’s a cakewalk, Lindsay. I’m talking about them.” I gesture toward her phone. “Whatever game Stellan, Blaine and John are up to, they won’t win.”
“I hate this. I fucking hate this. I hate being under a microscope. I hate that I don’t have my life. I hate being an extension of Daddy and being paraded around like a prized animal. I hate that I can’t even flee my own awful life! I can’t run away. Please, Drew, let me run away. Let me go.” She dissolves into thick tears, her voice earnest and pleading.
It’s the first sign of true emotion I’ve seen in her. Authentic. Raw.
And it breaks my heart.
But I can’t say yes.
I can’t.
Bending down, I don’t touch her, but I do move closer. Her head’s down and her hair’s a mess, smashed with twigs and mulch, making her seem wild, feral, like a child of the forest, primeval and savage.
“I wish I could give you a better answer, Lindsay. But if you leave, you’re a target. You’d be captured and used as a weapon against your dad.”
“I’m a prisoner no matter what. I don’t know who to trust.”
I open my mouth to argue, then snap it shut.
She’s right.
