“Listen.” He clamped his hand over my lips. “I told you once that I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t shut the fuck up!”
I grabbed his wrist, attempting to move his hand, but he was too strong for me.
So—
I jammed my spiky heel into his shin.
“Jesus Christ!”
He let go of me, and I ran out of the bathroom. Elevator. Where was the elevator?
I raced down the carpeted hallway, and—
“Oof!”
My body was slammed against the wall, and the nose of Jordan’s pistol pushed into my chest.
“I warned you, Mrs. Wolfe.”
My heart raced. Tears threatened, but I would not beg.
Scratch that. I absolutely would beg.
“Please… Rock… I promised Rock…”
“Promised Rock what?”
“That I’d stay safe. For us. For…” My thoughts raced. “For the baby.”
He lowered the gun. “Christ. You’re pregnant?”
“Yes,” I lied. “With your niece or nephew.”
“Why hasn’t anyone heard about this?”
“I just found out this morning.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not! Find a doctor. We’ll get an ultrasound. Go get a test and I’ll pee on the stick. I’m not lying!”
Would he call my bluff? I had no idea, but any of those things would take time—time that would allow me to figure out how to get away.
“Christ,” he said again. “Come with me.”
45
Reid
I hastily dressed and opened the door to see Diamond standing there. “Yes?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but your brother is back. He needs to speak to you.”
I sighed. Time to get back to real life. At least my sweet Zee was safe and sound. For now, anyway.
“Give us a few. We’ll be right out.”
Diamond nodded.
I closed the door and turned to Zee. “The carriage has turned back into a pumpkin.”
“I guess I always knew it would.” She rose from the bed and began to dress in a tropical print number. Damn, she was beautiful.
Once dressed, we left Zee’s room and found Rock, Diamond, and Remy waiting for us in the front room.
“I want to prepare you,” Diamond began.
“For what?” I asked.
“For what you’re going to find on the other side of the island.”
“Wait,” Zee said. “I was there, wasn’t I? When you first brought me here?”
Diamond nodded. “You were. It was the only way we could get you here. That’s why you had to be so quiet.”
“You keep girls there,” Zee said quietly.
“Yes.”
My heart began to pound. “What?”
“It’s true,” Rock said. “Apparently our esteemed father runs a hunting resort here on the island, where millionaire psychopaths can come and live out their sick fantasies.”
“They said I was worthy prey…” Zee said quietly.
“You clearly were,” Diamond said, “because you escaped.”
“But I only escaped because of Roy,” she said. “Because of an elevator malfunction. I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. Did anyone else ever escape?”
“No,” Diamond said. “They didn’t.”
“You allowed this?” I demanded to Diamond. “You allowed this to happen? How could you?”
“Please believe me. I had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” Rock said. “I’ve had to make some hard ones.”
“But I didn’t. He kept me here. I was as much a prisoner as the girls.”
“But—”
She gestured me to stop. “Your father wasn’t always so corrupt. When he was younger, he was idealistic and loving. He and I were in love.”
“Then why did he marry my mother?” I asked.
“You already know the answer to that. For her trust fund.”
“Our mother claims she didn’t even know about the trust fund until she married our father,” Rock said.
“She may not have,” Diamond said. “I don’t know.”
“Then how could our father have known?” Rock asked.
Diamond shook her head. “I don’t know. I gave up trying to figure out how he got his information long ago.”
“Why?” I demanded. “Why would you stay with a man who married another woman?”
“I don’t expect you to understand. I don’t understand myself anymore. I can only tell you that at the time I was young, devoted, and in love. I believed in Derek. I trusted him. He said we’d eventually be together here. On the island. But the time got drawn out further and further, and eventually he built the resort.”
“Resort?”
“That’s what he called it. The Resort. Treasure Island. The hunting ground.”
“Money corrupts,” Rock said.
“It certainly did in his case,” Diamond agreed. “Once he started working on the hunting ground, I decided to leave him. That’s when I became a prisoner here.”
“A prisoner?”
“Yes. He wouldn’t let me leave. He said I was his and I’d always be his, and then he…”
“He what?” Rock asked.
“He brought Jordan into the mix. He said he’d take my son away if I didn’t do what he said. That he had the money to do it. My son was everything to me, so I agreed.”
“You agreed to stay here as his prisoner?”
“Yes, and to do as he told me.” She sniffled.
“What exactly did you do?” Rock asked.
“I took care of the women he brought here. I was the house mother, so to speak, though I never had an official title.”