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CHAPTER FOUR

GIA

The steel of the gun pressing against my temple is like ice, chilling me to the bone. Bianca’s warmth keeps me tethered. She is the only one that matters. I clutch her tighter to my chest, taking a step back down the hallway.

There’s no way out. No window. Nowhere to run and no one to help.

The foul taste of fear fills my mouth as my heart thunders. Bianca’s steady beat isn’t enough to calm me. We’re trapped. I glance around for any escape, but there is none. His hulking body keeps us caged in the hall, the warmth from his body feeling like it’s smothering me as he stalks forward again.

My gun is hidden high up in a closet. I won’t be able to get to the safe and keep Bianca plastered to me at the same time.

Royce sighs like standing there and pointing a gun at me is the heaviest burden he’s ever had to bear.

“Whatever you’re thinking of doing, just stop. I have the building surrounded. If you by some miracle manage to get by me, Matt is in the hall, waiting to catch you.”

Scowling, I bounce Bianca, trying to get her to calm down as Royce’s eyes flare with worry. They’re still the same emerald green as Bianca’s, deep and intelligent, making me feel like he can see straight through me.

And maybe he can. There was a time not that long ago when he was the one person in the world who knew the true me.

Or at least, as close to the truth as I was willing to give him at the time.

It may have been wrong, but it doesn’t change how the breakup happened between the two of us.

My lies don’t erase the things he said to me before he left. They don’t erase the fact that he had secrets of his own.

As angry as he is, Royce would never hurt our daughter, though, and that’s what I’m determined to hold on to. At least, I don’t think he would.

There’s something about the way he’s looking at me now that makes me think he’s not the man I used to know. I can practically feel the anger rolling off him in waves. The power he exudes is stifling and exciting at the same time—making the room feel like it’s too small even as arousal slicks my pussy.

Even if he doesn’t hurt Bianca, there’s nothing stopping him from killing you.

The thought sends a shiver down my spine. I know it’s the truth, even if he is looking at me like I’m a meal he can’t wait to devour.

Steeling myself for whatever is going to be waiting for me, I nod. “Fine. I’ll go with you, but you have to promise that you’re never going to hurt Bianca.”

“I’d die before I let anything happen to her,” he says, his tone sharp. “As long as you behave yourself.”

My heart catches in my throat while the ground plummets away. I’m suspended in time, trying to figure out if he really is the kind of man who could hurt our daughter to get to me.

I don’t like the answer I come up with.

He glares at me like he hates me for even making that a condition, but I need to know. I’ve spent the last two years bending to nearly every whim of Noah’s to keep Bianca safe.

I know firsthand how volatile these men can be.

Royce crosses his arms, his muscled chest bulging as a strand of his dark hair falls from the perfectly messy style he’s always favored. “You shouldn’t even have to ask me that. We spent a year of our lives together, Gia. You know that family is important to me.”

“Evidently so.” I purse my lips, holding back the insults on the tip of my tongue.

I was his family. We were living together. He told me that he loved me. He told me that one day we were going to have children of our own and everything was going to be perfect.

And then he left because of my last name.

Don’t forget the fact that you hid who your family was from him because you knew it would end like this. You had the power to help his family, and you still chose your own even though they’re far more likely to kill you.

“However,” Royce says, continuing with a wicked grin that makes the room feel a thousand degrees warmer. “That is all dependent on you and how you behave. Now, give me the child.”

My heart races as I loosen my hold on Bianca, torn between letting Royce hold her for the first time and keeping her tight in my arms where no harm can ever come to her.

Royce doesn’t reach for her, but he watches me like he’s thinking about it. It has the fine hair on the nape of my neck standing straight.

He would never hurt her—at least that’s what I have to keep telling myself—but something seems wrong about handing her over to him when it’s been just the two of us for so long.

I clear my throat, shifting Bianca to my hip as she toys with the cracked vinyl image on my old band shirt. “Alright, so, we’re going with you, then.”

There’s a tiny bubble of excitement that grows, if only for the fact that I’m finally going to be getting away from Noah. Even if it is only going to be a matter of time before he catches up with us, this is still more than I’ve hoped for in the last few years.

