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Except I know that’s not true.

She’s gorgeous. And she’s driving me crazy.

And she hasn’t given up trying to get away.

I imagine she wants to run straight to her father to update him on things. Or to feed him information about my home. I’m not sure, but she must be dying to get back to him. Possibly even just to let him know the plan worked. The debt is cleared, and she escaped.

Mm.

Perhaps I should put this theory to the test.

She’s so desperate to get away—what if I let her think that she’s won? That she’s escaped.

I’m toying with the idea all evening. It’s late and I’ve just climbed into bed. I’m lying in the dark, staring at the ceiling. My men are on high alert, expecting her to make another attempt.

With a smile on my face, I decide that tomorrow, whatever attempt she makes is going to be successful.

Pulling my phone out, I message Roan.

Me: Tomorrow, I want you to start looking into Lara’s background. I want to know everything about her. Also, I’mgoing to allow her next escape attempt to be successful, and I’m going to follow her to see what she is so desperate to get back to. I assume it’s her father, but it will be interesting to see why.

Roan: Yes, sir. I’ll have the guys open an investigation into her tomorrow. Maybe she can lead us to where her father hid the missing 25% of our product.

Me: That’s long gone. And he’s paid his debts. Forget about it. Keep me in the loop about the investigation.

Roan: Will do. Have a good evening, sir.

When I roll over, my face against my pillow, and close my eyes, an image of her comes to my mind. Her lips swollen from my kiss, her blue eyes glittering with expectation. My cock throbs thinking of her and I groan in annoyance. I can’t keep doing this. Night after night, I lie here wanting to go to her room and have my way with her. She is mine, after all. But that isn’t the way I imagine being with my wife for the first time. Although the idea of it turns me on wildly.

***

As predicted, in the morning, Lara is already hard at work with another escape plan. All of the security guys have been told to turn a blind eye and let her slip past, and one of the side gates has been ‘accidentally’ left open and unattended after what looks like a delivery took place for the scullery. Lara jumps at the opportunity, and in a flash, she’s slipping through the gate in a pair of tight jeans and a dark hoodie. Her bright pink high-tops are hardly the ideal pair of shoes for being stealth, but I assume she had no idea that she’d actually manage to get away today.

I’m ready and waiting, and as soon as she slips out of the gate, I’m tailing her.

I was even nice enough to leave a convenient pile of cash on the kitchen counter this morning. Nothing over the top. It looks like I just dumped some change there after cleaning out my wallet.

To my surprise, she didn’t even take all of it.

But she has enough to wave down a taxi, and right now I’m sitting in my car, a block or two away from her, watching her climb into the back seat and tell him where to go.

The taxi pulls out onto the road and I keep my distance, but also a watchful eye on them so that I don’t lose her.

We drive far from my mansion into a very dodgy part of town.

“What are you doing here, little one?” I mutter to myself as the cab driver pulls over and she gets out, then turns to stare up at a crappy, derelict building. Paint is peeling off the side of the building in massive chunks. There is damp and mold soaking through the brickwork, and every piece of metal is rusted and crumbling. Outside the building are piles of rubbish bags, tossed aside and forgotten, rotting on the sidewalk.

We’re close to the docks; not the nice side where people sit on their balconies drinking cocktails and watching the yachts, this is the side where the trawler boats come in and dump their catch for the day. I can smell rotting fish guts mixed with the stench of boat fuel.

Is her father hiding here?

I park my car away from the building and walk down the road towards her on foot, keeping to the shadows, close to the buildings, out of sight.

Even a man like Anton would have better connections thanthis,though. Besides, I got confirmation yesterday that hebooked himself into a hotel on the other side of town. I’m giving him thirty days to get his shit together and get out of here. It’s lenient of me, and I’m only allowing him that amount of time because of the deal.

So why is she here?

It’s not to meet her father—so what is it?