My vision blurs. It can’t be. It can’t frigging be.
Can’t be Sean Anholt, leering at me, looking pleased with himself. His dark hair is cut short, his green eyes are bright, and he looks every bit the beautiful monster that he is.
“Here is Tessa, as I promised,” my father is saying.
As he promised? What the hell? “What are you doing, Dad? Let me go.”
I tug again on his hold to free my hand, but he’s holding on so tight it hurts.
“So this is little Tessa,” another male voice says, so similar to Sean’s, and I turn to see a rail-thin, middle-aged man. He’s standing so close to Sean, the similarities are obvious.
For a moment, the shock takes my mind off Sean. This is his father, tycoon David Anholt. What is he doing in little Madison? Why isn’t he in Chicago? What’s going on?
He smirks at my stunned expression. “Sean has told me all about you. Feisty, aren’t you? I want the best for my boy, and I expect you to treat him right.”
My gaze snaps to Sean, whose eyes are hooded. His grin makes my stomach turn.
“I’m not his girlfriend,” I say, my voice shaking. “Never was.”
“Really? Sean told me that misunderstanding was cleared up,” David Anholt says, and my dad nods gravely.
Misunderstanding?
My knees feel weak. “No.”
“Tessa.” My dad pulls me forward, grinding the bones in my wrist. “Go talk with Sean and have fun. His father and I have some things we need to discuss.”
Holy crap. He’s handing me over, just like that, to my worst nightmare.
I dig my heels in, but it’s hard with nine-inch stilettos. I glance at Dad, and he smiles easily, the expression warm and encouraging.
My dad is encouraging me to do this, and something in me wants to obey and please him, to see the approval in his gaze.
“Come, Tessa,” Sean says then, breaking the spell.
No. The fear returns. “No.”
But Sean clamps a hand around my arm and drags me away anyway. Trapped in my narrow dress and stupid shoes, I can barely keep from falling as he hauls me across the terrace, never stopping to let me catch my breath. The people part to let us pass, and for the second time tonight I’m following a man I don’t want to follow through the crowded hall, toward a fate I seem to be unable to avoid.
***
Sean drags me out, into the cold night, and I’m glad I’m still wearing my coat. Ice knives through my exposed legs, but the reason I shiver has nothing to do with the temperature.
A manicured garden, lamps shedding yellow light on us, and the shiny expanse of the lake below. On this strange scene plays out one of my worst nightmares—a repe
tition of a memory that will always haunt me.
“Let go of me.” I jerk my arm, and finally he releases me. Pain radiates up to my elbow, and tears crowd the back of my eyes, burning like fire. I refuse to let them fall. “Bastard.”
“Now, now, Tessa.” He looks mildly amused, and fear mingles with anger in a nauseating mix. “Mind your manners.”
“My manners?” My tongue is finally loosened. “You dragged me out here against my will.”
“Really? Why didn’t you say anything?” He taps his ear. “I didn’t hear any protests.”
Jesus. He’s right. I said nothing all the way. “You caught me by surprise, is all.” I did try to pull away, though, as we moved across the room. Before I open my mouth to tell him so, he laughs.
He’s standing on the lawn, with the whiff of the lake on the air, the stars twinkling in the clear skies overhead, laughing. Laughing at me.