“Yes, Sir,” she said, trying not to look at his car keys.
He let the lesser title go and put a box of round crackers on the counter.
They ate in uncomfortable silence, the only sound the ticking of a modern-style grandfather clock over the fireplace mantle.
When they finished, Damian took their bowls and put them in the sink. “Let's go to bed. It's been a long day.”
How was it possible that only that morning they'd been laughing together? She'd liked him, been excited about seeing him again. And now all she could think about was getting away from him and getting back to Lindsay. She wasn't some stray dog who could just shift her allegiance with a little petting and a warm meal.
Shannon followed him up the clear see-through stairs, clinging to the railing, still unnerved by them.
Damian had a king-sized bed. The bedding was thick and black with a seemingly endless supply of pillows. The one spectacular thing about this house was the view. She stood absolutely still when he started undressing her. She wondered if he'd try to fuck her tonight.
“Get in the bed,” he said when the only thing she wore was the bandages on her back.
Shannon crawled into bed and laid down, tense, waiting as Damian undressed and got in behind her. But he didn't try to fuck her, he just put his arm around her and held her.
74
Lindsay sat in his office at the house. He'd been sitting there for hours, staring at papers, pretending to work. He'd brought back a stack of client files from the city. He needed to go through them to find new candidates for the house. He'd won one of the girls from the art show, but they still had a few more openings. Yet all he'd done since Shannon left with Damian had been to sit and stare.
“You okay in here?”
He looked up to find Gabe standing in the doorway, a concerned look on his face.
“I'll be fine. It was what's best for her. It's safest.”
He couldn't shake off the image of Shannon looking at him, so betrayed after he'd sedated her. Would that really be frozen in time as the last moment they shared together? Him sticking a needle in her arm?
“Have you eaten anything?” Gabe asked.
He shook his head.
“You should eat something.”
“What would you have done?” Lindsay asked.
“I would have killed Brian.”
That would have been the easy solution. Except that it wasn't. No matter how simple he wanted it to be, Mina would be destroyed.
He often wished he were more like Brian, that he could just take what he wanted, however he wanted it, without any guilt or second guessing troubling his mental waters. But he over thought everything. It was a benefit with his work, but a liability everywhere else.
“I'm going to bring you some food,” Gabe said.
Lindsay shrugged at that. When Gabe had gone, he took the case with Shannon's collar out of the top drawer. He opened it and stared. The collar glittered and gleamed, reflecting all the hope and promise he'd had for them. Had he really believed he deserved a happy ending? After all the lines he'd crossed? The lives he'd ruined? However unintentionally.
He snapped the case shut and put it back in the drawer, this time locking it. He knew he should get rid of it. Give it to someone. Sell it. Throw it out. He couldn't just keep it like some strange shrine to her. He'd hold onto it a few weeks, he decided. Then he'd let it go. He almost believed this lie.
Gabe reappeared in the doorway a few minutes later with a plate of Chicken Parmesan, garlic bread, and a glass of iced tea, then left him alone with dinner.
He'd only gotten a few bites in when he was interrupted yet again.
“Doc.”
Lindsay glared up at Brian. He leaned casually against the door frame, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He had a bandage on his head, no doubt Mina's caretaking.
“I don't know why I didn't kill you.”
Brian shrugged. “Now you know how it feels, to have someone try to get in the middle of what's yours. Doesn't feel so nice, does it? When someone else is writing the rules and controlling things?”
“Get out.”
“I never would have let Mina go,” Brian said.
“You didn't have to worry about a psychopath torturing her to death, either.”
Brian's eyes narrowed. “Name calling? Is that what it's come to between us?”
“It's come to a lot of things.”
Shannon waited until she was sure Damian was asleep before slipping out from under his arm and out of bed. She took her clothes into the hallway and quietly put them on. She closed her eyes and held onto the wall as she made her way down the stairs. If she closed her eyes she could pretend they were normal stairs. They felt more solid this way. Safer.
When she reached the bottom, her gaze strayed back up to Damian's room. He still appeared to be in bed—and asleep if the darkness was any indication. She punched in the security code. The system made a tiny beep and then shut off.
Outside it was windy. She went around to the back of the house and stood on the rocks at the edge. A small piece broke off and fell a long way down before it finally hit the water. She stepped back until she was sure she was on safe, solid ground. The moon was full, illuminating the waves crashing against the rocks below.
Not too very long ago, she would have seen an escape here at the edge of this cliff. A quick drop into oblivion. As easy as pills? She wasn't sure. She didn't plan to ever find out. She just wanted to see the water and feel the sea breeze on her face. In another set of circumstances she could have found happiness in this expansive glass house by the sea. She stood for several minutes smelling the salt and watching the water, then went back inside, grabbed Damian's car keys off the kitchen counter, and just... left.
He'd been so sure the security system would keep her inside. That the alarm would wake him. Or maybe he'd just been tired and distracted. Maybe he'd thought he would feel or know if she left his room. Maybe he hadn't realized he'd left his keys out.
She'd driven about five miles before she was able to fully acknowledge what she was doing. She should take this opportunity and go to the police and report... who?
She could definitely report Brian, but not without hurting Lindsay or other people at the house she cared about. She didn't want to care if she hurt Lindsay. He'd hurt her. He'd thrown her away. It was the worst thing he could possibly do to her, and he knew it.
And what would she report Damian for? Trying to protect her from Brian? For giving her a life and a home away from him? For feeding her beef stew and tucking her into a warm bed with the sound of the ocean waves to lull her to sleep? For offering her everything she'd ever thought she'd wanted wrapped in exactly the kind of package she'd always dreamed of? What a monster.
Yes, he'd kidnapped her, technically. He'd taken her when Lindsay had drugged her and tied her up in his car and locked her in his house. But he wasn't the villain. He was trying to protect her.
It wasn't like she had a life to go back to anymore. There was only one life she wanted, and... he didn't want her.
She could still go back to the big glass house and get back in bed with Damian. She could see a future with him. A happy future. She did want him. Only a few hours ago she hadn't been able to wipe the goofy smile from her face from the new things he'd introduced her to and made her crave over a couple of short days.