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Once we leveled off, I debated taking out my laptop to get some work done, but I stopped myself. I allowed myself to indulge in just looking at her in all her beauty. Her hair hung limp around her shoulders and I could see the tiredness in her brown eyes. There was still fire in them, but I would bet my entire wealth that she wished she could just close them to rest.

My gaze drifted to the cut on her hand and it bothered me again. It was such a small thing. A thin line across the back of her hand that was already starting to heal, but it was enough to light a fire within me to find out what happened. Was it the result of someone else or just circumstances she couldn’t control when she was alone? Because if it was because of someone’s actions to her, their punishment would be worse than what Bradley faced. With him, his words led to his demise, but if this was someone putting their hands on her…

I refused to let my mind wander that far. It wouldn’t do me a bit of good because I’d already made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t push her tonight. Sutton needed time to come down from the journey she’d been on. I was determined that she would get that time to decompress while she was in one of my homes, enjoying the fruits of my labor because I wanted her to. Then we would see how all of this would progress in a measured way.

What she didn’t understand yet was that I would absolutely burn the entire world down for her. She wasn’t ready to hear the words that would declare my undying devotion to her. The throne she would sit on in my life and in my empire had been ready for over three years, but she wasn’t ready. It took an extreme amount of patience to get to this point but it had proved to me that, in this case, some things were more than worth the wait.

It was just a matter of time before she understood the same and that trajectory started now.

7

SUTTON

This elevator did not have buttons. I noticed that before the doors finished closing and I was somewhat confused by it. All it had was a panel where the controls should have been that had a small button and a slot for what looked like a card I did not possess. There was no emergency call button and no way to select a floor, which told me that this elevator only went to one place: the top floor. That part I’d pieced together when Cain Ashcroft directed his New York City driver to take him to the penthouse.

I watched as Cain placed his thumb on the small black square before the elevator started to move. So there might be a card, but it seemed as if the elevator was run on a biometric start button. That didn’t surprise me in the slightest given who he was. A thumbprint to go up, and presumably a thumbprint to come down, which more than likely meant I wouldn’t be able to escape using the elevator unless I found a card that would work or cut off Cain’s thumb.

At this point, everything was fair game.

I filed it away with everything else I was learning after my great escape and unfortunate capture. It might serve me well in the future, but since I didn’t know that for sure, it was best to keep tabs mentally.

The journey to the top floor was smooth and silent. I felt the pressure change in my ears before I felt the motion in my body. Cain stood beside me with his hands clasped loosely in front of him. He didn’t look at me, which I found somewhat surprising given how focused he seemed to be on me for most of the plane ride here. I’d watched him watch me, and I’d decided somewhere over Pennsylvania that silence was one of the few things I could control right now and there was no way I was going to give that up.

So, I gave him exactly that. The only thing that could be heard between us was the slight noise coming from the elevator as we ascended to his “humble abode.” It took what felt like an eternity but had to be less than a minute before the elevator doors opened and I stepped into a foyer that probably cost more than my entire condo building. Pale marble floors that you would think would show every footprint and yet somehow none appeared. A dark wooden table against the wall that held a single orchid and I almost laughed at the irony of it. Cain couldn’t have known about the voicemail to Cassie. But the universe had a sense of humor, and it was at my expense.

Or maybe he had intercepted the message I sent to my best friend. I couldn’t be too sure given the resources he had at his disposal.

Speaking of resources, I noticed a man wearing a black suit standing about twenty feet from the elevator doors. He did not look directly at me, which was interesting because I was surprised by the lack of a small acknowledgment. It was also disturbing because he was just standing there silently… guarding a place that you could only get to with card access and a fingerprint.

From what I could see, two cameras were visible in the main hallway. One was angled toward the elevator, the other toward a corridor that appeared to lead to another area of the penthouse. Part of me wanted to know where, but the other half kept me in check and in control of my emotions because I wasn’t going to let Cain see that this setup made me curious about what was going on here.

When we walked into what looked to be a living area, I didn’t take the time to study my surroundings because my eyes immediately locked in on a second man standing through a glass door. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze fixed on something beyond the glass that I couldn’t see. Two guards inside a space that already required a fingerprint to access. That was when it dawned on me: Cain wasn’t worried about people getting in, he was worried about someone or something getting out.

And that someone was me.

Cain moved past me and almost waltzed into the living area without waiting to see if I would follow. Then again, he didn’t need to wait because where would I go? That was the entire point of the place. He could afford to give me the illusion of distance because the distance led nowhere.

After my discovery, I let my eyes move across the room and study my surroundings. It was best that I started piecing together the place I would be staying for at least the next couple of days because I refused to make a desperate move to showcase how much I wanted to be free. It would be embarrassing given that there was no way I was getting out as things currently stood with the number of people I could assume were watching me. There was no doubt in my mind that it was more than the two men I’d already seen.

The room itself was the kind of beautiful that obviously showcased he’d hired a very expensive interior designer. Everything had been bought and placed with intention. The dark colors screamed bachelor life and the art on the walls was probably worth more than I’d make in a decade. Then there were these floor-to-ceiling windows that he paid millions for, that would in my opinion make this place somewhat worth it.

I’d seen views like this before. Heck, I saw it when he told me that I was attending the gala his mother was hosting and we stayed in the hotel here in the city. I’ve attended meetings with floor-to-ceiling glass and clients who paid for the privilege of looking down on everyone else. But this was and felt different. This was what felt like all of Manhattan laid out beneath us and it stopped me for half a second longer than I wanted it to.

Then my stomach turned.

Because that was the whole point of this, wasn’t it? The city was right there. So close I could see the headlights from vehicles sitting in traffic, the lit windows of buildings full of people who could come and go as they pleased. People who could walk out a door and onto a street and do whatever they wanted. I could see all of it, but I just couldn’t reach any of it.

The view wasn’t a gift. It was the glass bars of the cage whose key was a fingerprint that Cain Ashcroft had forced me into. For what full reason, I wasn’t completely certain, but I was sure that I would eventually find out.

I looked away from the glass before he could catch me because I refused to give him even a tiny hint of satisfaction.

“You’ll have your own room, by the way,” Cain said.

That surprised me, and I hated that it did. I’d spent the entire flight bracing for him to force me to sleep in the same bed as him or to have a room that didn’t contain a door. Instead, he was offering me privacy like it was something I should be grateful for. And I hated to think that I was.

I didn’t know how often he would be here with me, but being able to have some reprieve from him would be essential for my survival. Having a space of my own would help me keep my mind clear for I foresaw this being all-consuming.

“Don’t,” I said, and I quickly realized it was the first word I’d spoken since the plane. “Don’t dress this up as if you are being considerate and kind. It’s still a cage because you could just let me walk out of here and never see you again. A door or anything else doesn’t change that.”