“Amber,” I say, holding her still against me, “you have two options.”
She goes very still.
Knowing she’s listening, I say to her, “You can come with me willingly.” My voice is even, controlled, “Or, I can have you bound, gagged, and sedated. Either way, you’re leaving this apartment tonight.”
Her head jerks back so she can stare at me.
Shock flashes across her face. Real, sharp, cutting through the hysteria like cold water.
“You’re—” she swallows. “You’re an asshole.”
There’s no heat in it. No bite. Just disbelief and exhaustion.
I nod once. “Just so you know, that’s not the worst thing I’ve been called.”
Her eyes search my face, wild and red-rimmed, looking for a crack. For cruelty. For doubt.
She doesn’t find it.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I say more quietly. “I’m going to keep you alive. But you have to let me, Amber. Or I’ll have to do it the hard way.”
She laughs weakly, a broken sound. “You have a funny way of reassuring people.”
“I have never been accused of being reassuring.”
The hallway fills with distant footsteps. My men are arriving.
Amber hears them too. Her body tenses again, instinct screaming.
I lower my voice. “Those are my people. They’ll guard the place while you stay with me. But if you don’t want them to see you?—”
“I don’t,” she whispers.
“Then we’d better go.”
She hesitates.
For a moment, I think she’s going to fight me again.
Then her shoulders sag.
“Okay,” she whispers.
The word feels like a surrender.
“Okay,” she repeats, louder this time. “I’ll come.”
I don’t comment on it. I just turn and carry her out of the room before she can change her mind.
Outside, my car is already waiting at the curb, engine idling. My driver stands by the open door, eyes flicking briefly over Amber before snapping back to the street.
I settle her into the backseat, guiding her carefully like she’s made of glass. Neri’s words come to mind:“Precious things are fragile.”
But my Amber isn’t fragile. She’s strong. Harder than goddamn diamond.
She just needs to take a breath and rest.
I pull the door shut and slide in beside her, close enough that she can lean into me if she needs to.
