They’d taken over her kitchen.And she had no idea what to make of Austin retrieving what looked like a cooked-from-scratch lasagna from the oven, while Emerson set plates on the table and Darien broke a French loaf into chunks.She had zero ingredients in the cupboards to make anything that even remotely resembled a lasagna.Had they brought their own food supplies?Yes, they did.
“Sit.Eat,” Austin said, bringing the lasagna to the table.Emerson pulled out a chair for her.
“No, thank you.I’m on a diet.”Why did she have to say that?Now she couldn’t snag that one box of cookies she’d brought.Instead, she would have to take the rice cakes.Fuck her life.
Grimacing at the packet of tasteless snacks, she held her head up high and exited the kitchen, only to make an instant U-turn back into the kitchen.Emerson was still holding the chair out for her.She sat down, helped herself to a modest serving of lasagna, and proceeded to eat three more times after that, all without saying a single word.
By the next day, she was at her wits end.She hadn’t slept a wink.How could she when they were just there....The men who knew what she tasted like.The sounds she made in her most intimate state.But even worse than that, she couldn’t handle the fact that they knew other things about her now.
Her humiliation wasn’t built for the extent of this kind of thing, not when her pride was all she had.The mammoth embarrassment she felt made her want to cry.
The worst mistake she had ever made in her life was marrying Desmond Morton.Peter would have had to tell them who they had to protect her from.They knew about her colossal fuckup—colossal fuckup was the only way to describe it.
She had been weak.Desmond had caught her just when her father had died—she kept repeating that to justify her actions, baiting her with what her father had held in his hands the moment he died until she fell for his ploy.
They knew her one big mistake, and she hated that they might be pitying her.Her fierce pride was not going to allow it.She detested showing weakness to anyone.But somehow, them—Emerson, Darien, and Austin—knowing she had been duped made it infinitely worse to bear.
And they knew what she looked like when she came, to add insult to injury.
Her phone buzzed and she looked at it, thankful for anything to divert her thoughts.Except what she read made her shudder in shock.
Peter: Fuck, Adrienne.Bodyguards in a small accident because of bad weather.Fuck.Can’t get to you until the fucking roads clear.I shouldn’t have let you go to the cabin.Do not open your door for anyone.Check-in hourly.
Oh god.Oh god.Oh god.
Who were the men in her cabin with her then if not the bodyguards Peter had dispatched?
Whirling around the room in a new fresh panic, Adrienne came apart at the seams.Had she opened her door to Desmond Morton’s men?Were they going to kill her?Why hadn’t they killed her yet?
Dammit, the bedroom door didn’t even have a lock.Maybe she could push the dresser against it and then what?Shaking terribly, she typed a message to Peter.It wouldn’t go through.She had no signal.She frantically tried to call him.Couldn’t get through.
When were they going to take her to her ex-husband?
No, she needed a plan.First, they could never know she knew that they were not who they said they were.Then she had to make an escape.
And honestly, how stupid was she?They said they knew who she was at the charity ball.How could they?Why did they know who she was?
Okay, stay calm.
She had to keep up pretenses.
She showered, got dressed, gathered up her things, stuffed them back into her suitcase, put on her thick winter coat, and, rolling her bag behind her, marched straight for the door.
She bit her lip to stop her quivering.
Play it cool.
They’d made themselves at home yet again, sitting around the cozy fire, the scent of their soap and cologne lingering in the air.She hoped they had as miserable a night sleeping on the sofas as she had.What was she saying?They were going to kill her or worse take her back to Desmond.
But by the sound of it—she’d walked in on them quietly talking amongst themselves before she entered the living room, and the relaxed way they looked, it was clear they slept perfectly fine.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Darien said.Her hand stopped midway to the door knob.
Chapter Nine
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Adrienne always thoughtshe was old for her years but now she thought maybe she was too young to die.
