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"Oh no," Jack says, clamping a hand on my shoulder. "You're going nowhere."
I try to back away, but he pulls out those ridiculous lavender handcuffs and secures one around my right wrist. Then, before I realize what he's about, he moves behind me to secure the other cuff around my left wrist. I hadn't seen him retrieve those restraints from the car boot, but we had stopped to get petrol and use the bog. He must've gotten the handcuffs while I was in the restroom.
"What the bloody hell do ye think you're doing?" I snarl through my clenched teeth. "Let me go, Jack. Right now."
"Sorry. Cannae do that." He pushes me until I give in and start walking. "We assumed you'd be wanting some time alone to think before the intervention begins."
"What fucking intervention? You're all off your heads."
"Aye, it's a family trait. Even the Americans in our clan have developed that problem."
"How did you convince Luke Turner to help you with your meddling scheme?"
Jack swings the door to the tower bedroom open. "He volunteered. Now, go into the bedroom, Callum."
"No."
My brother takes a step back, then raises his leg to plant his boot in the middle of my back and shove.
I stumble across the threshold and spin around to glare at Jack.
He smiles in that secretive way yet again, which is starting to make me very angry. "Take this time to relax and reflect."
Jack removes the cuffs and shuts the door.
When I try to open it, the thing won't budge. Jack locked it from the outside. I hurry over to the other door, the one that accesses the stairs that lead up to the top floor, but that one is locked too.
"Relax and reflect," Jack shouts through the door.
I kick the door and shout, " 'S e plàigh a th' annad, Jack!"
Aye, he is a plague, the sort that will drive me barking mad.
Jack chuckles, the sound fading as he walks away.
My own brother has imprisoned me.
Chapter Twenty
Hugh
After a night and most of a day reflecting on the events of late, I have reached a conclusion. I need to get the hell out of Scotland. Yes, that's my brilliant idea. What a genius I am. I groan, which makes the taxi driver glance at me in the rearview mirror with an odd look on his face. Sod the driver. Sod the world. My best mate betrayed me and slept with the woman I'd been trying to court. Sure, Kate told me repeatedly she had no interest in dating me. She also claimed to be celibate, but then she shagged Callum. They both betrayed me. I've been cuckolded twice over.
Bloody hell. Now I'm feeling sorry for myself.
My hours of self-reflection have brought me to the Inverness airport. The taxi driver pulls up to the curb and does not offer to help me get my bags out of the trunk. The bloke must not want a tip. Well, I only have one bag, so it's not an ordeal to get it myself. I do tip the driver, strictly because my parents raised me to believe that even the worst worker deserves a tip. We are, as my mother still likes to say, blessed with good fortune and inherited opportunity.
I stand at the curb and watch while the taxi drives away. It's possible I am partly responsible for the disaster that happened this week. Only a tiny bit responsible. Almost zero culpability. How can it be my fault when Callum and Kate sneaked around behind my back? Maybe I should work it out with Callum, but I need a break from all that rubbish before I can even consider the idea. Yes, my wounds need to heal. That's why I'm going home to Sommerleigh, not because I'm a ruddy coward.
Sighing, I pick up my bag and turn toward the entrance to the building.
A vehicle drives up, stopping right behind me. Peripherally, I can tell it's a van of some sort.
I take one step away from the curb.
The van's door slides open, and a pair of brawny arms lock around my torso, pinning my arms. I drop my bag and kick my feet out, but that does no good. I'm hauled backward into the van while a second bloke grabs my bag and shuts the vehicle's door. In the gloom within the space, I can't make out anything more than humanlike shapes. While I blink rapidly and try to sort out my surroundings, the bloke who had seized me lets go, and the vehicle begins to roll down the street.
Bright sunlight glares through the windscreen, blinding me for a moment.
