“Search the house and pack up her essentials,” Jameson told him, and I saw Archer pick up the pace as he rounded the corner to go upstairs with Xavier following.
I tried to counter Jameson loudly, though. “Don’t get my things. I’m not going.”
Jameson lifted a dark brow as he turned to face me. “You can’t go off on your own or stay here, Ms. Darling.”
“Actually, I can.” My tone was shaky, but I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to seem confident. “I’m your daughter’s teacher. Nothing to you, nothing to anyone else. Whoever came here doesn’t care about me. He—” I pointed and glanced over at the man lying on the ground. Blood was still spreading across the wood floor, that thick red liquid seeping into the cracks, staining the ground where my students had played just hoursbefore. I whispered, “Oh, God. Should we help him? Aren’t you a doctor of some sort?”
“He’s dead.” He said it with finality, but he also stepped into my line of sight, blocking my view so I couldn’t focus on it longer. “We need to go.”
I closed my eyes, trying to erase the scene from my memory. “They don’t know me. Just let me go, and you’ll never see me again.”
I felt his hand on my cheek, a thumb brushing across my skin. I opened my eyes to see how close he was, to see that his gaze looked concerned rather than annoyed with me now. “That’s the point, Ms. Darling. My daughter and Iwantto see you again. So you are coming with us.”
I licked my lips to keep them from trembling as I breathed out. “And if I don’t, Mr. Knight?”
He sighed, his jaw ticking as he stepped back, breaking our connection. “You either come willingly or I drag youunwillingly. You understand?”
My eyes were drawn back to the pool of blood as he stepped away. They were stuck on the fact that he’d done that, that my class and summer were now tainted.
I couldn’t go with a man like that. I wouldn’t be forced to stain the sheltered life I’d made for myself.
My body reacted before my brain. I lunged for the back door, ready to sprint to my keys and my car. I wasn’t exactly a runner, but I could move quick enough if my life depended on it. I had a fighting chance, but I only made it three paces before Jameson’s hand was around my neck and he slammed me into the wall.
He’d gone for the most vulnerable part of my body, where he had me at his complete mercy. He moved closer. So close that I had to look up at him, but I could also feel his strong bodyagainst mine. “Don’t make me use force, Ms. Darling. It’s something I enjoy too much.”
My breath came fast now, adrenaline going. I watched him glance down, tracked how his gaze lingered on my lips, and wondered if he felt my pulse racing under his hand.
“Seems you might enjoy it too. And this isn’t the place or the time for it.”
He had some audacity to insinuate that right then. “Are you kidding me? I’d never—Let go of me,” I seethed. At that moment, I didn’t care if he killed me, I was so mad. I slapped at his wrist and then said, “I knew you were all corrupt. I should have never taken this job.”
“Too damn bad.” He shrugged like this was a normal conversation, like his hand wasn’t still tight around my windpipe. “Franny loves you. You make her happy, which in turn makes me happy. Know what that means?”
“What?”
“I’m taking you with me, whether you like it or not.”
I narrowed my eyes now, ready to fight. “Want to bet?”
With that, he threw me over his shoulder, literally kicking and screaming. I clawed at his back and fought the whole way. He didn’t falter one step. It was like I was fighting a damn brick wall.
They had me in an SUV to his hometown within minutes.
He’d told me to act right or he’d drug me.
So, I was drugged.
And when I woke in the most beautiful bedroom I’d ever seen, handcuffed to a bed, I screamed like a banshee into the night.
But then Jameson came to the room and leaned against the doorframe. “I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse, Mia Darling. Still, if you do, I promise I’ll let you go. But be aware, theywillkill you without my protection.”
Jameson
THE PROMISE WAS EMPTY, and Mia Darling wasn’t an idiot either. She had to know I wasn’t letting her go. She was an intelligent woman who’d fallen victim to the brutality that was my life.
Or she’d chosen that.
She wasn’t an innocent bystander. The children of the academy, the salary, and the contract she signed when she started made it quite clear she hadn’t just taken a job at a normal school. There were NDAs, protocols, rules she had to agree to.
