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The object stopped turning.
My heart paused its beating.
“You have to want it.”
I swallowed and felt it in my bones. “I’m sorry?”
He turned his head and my jaw fell open. The one side of his face I’d had several minutes to study was beautiful, flawless. The other was… non-existent.
He stared at me with one dark, captivating eye and one pale, translucent orb. His skin was a patchwork of threads and craters, stitch marks and cords. My heart hammered again but for different reasons. What had happened to this beautiful man to make him this way?
My gaze dropped to where my hand was pressed in shock against my chest. I curled my fingers and nestled them into my other palm while the silence threatened to overwhelm me.
A creak in the floor made me look up. He’d risen to his feet and was towering over me from several feet away. He was huge. No, forget huge. This man was gigantic. Like, inhumanly big. But alarmingly, every part of him was proportionate and sharply toned. My stomach fluttered uncontrollably.
He took a step forward and heat blossomed across my skin.
His good eye had hardened and, now out of the bright sun, that side of his face was in shadow. Just like the mood that seemed to have descended suddenly.
"You have towantit," he repeated.
I sucked in a gasp and watched his brow furrow. Then a breeze cooled me as he strode past.
He paused in the bedroom doorway. “Supper will be brought to your room this evening. I will check on you in the morning. Get some rest Rose."
His voice tapered off at the end, as though he’d had high hopes for something and they’d just been dashed. I was still rooted to the spot when I heard the door to the suite close behind him.
I sighed, releasing a torrent of tension.
Then a key turned in the lock.
No.
I spun around and walked briskly to the door, the sound of blood pulsing through my temples almost deafening. I turned the handle and pulled, but the door didn’t budge.
I’d been locked inside the room.
I clamped a hand to my chest again and took a step back. This couldn’t be right. Could it?
I scanned the doorframe looking for some other explanation for the door refusing to open. Though it was old, it was in good condition. There was no sign of warping or sticking. I bent down and peered through the gap. A large solid bolt connected the door to its frame.
Feeling the urge to hyperventilate, I stood and focused on my breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth.
In, out. In, out.
My fingers pressed against my temples and I scoured the room for a telephone or call button. There had to be an innocent explanation. He wouldn’t have left me in a strange room, in a strange house, on a strange island, with no phone, no passport and no access to anyone.
My heart pounded, no matter how hard I tried to remain calm. I ran my hands along every surface searching for phone sockets or buzzers, but there was nothing.
I ran to the windows but they were all bolted shut. I became suddenly aware of the need for air. Very quickly, panic set in and my heart raced. I gripped a wall and slid down it, my eyes wide with fear. I pressed my hands into the carpet and closed my eyes.
In, out. In, out.
An hour or so later – at least, that’s what it felt like since I had no means of telling the time – I was sitting on the large bed previously occupied by Dalziel Thorn, staring out of the window at the never-ending nothingness.
I was a million miles away when the lock turned. I leapt to my feet and raced to the door. The second it opened, I yanked it towards me and heard a male voice shout from the other side. There was a clatter of crockery, and a tray of hot food slid to the floor. I stepped over it and pushed past the man, briefly noticing his butler outfit as I made for the stairs.
I was so focused on where I put my feet, I didn’t see the two giant security guards barrelling towards me until a thick arm wrapped around my neck and my feet were swept off the top step. My scream echoed around the tower before a large hand muffled my mouth, half blocking my airways. Back inside the suite I was dropped to the floor. I twisted to get a look at the two men. One had already left, while the other stood over me, scowling.
