“I … she is a liability. You cannot keep your eyes on her twenty-four seven. There will be errors made. She could make this bad for you.” Mitchell was sweating. “If you are after a woman, I can acquire you one.”
He snorted. “Mitchell, you insult me.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“Don’t be. I trust that you will keep all of my affairs in order, but for now, you will follow my lead. Start a roundup of girls. I want you to pay close attention to where the men are finding them. I don’t want any mistakes this time.” He got up from behind his desk, buttoned up his jacket, and left his office.
Mitchell was right.
Rain and Evelyn were a liability. Rain more so than her little girl. He could quite easily brainwash the girl and build up a bunch of lies that would keep her safe, and stop her from ever wondering about her life before him.
At the thought of putting a bullet in Rain’s head, he couldn’t do it. He wasn’t a weak man.
Deadly. Scary.
He had no qualms about killing. He’d killed many people in his life to gain access to the top. One of them being his father, which was still his favorite kill.
Wolf was a monster.
An animal.
He relished the title of his name.
A hunter.
Always after blood.
Hungry for the next kill. Until Rain.
He hadn’t ended this headache.
She wasn’t a meek submissive woman either. No, there was fire inside her. Something he wanted to tap into.
Running a hand down his face, he tried to clear the fog from his mind. It wasn’t helping.
One quick glance at his cell phone, and he found Rain and Evelyn were still in her daughter’s room.
The guards moved out of his way as he got to the door. He didn’t wait, turning the lock, and allowing himself access to the room.
Rain and Evelyn sat on the floor, playing with the dolls he’d arranged for the little girl to have.
“Wolf!” Evelyn got to her feet and ran toward him, hugging him tightly. This was new to him.
He had to stop himself from recoiling from her excitement. She was a very affectionate young girl. She let him go within seconds and grabbed his hand. “Play tea party with us.”
Rain tensed up as he approached.
He noticed the redness of her cheeks.
“I’m sure Wolf has a lot of other things to do, sweetheart.”
“He likes to play,” Evelyn said. “He wants to play with me.” Evelyn smiled at him, and he saw Rain’s frown out of the corner of his eye.
She didn’t like that her daughter liked him.
“I do want to play. Have you had breakfast?” he asked.
“Oatmeal with maple syrup. It was so tasty!” Evelyn squealed, picking up one of her dolls and handing it to Wolf. “You must take care of her. She is sick. The hospital says she’s dying and she needs to have everything.”
“Evelyn!”
“Yes, Mommy?”
“Nothing, sweetheart.” The troubled frown on Rain’s face spoke of whole different issues.
“I want to go out and play.” Evelyn flew her arms out in the air, got to her feet, and ran to the window. “I want to go outside and play. Mommy, please, please, please, let me go out and play.”
“No, we can’t go out, honey.”
“Actually, you can,” Wolf said, getting to his feet. He put the doll on the small table. Holding out his hand to Evelyn, the little girl beamed a smile up at him, and he picked her up in his arms.
“Can Mommy come too?”
“Yes, Mommy can come too.” He glanced back at Rain. “Are you coming?” He made sure to deepen his voice, and just as he expected, Rain went even brighter a shade of red.
She was so easy to tease.
The guards, as he expected, followed him as he carried Evelyn outside to the grass, and Rain stood beside him.
Her arms were crossed over her chest, and he noticed her looking everywhere, taking it all.
“Looking for another escape route?” he asked. “You won’t find one.”
“And you know everything?”
“Of course, I do. This is my home. If you think for a second you’re going to get away, you’re very wrong.” He winked at her. “My guards have been trained to shoot anything that is seen escaping.”
“You can’t keep me here. Evelyn’s getting older. She will be starting school soon. People are going to be expecting us.”
“You cut off all contact with those who will be looking. If they don’t hear from you for years, it’s not like they will be surprised. You uprooted your life and that of your daughter’s. Did you tell anyone where you’d be?” he asked.
“You can’t do this.”
“I can and I have.” He moved a little closer as Evelyn started to chase butterflies. “Have you been thinking of me?”
“No.”
She answered too quickly and looked away. She never turned her gaze away from Evelyn.
“You really do care about your daughter, don’t you?”