And Royce might be easier to escape.

“You’re going to need to pack. I don’t have any supplies to take care of Bianca.” He swallows hard, glancing around the apartment, and for the first time it looks like there might be a small chink in his armor. Something I can use. “Looks like you don’t have much for her either.”

“Her toys are in her playroom.”

A muscle in his angular jaw flexes. “She has a playroom?”

“And a bedroom.” I head down the hall and into her bedroom, pulling out the little pink rolling suitcase from her closet.

It isn’t often that I’ve had to travel with her, but Noah bought her an entire luggage set for the baby shower. He said that it was important to be able to pack her life away and move when needed.

At the time I didn’t think he was right.

Royce follows me into the room, heading straight for the painting of her sonogram I did while I was pregnant with her and unable to sleep at night. His presence seems to take up the entire room, the feeling of his gaze burning into me before he turns his attention back to the sonogram.

He stares at it, fingers flexing by his side, the gun hidden once more. “You should have told me about her. I would’ve figured out a way to help you with everything.”

“I didn’t need your help.” I sigh, biting the inside of my cheek. “I’m sorry. This is going to be difficult for both of us. Given the fact that you’re kidnapping me, it’s going to be harder. Maybe you could let me stay here and we could work on this co-parenting thing.”

“Nice try.” He moves to the pictures that hang on the wall. “You’re the one who wanted to lie to me. You were the one who had a baby without telling me. Did you honestly think you were going to be able to outrun the consequences forever?”

“Maybe.”

There’s a picture of me when it looked like I had about seven basketballs shoved beneath my shirt. It was part of the maternity shoot I had in the park, my white dress sheer with a black bodysuit beneath, showing off the bump in all its glory.

Another one is a picture of me holding Bianca just after she was born, wrapped in her little pink blanket and cradled close to my chest. My heart races just looking at them now and knowing I’m going to have to do whatever it takes to protect her.

Royce takes down the two pictures and puts them on the changing table. “You should probably take these with you.”

“How long are we going to be gone?”

He shrugs and starts opening the dresser drawers, looking at the little outfits folded there. “Don’t know. That really depends on your brother and whether he’s willing to cooperate or not. And you, of course. If you don’t behave, well, I’ve got some fantasies I’ve been meaning to act on.”

He’s not talking about sexual fantasies, not entirely, I can see that from the wicked gleam in his eyes.

“I’m sure Noah will cooperate once he finds out you kidnapped me.” The words are biting as I struggle to hold Bianca while putting the suitcase up on the changing table.

Royce chuckles, hovering close enough behind me that I can feel his breath on the shell of my ear. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. We’ve been trying to talk to Noah for two weeks and he’s been doing a stellar job at avoiding us.”

Shit.

If Noah isn’t willing to deal with Royce and his family, then I might have to rely on Royce being the man I used to think he was. Or at least trying to bring out that side of him as much as possible before I can run away with Gia.

He might be playing the monster right now, but I know the man I used to love and he was so much more than that.

Royce’s soft spot will be the key to my freedom.

I swallow hard, shifting Bianca around again as I empty a drawer with one hand, putting the clothes into the suitcase.

It would be easier to pack if Bianca were in the crib or her playpen in the other room, but I don’t want to give Royce the chance to get to her. He might pick her up and take off, leaving me without our daughter.

He could want me to feel what he’s now feeling, realizing that there is a life a person could live without their child.

But as I study him and the way he’s watching her with an easy smile, I know he’s telling the truth about not doing anything to hurt her and that includes taking her away from me.

“I could help with her,” Royce says, his voice soft as if he’s speaking to an animal that’s easily spooked. “If you’re willing to let me.”

I should have told him about Bianca as soon as I knew I was pregnant.

Guilt flows through me, sending my stomach lurching as I take a deep breath and hand her over. It’s against my better judgment but his words echo around in my head. I have to behave, do what he wants, even if it goes against my every instinct.

Bianca looks up at him, her eyes widening and her little lips parting. She’s either about to start screaming or babbling away, but with the tears welling in her eyes, it looks like screaming is the more likely answer.

