Eva follows, and we walk in silence down the hospital corridor, past nurses who duck their heads and visitors who instinctively move out of our way as they see the look on my face. I don’t know where I’m going—just away from Maisie, away from witnesses to whatever conversation we’re about to have.
I find an empty family conference room and shoulder the door open, stepping inside without waiting to see if Eva will follow. She does, of course, closing the door behind her with a soft click that sounds unnaturally loud in the silence.
The room is small and sterile, furnished with uncomfortable chairs and a table that’s seen too many difficult conversations.The usual fluorescent lights hum overhead, casting everything in that same sickly yellow glow that invades everywhere in this place.
I turn to face Eva, my hands clenched into fists at my sides. She stands near the door like she’s blocking my escape route, though we both know I’m not going anywhere.
Not when Eva holds all the cards.
“Well?” I demand. “Are you happy now? Did you get what you wanted?”
Eva’s expression doesn’t change, but something shifts in her eyes. “What I wanted was to help a sick child. Forgive me if that offends your delicate sensibilities.”
The words are delivered in that cool, mocking tone I remember so well. The one that used to make me want to slap her and kiss her in equal measure. The one that made me feel like a naive little girl playing games with a lioness.
“Don’t.” I take a step toward her, anger overriding common sense. “Don’t you dare stand there and pretend this is about charity. You manipulated this entire situation. You forced my hand.”
“I offered you a choice,” Eva says calmly. “You still have a choice.”
“Of course I don’t! You did all that for Maisie without asking me. Without giving me any say in the matter.” My voice is rising, but I can’t seem to stop it. “You decided that my sister’slifewas yours to bargain with!”
For the first time since entering the room, Eva’s mask slips slightly. Something hot and dangerous flashes in her eyes—not quite anger, but close enough to make my pulse spike.
“Your sister was dying,” she says, her voice still level but carrying an edge that could cut steel. “I could see that the moment I laid eyes on her. I didn’t save her life foryou, Robin. I saved it forher. Don’t be so damn solipsistic.”
Maisie was dying, Eva just saved her life, and here I am complaining about the method instead of being grateful for the result.
But how can I be grateful when it comes with strings attached? Eva’s generosity is just another form of control, another way to bind me to her will.
“What do youwant?” I ask quietly, suddenly exhausted by the whole charade. “What’s the real price for this miraculous intervention?”
Eva studies me for a long moment. When she speaks, her voice is soft.
“You already know. I wantyou, little bird.”
Chapter 5
Eva
Even furious—especially furious—Robin Rivers really is magnificent. I can practically taste the anger rolling off of her. She’s trying so hard to maintain control, to project strength.
And she has no idea how much I crave that fight in her.
She steps abruptly to the door, and I assume for a moment she’s going to walk out, but her hand moves to the lock, twisting it hard until it gives an audible click. Then she moves to the one interior window and closes the venetian blind with an angry tug of the cord.
“If you want privacy—” I begin, but she cuts me off.
“I don’t want to chance my family seeing me this angry,” she tells me between gritted teeth. “Alicia and Dane are coming after breakfast to see Maisie.”
“Lovely. I’d be delighted to meet them, too.”
Ah, she’s beautiful when she’s angry. Beautiful and dangerous and completely unaware of the power she wields over me.
“This doesn’t mean you’ve won,” Robin hisses.
But oh, little bird, it does. The moment she led me into this room and locked the door, she told me exactly what this conversation was really about.
Robin’s voice stays low but steady as she begins ticking off demands like she’s negotiating a business contract instead of the terms of her own surrender. “Maisie must be completely stable before I leave. I stay in contact with my family while I’m at the castle. You will provide them a stipend to live off while I’m gone—and you will make sure they’re protected while I’m away.”
