Just like the man who built it.
A figure appears in the doorway as I approach: tall, broad-shouldered, backlit so I can't make out his features. But I know that silhouette, have memorized it from stolen glances and forbidden thoughts and two years of telling myself I was imagining the way my heart raced when he walked into a room.
Richard Kane stands at the entrance to his fortress, and even from here, I can feel the weight of his gaze.
I force myself to keep walking, bare feet on cold stone now, wedding dress train dragging behind me. Each step feels monumental, like I'm crossing some invisible line I can never uncross.
When I'm close enough to see his face clearly, my breath catches all over again.
He's... God, he's devastating. I'd forgotten, or maybe I'd forced myself to forget, just how handsome he is. Tall and perfectly built, with dark hair that's got just enough silver at the temples to make him look distinguished instead of old. Sharp jaw, high cheekbones, and those eyes, always dark and intense and currently locked on me like I'm a puzzle he's trying to solve.
He's wearing a suit, because of course he is. Even here, hiding in the middle of nowhere, Richard Kane is impeccably dressed. Charcoal gray that probably cost more than I made in a month at my job, the one Nathan made me quit. The white shirt underneath is open at the collar, no tie, and there's an expensive watch on his wrist that catches the light.
He looks like money, power, success, everything Nathan desperately wants to be and never will.
"Belle." My name sounds different in his mouth, deeper somehow. He doesn't move from the doorway, just watches me climb the last few steps. "What happened?"
The question is simple, direct, and it absolutely destroys me.
I open my mouth to answer, to explain, to tell him everything, but what comes out instead is a broken sob. Then another. And suddenly I'm crying, really crying, for the first time since I ran. All the fear and adrenaline and desperate hope comes pouring out, and I can't stop it.
"I'm sorry," I gasp, trying to wipe at my face with hands that are shaking too hard to be effective. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know where else to go, and you said… You told me if I ever needed help—"
"Come inside." His voice is gentle but firm, the tone of someone used to being obeyed. He steps back, gesturing into the house. "Belle, come inside. You're safe here."
Safe.
The word breaks something else loose in my chest, and I stumble forward, crossing the threshold into Richard Kane's fortress. The entry hall is enormous. All polished concrete floors and soaring ceilings, but I barely register any of it. I'm too focused on the man closing the door behind me, sealing us in together.
He turns, and I see his expression properly for the first time. There's concern there, and anger, but not at me. Never at me. The fury in his dark eyes is cold and under control, the kind of rage that comes from seeing something you predicted come to pass.
"It was today, wasn't it?" He's not really asking. "The wedding."
I nod, not trusting my voice.
"And you ran."
Another nod.
He closes his eyes briefly, and when he opens them again, something in his expression has changed. Softened. "Thank God," he says quietly. "Thank God you ran."
The relief in his voice does something to me. It makes me feel seen in a way I haven't felt in years. Since the last time I was in a room with him, actually. Since he looked at Nathan across a dining table and told him if he ever saw another bruise on me, there would be consequences.
Nathan had laughed. Told his father he was being dramatic, that I was clumsy, that Richard was seeing things that weren't there. And Victoria had backed him up, of course, because she always does. Her precious son could do no wrong, even when the evidence was literally written on my skin in purple and yellow.
"I didn't know where else to go," I whisper, the words scraping past the lump in my throat. "I have no one, and I thought... you said if I needed help..."
"I meant it." He takes a step closer, then stops, like he's forcing himself to maintain distance. "Every word. You did the right thing coming here, Belle. You should have come sooner."
"He wouldn't let me." The admission tastes like failure. "He took my phone, controlled all the money, had Victoria watching me constantly. Today was the first time I've been alone in months, and I just... I ran. I grabbed my purse from the bridal suite and I ran."
Richard's jaw tightens, and I see his hands curl into fists at his sides. "Where is he now?"
"Still at the venue, I think. The ceremony was supposed to start at six. When I didn't show up..." I trail off, imagining Nathan's face when he realized I was gone. The cold fury that would have replaced his public-facing charm. "He's looking for me. He'll be looking everywhere."
"He won't find you here." The certainty in Richard's voice is absolute. "This property is private, unlisted, and very secure. You saw the checkpoints. No one gets in without my express permission."
I nod, wanting to believe him. Needing to believe him.
