“What’s going to happen now?”
“You’re staying here with me. That’s all you need to know.”
“Here?” I raise my brows. “I’m staying here?”
“Yes, until this gets resolved.”
He makes it sound so simple, but it’s not as simple as that. It’s far from that.
If things were simple, the information I gave him would have been enough.
But, keeping me here is the backup plan. That’s the only thing keeping me will mean.
So, I am being held captive.
Shit. Once again, I’m the bait. Except last time I chose to be the bait. I played that role to help Marquees—this time I’m not.
“You want them to find out they didn’t kill me, don’t you?” I ask blatantly.
He stares back at me with those deep blue eyes. His face gives nothing away. Nothing at all, and I can’t figure him out.
“Let’s just say that’s Plan B.”
“My life is in danger, and all I am is a Plan B to you?”
He leans forward again, and I flinch, my breath catching.
“The plan is to find them before they find out. The element of surprise is always good. If I kill them, you get a free pass and your life back. If I don’t get to them before they find out, then you’re Plan B. At least this way, you have a Hell’s chance of surviving.”
I ball my hands at my sides into fists, not knowing what to say.
“And what happens if they come here and kill me, and you still get to kill them? No matter what, you get what you want, don’t you?”
“I guess I will.”
What a fucking bastard.
If I ever thought I might be remotely safe with him, I’m not, and I won’t be safe here. He’s not protecting me. He’s using me. I get the feeling he’d have no problem putting a hook in my mouth and casting me out to sea to reel them in. The only thing stopping him from doing that is, as he said, the element of surprise.
The only person who had my best interest at heart was Marquees when he told me to get far away and hide.
Being here with this man is hardly any different from staying in Monaco.
“Either way, you’re not leaving my sight until I say you can,” he adds, and my temper flares. “All I’ll allow you to do is to see your father.”
I stare back at him, not knowing what to say to any of that. I stare for too long, and I can see he’s waiting for a response from me.
I decide to deal with what I can first. “I can’t see him.”
“He wants to see you.”
“It’s my fault my sister is dead,” I point out. “He just wants to see me is so he can blame me for her death.”
“Your father is dying, Summer,” he states, and everything in my brain fades away.
“What?” I’m barely able to get the word out.
“You heard me.”