Page 61 of Bought

Her face was ashen, her silver-grey eyes dark, and while she was trying to pretend that she wasn’t afraid, I could see the fear there.

I didn’t like that she was afraid of me, either.

Still, that didn’t make any difference to my anger. It wasn’t her fault, they were using her, and yet I was furious at her for thinking she could play me, and at myself, too, for letting myself get played. I was also angry at the whole situation because now I knew who she was this was the end of my time with her.

I couldn’t keep sleeping with her, not given she was Isabel’s friend. It was wrong, the gap between us too wide. I had decades more experience than her, more power, more money, more of everything, while that background check I’d quickly run on her had revealed mainly how much less she had. No criminal record, no education, no bank accounts, no work history. She had nothing. She was vulnerable and I couldn’t ignore that.

But you’ve already crossed the line. Why stop now?

Because I had to stop somewhere, and control was the code I lived by. I couldn’t ignore that control just because I’d crossed a line. The line couldn’t be crossed back over it was true, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t draw a new line.

I wasn’t going to touch her, not again.

Fury was acid in my gut, but I held onto that instead of disappointment. Even now I knew she’d been the honeytrap I’d fallen into and willingly, she was still beautiful, and I still wanted her. She was mine and the weekend wasn’t over. Yet I couldn’t trust her now and it so it wouldn’t happen again.

“I see,” I said expressionlessly, locking down my anger and keeping tight control of myself.

She stared at me. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“It’s none of your business.” I wasn’t going to explain myself to her. “You know I can’t let you leave, don’t you?”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

I couldn’t. Even though she’d confirmed all my guesses about what she was doing here and why, I still had to confirm them for myself. I needed to find out how the Hamiltons had discovered the truth about Sir George’s death, and then I had to decide on a suitable response.

I couldn’t have Zara going to report back to them. Even though I was pretty sure she had no information that would be of use, she still knew the truth and until I’d figured out what to do with her too, I couldn’t have her running around with all that information in her head.

“You’ll have to stay here until all of this has been handled,” I said shortly.

Her brows arrowed down. “Why?”

“You’re a smart woman. You figure it out.” I reached out and grabbed her elbow, pulling her off the top of the desk. She stiffened, but allowed herself to be pulled, and as she did so, I caught another flare of fear in her eyes.

You’re angry. Remember her past.

I tightened my grip on her elbow minutely. “I won’t hurt you,” I said, to remind her that she was safe with me. “I swear on Isabel’s life. But you can’t leave, not yet.”

Instantly that determined little chin of hers came up — she always fought when she was afraid, I’d discovered. “What are you going to do with me then?”

I didn’t answer, marching her out of my office and back up the stairs to the guest room, trying not to focus on the warmth of her bare skin where I gripped her. “You can stay in the guest room in the meantime.”

She didn’t fight me and when I pushed her into the room, she only turned around, and looked at me, her big gray eyes full of an expression I couldn’t name.

“I’m sorry, Sir,” she said unexpectedly and the way she said ‘sir’, even though the rules didn’t apply, sent a pulse of hunger through me. “I didn’t expect to like it, and I did. I liked it a lot.”

The sex she was talking about presumably. Well, I wasn’t in the mood for either an explanation or an apology. “At least you got something for your trouble,” I said coldly then shut the door on her and locked it.

Turning away, I called my head of security and organized one of the team to keep an eye on her, then I prepared to leave.

I had to see Atlas, let him know what was going on since he was the only other person who knew what had happened to Sir George.

Atlas was, unsurprisingly, on site at a current development in Midtown even though it was a Sunday. He was a workaholic like Caleb and me, though when I walked into the site office an hour later, he was sitting in a chair wearing dusty jeans, a T-shirt, and a hi-vis vest, with his legs stretched out, his hard hat on the desk beside him while he played chess on his phone.

He didn’t take his eyes off the phone as I entered, just held up a hand for me to wait. Except I wasn’t in the mood for waiting.

“Put that down,” I said. “I have something important to talk to you about.”

Atlas let out a long-suffering sigh and finally put his phone down on his desk. Then he leaned back, folded his hands across his stomach, and gave me a cool up and down look. “Apparently,” he said. “Where’s the fire, chief? This about Izzy’s friend?” His eyes gleamed with his usual brand of lazy amusement. “Who you’re apparently screwing on the side?”