“Well, I can’t argue with that. But even then, stalking you would only work if your movements were predictable. If you were, say, taking the same route to work every day so that anyone with enough money and interest could figure out exactly where you would be on a Friday morning at seven-thirty.”
Okay, that was a fair enough point. But as she rolled it around in her mind, the pieces didn’t quite fit. “He only found out about the baby a few days ago. He hasn’t had time to stalk me. At least not enough to learn my schedule.”
Unless… “Oh my god. Has he been watching me this entire time? Since we—” She gestured helplessly, unable to actually say the words.
“I don’t know for sure. But I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“That’s just fucking creepy.”
The corners of Reagan’s lips twitched. “So you said.”
“Goddammit.” Even more agitated now, Aria resumed her pacing. “That’s just fucked-up. And a waste of time. It’s not like he knew I’d end up pregnant. So why the hell would he be keeping tabs on me this whole time?”
“Some might call it obsession. Others might call it love.”
Stopping dead, Aria stared at her. “Killian O’Rourke is not in love with me.”
Reagan lifted one shoulder. “Maybe not. But I believe we’ve gotten a bit off track. Regardless of his motives for keeping tabs on you, it was nothing for him to figure out your routine, and it was ridiculously easy for him to pluck you off the streets this morning. Do you really think it would have been any more difficult for our enemies?”
“No, but nobody knows who I am. Nobody but my family even knows I’m pregnant.”
“Perhaps not yet. But secrets don’t stay secret for long in our world, Aria, and you have maybe another month or so you’d be able to hide that bump. It was only a matter of time before word got around and you became a target.”
“I can protect myself. My father has more than enough money to hire a private security detail.”
Head cocking to the side, Reagan regarded her with an expression that left Aria feeling like she’d just walked into a trap. “So why didn’t you?”
“Because…” Because she’d been in denial that there was any real danger. She’d been so fucking sure of herself. “It didn’t seem necessary at the time.”
“I see. So when do you think you would have deemed it necessary? After someone else snatched you off the street? Perhaps after the Russians decided you were more of a liability than they were comfortable with and they just went ahead and put a bullet in your brain.”
Fear curdled in her stomach and Aria pressed a hand to her torso, right where her child grew, unsuspecting of the dangers her very existence posed. “You’re just trying to scare me,” she whispered, though she knew deep in her bones it was the truth.
“I am,” Reagan confessed with another of those careless shrugs. “Because some people need things laid out for them in black and white before they can accept the truth.” Rising from the bed, she crossed the room to rest her hands on Aria’s shoulders, her expression a hard mask. “You’re tied to us now, Aria, in a very real, very permanent way. Life as you once knew it? That’s done. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you’re willing to let my brother do what it takes to keep you safe, the sooner you might be able to win back some of your freedom.”
Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to each of Aria’s cheeks before releasing her and striding from the room, pulling the door shut tight behind her.
Aria stared at the white wood separating her from the rest of the house for a long while. No doubt there was a guard just on the other side, with orders to report any movement she made to Killian.
Turning away from the door, she strode toward the window, her knees going weak with relief when she easily unlocked it and raised the glass pane, allowing the cool March air into the room as she peered down at the expanse of lawn behind the house.
The drop wouldn’t kill her, seeing as how there was a roof right beneath her window to break her fall. It would be nothing to pop the screen out, jump down onto the roof and then down to the ground. Painful, maybe, and she risked potentially breaking a leg or an arm, but she would survive.
But there was the baby to consider. That kind of fall would be a huge jolt to her system, which would put her child at risk. Not to mention, she had no plan for what to do after she jumped from the window. What was she supposed to do, find a way to sneak around the house, maybe through the woods surrounding the giant yard, and make a break for it? Just for Killian to find her again and drag her right back here?
Assuming one of his enemies didn’t find her first.
She should have listened to her father. Should have let him hire Holden’s people to watch over her.
Or maybe she should have let him ship her back to Oregon like he’d suggested.
But she hadn’t, and now she was here, a princess in a tower with nowhere to run.
Abandoning the window, she threw herself down onto the ridiculously soft bed. And let the tears she refused to show anyone else finally flow.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Killian
