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“Emerson, why don’t you come out here and we can talk.” I keep my words gentle, not wanting to spook her any more than I already have. A ragged sob on the other side of the door only makes me tempted to trial the grenade idea, the need to hold her so strong I almost can’t bear the fact I can’t touch her. “Sweet girl, I’m sorry if I’ve upset you. That was never my intention. I never want to upset you.” The truth in the words almost shocks me.
“There’s an emergency override in the panic room. It disengages all the locks in the apartment,” he tells me. I breathe a sigh of relief. “Can you do it remotely? I don’t want to leave the door and give her a chance to lock it again.” He laughs on the other end of the line and I wish I could reach through and punch him square in the fucking face. But I can’t. He’s helping me and honestly, we’d be fucked without him. “You’ve got it. I can’t wait to meet the spitfire, she seems like fun.”
Emerson is curled up in a ball beside the bath. Tears stream down her face as she gently rocks herself. Before I’ve even registered my own movements, I’ve bundled her up in my arms and I’m carrying her back to the bed.
“No.” I lock my arms around her. “You’re going to sit your pretty ass in my lap and tell me why the fuck you flipped out like that. I understand you might feel like I’m squashing your independence, but I just want to take care of you. I hated seeing you tired and stressed every morning, seeing you lose weight because you weren’t taking care of yourself. I’m not going to sit by and watch my woman struggle when I have more than enough money to take that burden off her shoulders.”
“I wasn’t trying to buy you, Emerson. I was trying to free you.” I reach out to swipe the tears from her cheeks. “I don’t know if I can do this.” She tries to pull away, but I don’t let her. If I give her space now, she’s going to run and I can’t risk that. I won’t risk it. “Too bad, sweet girl, because this is happening. You are mine. There’s no running, there’s no hiding. There’s just you and me.”
“You are staying here, Emerson. There is no argument you can make that will make me let you out of this penthouse, and if you continue to fight me on this, you will be locked up here indefinitely. There will be no going to the Center, there will be no going to classes, there will be you here in this penthouse until I’m sure you’re not going to run from me.”
“You can’t do that,” I whisper. Rayne chuckles. “Oh sweet girl, but I can. I don’t want to take away all you care about, all you are, but if it means you’re mine, and you’re safe, then I’ll have no choice but to do it.” He reaches for me again and this time I don’t have the strength to pull away because the reality is that I want this.
Rayne wraps his arms around my waist and tugs me back against his chest. “None of what is happening here is a loan, Emerson. You are mine. My woman. My heart. My everything. Mine.” The rapture in his words makes me melt into him. A man like Rayne could lie until the cows came home, but even a lie on his lips wouldn’t sound that sincere.
“I need you to trust me to keep you safe. I don’t want to lock you up and take your freedom away, but I will if it’s the difference between keeping you safe and losing you. I can’t lose you.” His voice cracks and I feel the sincerity in his words. He’s scared. Rayne Saint James, enforcer for one of the biggest criminal organizations in the country, complete with muscles on top of muscles, is afraid of something. He’s afraid of losing me.
Last night she blew up about the lack of privacy and my not letting her go to work or classes, and eventually I had to relent. Compromise and all that. She doesn’t know that at any one time there are ten men with eyes on her. Or that I put a tracker in her shoes. Or even that I’m tracking all incoming and outgoing phone calls and texts to both her phone and the Center’s. If she knew about most of that, she may actually kill me.
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to let you out of this apartment,” he confesses. I nod. “That’s okay. I don’t know when I’ll be ready to leave.” Rayne stares at me for long moments, as if looking for a lie in my words, but he won’t find one.
“We’re getting married.” I nod. “Okay.” “No, I don’t mean in a year or two. I mean, as soon as you’re back on your feet.” “I know.” “You didn’t answer before.” “I assumed it was happening regardless of my answer.” I shrug. Rayne tips his head back and laughs the first real laugh I’ve heard since he saved me and it makes my heart warm. “You’re a quick learner, sweet girl.”
“Rayne, where did you get his?” She whispers the question. “I’ve had it since two days after we first met. I knew then, I just had to wait for you to know too.” I smile up at her. The moment feels so right despite the chaos that remains around us.
