ADRIK
The sun is starting to come up and I haven’t even been to sleep.
Inside the police station, sitting in windowless rooms under fluorescent lights, it was impossible to know how fast time was passing. The clock on the wall was stuck—purposefully, I assumed, because the cops in this city are sadistic bastards who think psychologically torturing any poor sap in their interrogation room is the way to yield confessions.
But my men don’t crack that easily.
The trafficking charges won’t stick. They never do. I don’t keep a horde of lawyers on my payroll for nothing.
Still, it was a massive inconvenience, and I’m sick and tired of dealing with it.
I park out front and leave the Rolls Royce for my valet to deal with. Then I walk through the front doors and up to my room. As I go, I pull out my phone and check the cameras.
It’s the ass crack of dawn. She should be asleep. Or, at the very least, lying in bed.
Instead, she’s sitting on the floor in front of Isabella’s door with her head between her knees.
“Fuck.”
I pocket my phone and divert to her room instead of mine. I barge in without knocking.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Emery doesn’t move. She doesn’t yell at me to leave. She isn’t shocked I just stormed into her room like I could see through walls.
She just rocks back and forth, taking loud, shaky breaths.
“What happened?” I bark.
I scan the room, but I don’t see anything out of place. None of the window alarms went off or my guards on duty would have informed me, so no one broke in.
The only thing that could have Emery this upset is…
“Where’s Isabella?”
She doesn’t answer. I brush past her and open the door.
Isabella’s room is dark, but I can see the shape of the little girl beneath her covers. They’re rising and falling softly. She’s asleep.
I close the door.
“For fuck’s sake, Emery, use your words. Tell me what’s going on.”
Finally, she makes a noise. But it’s not a word. More of a sob. A strangled cry that sets my teeth on edge.
“I can’t do anything if you don’t tell me what the hell is wrong.”
I kneel down in front of her, but she won’t look up at me. Won’t stop taking her shallow breaths long enough to talk to me.
I growl in frustration and grab her arm, yanking her up.
She yelps and lets me do it, as helpless as a doll. Finally, she looks up at me and blinks… and it’s like she is just realizing I’m in the room with her.
“Adrik.” Her voice is watery. “I—”
I grab her other arm and pull her close. “What is going on?”
She opens her mouth to answer, but her lips tremble. She blinks and fresh tears roll down her stained cheeks. “Isabella,” she finally manages.
I shake my head. “I just checked on her. She’s fine. She’s sleeping.”
“But she… she was choking.” Emery squeezes her eyes closed like she’s reliving a memory she’d much rather forget. “I heard her gasp, and I went in there. And she stopped breathing for… a long time. I don’t know how long.”
Suddenly, I second-guess myself. Was Isabel’s chest actually rising and falling or had it been a trick of the light? My mind showing me what I wanted to see?
I almost let go of Emery and run back to Isabel’s door, but Emery grabs hold of my shirt with both hands. “She wasn’t breathing, and I didn’t know what to do. I know CPR—I’m supposed to know it—but it all went out of my head. I couldn’t remember anything.”
“She’s fine now,” I say fiercely. “She’s fine. Say she’s fine. Say the words.”
“Yes,” she says in a sob. “She’s… she’s fine. She was mad when I woke her up panicking.”
“Then what the hell was it?”
“It was just a fluke. Her condition, it… it can affect her breathing. It happens. Not for a long time, but still… I freaked out, Adrik. I froze up. And I didn’t know what to do.”
“Listen to me: everything is—”
“I froze,” she says again, yanking my shirt until we’re chest to chest. Until I can feel every hitch of her breathing. “And even if there had been something wrong, I can’t drive. Can you believe that? I wouldn’t even be able to drive her to the hospital.”
“I have drivers. You don’t need to drive. Just order a car.”
“Sure, I can do that—while I live here,” she says. “But what about after?”
She’s saying what we’ve both agreed upon: that this won’t last forever. Our arrangement is temporary.
And when it’s over, she’ll be back on her own. Alone and vulnerable. Afraid.
“So learn to drive.”
“Like it’s that easy.”
“One pedal stops, one pedal goes. It’s not that hard.”
She whimpers softly. It’s just a soft inhalation, but her body arches against me as she does it. I feel every soft curve of her pressed against my hard edges. My dick stiffens.
“Teach me,” she breathes. “You can teach me.”
I snort. “Does I look like a fucking Driver’s Ed teacher?”
“Please, Adrik.”
She presses onto her toes. Her body slides against my erection. I press my hips away from her. This day has been long enough without going down that road again.
But God, I love it when she begs.
“Please.” Her knuckles are white-fisted in my shirt. “I won’t be able to sleep. Everything I told you in the gym, about wanting to feel strong and capable? This is like that. I need to be able to take care of my daughter. If something happens to you or a driver isn’t around… Or when you’re gone… Just… please.”
I sigh and close my eyes. I can feel this as a bad idea like a storm on the horizon.
But fuck it.
Let it pour.
I peel her hand off my shirt and set it back by her side. “Get dressed and meet me in the lobby in five minutes.”
* * *