“Emily.” When I eventually regained consciousness and realized how to breathe, I croaked out her name.
I was completely unaware that I had moved until all of a sudden, I found myself standing next to her. After dropping to my knees next to the bed where she was lying on her back, she turned her head toward me. I reached out and took her hand in mine. It lived up to my ideas of being kind and comforting by being exactly that way.
She did not react in any way to my touch; she stayed motionless, her respiration being constant and deep the whole time. As if she were the charmed godess of a storybook, waiting for the kiss of her true love.
The very thought of it made my stomach turn. There was no magical effect that caused her to pass out and become unconscious.
Mathew had drugged her.
I growled at him as I closed in on him, but I didn’t back away from her at any point. I was unable to. “What did you do?”
He looked down at me as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest. Even though I was taller than him by a few inches, he was much larger than I was. As I was on my knees, I could see that he was towering above me. More than Emily.
I moved my body in between them to create a barrier between my closest buddy and her. I was aware that he was a dangerous guy, but he had never attempted to harm me in any way.
“Why did you do this?” When he didn’t answer the first question I asked, I prodded him. “Why the hell would you subject her to such treatment?”
Why wasn’t he aware of the consequences of his actions? I hadn’t gone back for her because I wanted to keep her safe. It’s possible that if my father’s adversaries had found out about her, they would have exploited her to get at me. I was Mom and Dad’s Achilles’ heel, and Emily was both of ours.
Mathew replied, “You missed her,” as if it were sufficient justification for the heinous murder he’d perpetrated, but it was clear that it wasn’t. Kidnapping was just another part of his criminal profession for him. On the other hand, kidnapping Emily constituted a direct assault on my person. If he brought her anywhere near me, he would be putting her in danger.
I felt like yelling and screaming at him. I had the want to fight him, to inflict pain on him in a manner that I had never even considered in the past.
However, I was unable to withdraw from her presence. I had a hard time letting go of her hand. She was so frail and prone to injury. I was unable to leave her side while she was asleep and unable to protect herself, not while she was in that position.
It’s not like she could have fought back against Matthew if she tried. My violent buddy never assaulted women, but even if he had, I never in a million years would have thought he was capable of anything like this.
“You kidnapped her because I longed for her, right?” I was incensed. “Don’t you realize how much of a risk you’ve placed her in by doing that? She was protected while at Nevada. She did not need me to keep her secure. ”
In response, Matthew said, “No, she wasn’t.” “I’m not the only one that was concerned about your whereabouts after you vanished. It wasn’t only me that discovered your hiding spot at Nevada; others did as well. ”
My veins throbbed with the beating of my heart. Both my guilt and my own self-centered optimism tortured me. If my grandfather’s adversaries had found Emily, then Matthew would not have had an option but to marry her. He had brought her with him in order to safeguard her.
But it meant that ultimately it was my fault for tearing her away from the gorgeous and flawless life she had built for herself. That was never anything I want for her. My only goal was to shower her with affection and ensure that she was completely content.
However, that was not how things really were. I’d brought her into this messed-up world, which was full of gore and carnage, which was my reality.
“There wasn’t another option for us,” Mathew went on to say. I hardly paid attention to the we. Since Matthew and I worked together, even though he came to this conclusion on his own, I felt as if I had to accept responsibility for it.
because I had no intention of allowing her to go. Not again. I was unable to now that I was in close proximity to her.
A justification for keeping her was the possibility that she might be put in danger if I weren’t present to shield her from harm. That was obvious to me in some capacity of my thinking. If I were a genuinely nice guy, I would advise her to seek protection from the authorities by going to the police.
However, I was a self-centered, gluttonous pig in my core. I’d been brave enough to walk away from her before, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it again if I wanted her. I wouldn’t do it.
I refocused my attention on her, taking in the breathtaking sight of her as I did so. Even though I could still sense Mathew’s presence behind me, I didn’t let it bother me. He was aware of every one of my confidences, yet his watchful eyes on us hardly registered.
I was unable to resist her seduction, so I stretched out with my hand and traced the line of her cheekbone with my thumb, then trailed my fingers down her jaw. I wanted to commit each and every detail of her body and face to memory. Even the bittersweet and obsessive recollections I had of her were no match for the reality of having her right here with me.
A crease of sorts formed in the space between her brows, and she groaned in an audible manner. Despite the fact that she seemed to be in pain, she pressed her face on my palm.
She questioned her name with a groggy tone, caught halfway between sleep and consciousness. “Nicola?”
When I heard my name being said by her, I quickly straightened up for her since the sound went right to my cock. My body was racked with yearning and lust, and I could feel my grip on her hand tightening as a result.
After that, I knew there was no way in the world I could ever be capable of letting her go again.