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“Did you have sex with me?”

He rears back like I slapped him. “I’m not a rapist, Ms. Rose. You’ve been unconscious for a day and a half.”

“But you were at an auction for my virginity. Excuse me if I’m having a hard time believing you have a moral compass.”

The last thing I expect is the roar of his next string of words. “I was there to collect what your brother owes me. That other shit has nothing to do with me.”

I swallow, reacquainting my throat with the movement as the lump lodged there loosens. Wincing against the bitter taste in my mouth, I frown at the man staring down at me. “I don’t mean to insult your intelligence, Mr. Adonis, but anyone willing to give my brother a loan is someone who deserves losing their money.”

With a polite clearing of his throat and a bemusedexpression, Dr. Silas looks from me to Adonis and walks to the door. “I’ll leave you two to talk through that. Try to get as much rest as you can over the next week, Ms. Rose.”

I want to tell him there’s no chance in hell I’ll be getting anything resembling rest until I’m out of this place, but he doesn’t seem like a man inclined to care about those facts. So, I press my lips into a fine line, all my attention focused on the brooding man studying me.

He stares at me like I’m missing something, and that depletes the waning reserve of my patience.

“Keeping me isn’t going to work. I need to go home,” I tell him. I don’t know how I’m going to explain my no call-no show from yesterday to the cafe, but my trip home should be enough time to brainstorm an excuse. Ijustgot that job.

A flicker of frustration passes over his face and I can’t decipher if it’s because of my nonchalance or his inability to read the room. I’m not scared of him. That must be new for him.

Because he’s not just tall, he’s damn near a wall. Hard lines and muscles and enough contempt in his gaze to scare the devil.

But I’ve already met the devil. Twice. And I didn’t live through that just to let some random man who has beef with my brother stop me now.

“I would like to go home, please.”

“I already told you the conditions of your stay, Ms. Rose. Get acquainted with this place because you’re going to be here for awhile.”

He turns away from me, a dismissal that feels like a slap in the face. The butt of a gun peeks from the back waist band of his pants.

“If you’re thirsty, there’s water on the table beside you.The bathroom is over there.” He gestures toward a door I didn’t notice before. “Go take a shower. You smell like the last thirty-six hours.”

“I need my phone,” I announce to his retreating back.

Adonis stops at the door that Dr. Silas walked out of. “You don’t get to make demands, Ms. Rose. Go take a shower. Dinner will be waiting for you when you get out.”

“I’m not doing anything without my phone.” I need to talk to Indigo. I need to text my job. I need to figure out how I’m getting out of here. If he can walk out of that manor with a whole human, I know he can get my phone.

His shoulders stiffen. “There wasn’t a phone in your bag.”

“Because they took it at the door. I want it back.”

“And I want my million dollars back.” There’s a finality in those words. Then he opens the door and slams it behind him.

When it’s just me in the room, I sit up against the headboard and glare at the door. “Asshole.”

Hate isn’t a word I throw around lightly, but I know in that moment I hate Adonis. And I plan to make his life a living hell until he lets me go. It’s the least I can do.

Chapter 8

Change of Plans

ADONIS

I’m not an impulsive man. Every decision I make is thought out days, weeks and sometimes years before I do it.

Needless to say, I didn’t plan on leaving the auction with a person. Didn’t plan on shooting her brother either. I didn’t plananyof this.

But my gun was aimed at him before his hand had a chance to leave her face. If I hadn’t been distracted by the way she’d steeled herself for the impact of his palm —like she was used to it—the bullet would have been lodged in his heart instead of his stomach.