Page 59 of Ruthless Touch

I throw the black silk blindfold at him and sob, “I hate you, Gideon Rule!”

God, I can’t stay here. I feel stupid and used, like a plaything he and his assistant decided they wanted to enjoy together.

Still naked, I run into the bedroom and dress quickly, needing to get the hell away from him right now. When I walk back out to the living room, he’s still sitting on the sofa, and I swear that look of hurt still fills his eyes.

As if I’ve done anything to him.

I walk past him on my way to the door and hear him finally speak. “Where are you going?”

The words sound like someone’s choking them out of him. Spinning around, I snap, “I need to get away from this penthouse right now. I can still walk around the hotel without being watched or guarded, can’t I?”

Gideon winces again and simply nods. Turning on my heel, I march toward the door. I want to say something clever that will make him understand just how terrible I feel right now, but I have no words. My heart is broken. Everything I’ve feared about Sasha has come true.

He cares about her. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have let her come here tonight. She asked, and he gave her what she wanted. It doesn’t matter that it was me. He wanted her to be happy.

And as for me and my happiness? I don’t think either ever occurred to him the entire time he was planning to give his precious assistant what she’s wanted all along.

I fling the front door open and see Raphael standing there doing his usual interpretation of a statue. God, I hate him too!

“Do not follow me. I don’t have to have a guard when I’m in this hotel, so stay right there and do your statue imitation.”

He doesn’t move, thankfully, since I likely couldn’t do a damn thing if he did decide to come with me. The man is a fucking giant wall of muscles. All I’d be able to do is grumble about how much I hate him as we traveled down to the lobby.

When the elevator doors open, I step out and instantly look for Sasha. I have a few words to say to that bitch too. Unfortunately, she’s nowhere to be found.

Probably insinuating herself in another happy couple’s sex tonight.

I make a beeline to the terrace where dozens of people sit enjoying themselves on a warm September night on the Amalfi Coast as I chastise myself for even using the word happy to describe Gideon and me. Happy? I need to stop being stupid. We were never happy. I may have been for a short while because I thought he truly cared about me, but Gideon never was.

All he was doing was biding his time before he could have his favorite girl join us and humiliate me. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

Looking around at the tables of happy people on dates or celebrating special occasions, I see the steps leading down to the main road just outside the hotel. Is it possible no one is guarding them, and I could simply walk away, never to look back at this hotel or the man who runs it ever again?

I take a step toward freedom and then another, expecting someone to appear who will drag me back to the penthouse. But no one tries to stop me. Sure it can’t be this easy, I stop when two waiters walk toward a nearby table with a cake blazing with candles on top. People begin to sing Happy Birthday, and I make my move.

The stairs are so close I can practically taste freedom. Taking one last glance around, I see no one even notices I’m walking away or cares, so I hurry across the terrace. When my foot hits the first stair, my entire body tenses as I’m sure someone is going to stop me now.

But no one does.

By the time I reach the street, I’m shaking I’m so scared. I’m free!

Unsure where to go, I look up and down the road at all the restaurants and businesses with their twinkling lights illuminating the entire coast. I can go to any of them. Except I can’t because I don’t have any money.

Then I remember Gideon’s credit card in my purse. I can go anywhere, at least for tonight before he calls tomorrow and cancels it.

In the darkness decorated with those festive lights all around, I celebrate my escape from Gideon and everything about his hotel. I never asked to be taken by him. I never asked for what happened tonight.

But now that I can go anywhere I want, the only place I want never to see again is the Villa Aurelia. And Gideon Rule.

Lost in thought about how much what he did hurt, I don’t see the man come out from the shadows. Instantly, I recognize him and turn to run away.

I’m too slow. He catches me, and I know what he’s going to do now.

He’s going to take me back where he thinks I belong.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Gideon