Before she has a chance to let out the first wail, Royce blows out his cheeks, eyebrows lifting and eyes narrowing.

The face he makes is ridiculous, but it gets Bianca laughing.

She waves her little fists in the air as he makes another face at her.

The more time they spend with each other while I gather diapers and feeding supplies from the kitchen, the more I think I might have been wrong for keeping them apart.

But Royce didn’t even give me a chance to explain myself back then.

Not once did he stop and let me explain why I use my mother’s last name instead of my father’s. He didn’t wait around to hear why I would ever even think about keeping something from him.

And now I’m not sure it would matter if he stayed or not.

I don’t think he would have been able to forgive me. Not when he’s still so angry about it two years later.

As I finish packing Gia’s suitcase and mine, Royce keeps her entertained with the toys that are going to be staying here. He plays with her dolls, sitting on the ground and putting on a little performance while I grab the last of the toys I want to take with us.

When the bags are packed, Royce gets up and scoops Bianca up, handing her to me before taking the suitcases and car seat.

He looks at me over his shoulder as he heads for the front door. “You’re going to follow me and you’re going to get in the car. You’re not going to scream for help, and if you try to run, one of the men waiting outside is going to grab you before you have the chance to get away. And then they’re going to haul you back to me and I promise you won’t like what’s going to happen when they do.”

Though the thought crossed my mind, I know better than to test him while his guard is up.

There is no doubt that he has men stationed around the building, just waiting for me to try and do something stupid.

He leads the way out of the building, not saying a word on the short elevator ride or the walk through the parking lot to the black SUV that’s sitting beneath a dim streetlight.

Royce installs the car seat in the back before loading the bags in the trunk.

If anyone were to look out their window right now, we would just look like a family who is going away on a vacation together. They wouldn’t think twice about the man loading the bags into the back while I buckle up Bianca.

Nobody is going to think that the woman in the penthouse of the small building went missing.

Noah isn’t going to know to look for me until he wants the next painting ready.

Mom is going to head for Costa Rica.

A pit opens in the bottom of my stomach.

As I get in the SUV and wait for Royce, a million different thoughts start racing through my mind. I don’t know when someone is going to come looking for us. I have to worry about whether or not Mom is going to be okay, but I won’t be able to call her.

Royce slides into the car beside me, holding out his hand. “Phone. Now.”

I pull the phone out of my back pocket, and he takes it, rolling down the window as Matt appears beside us.

He nods in at me. “Nice to see you again, Gia. Sorry the circumstances are shit.”

My throat feels like it’s closing over as Royce tosses my phone to Matt. “I wish I could say the same.”

Matt’s lips twitch as he takes the phone. “Ready to go when you are.”

“We’re going now. Tell the others to make sure that we aren’t being followed before they start to fall off.” Royce starts the engine, hitting a button on the radio and flipping to one of my favorite stations, rock music flowing through the speakers.

A tight pain pricks at my lungs.

I didn’t think he would remember what station I like to listen to.

Hell, I didn’t think that he would care about me at all after this long, but there’s something in the way he looks at me that makes me think being his captive might not be the worst thing I’ve ever had to do.

If nothing else, the suggestive comments he’s made imply that he’s still attracted to me at the very least.

I might be able to use that to my advantage.

Clearing my throat as we pull away from my apartment, I look over at him. “Where are we going?”

“You’re the hostage here. You don’t get to ask questions.”

Bianca whines from the back seat before she starts to sob.

Royce glances in the mirror at her. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. No need to cry.”

His voice is soft and soothing as he turns down the music, stopping her tears almost instantly.

A broad smile crosses his face. “I know. I thought that band was shit too, but your mom always liked them.”

If it’s possible for a heart to explode, mine does.

And at the same time, I feel terrible that he’s able to comfort her.

I know this is just the first time and the next time it might not be so easy, but there’s a small part of me that wishes it was harder for him.

Instead of dwelling on it, I nestle back in the seat and close my eyes, knowing it’s going to be a long drive one way or another.

* * *

The car stops in front of a house with black siding and windowpanes. The door is a maple-toned wood that stands out against the dark. Soft lights shine on either side of the door as we walk up the path from the driveway to the house.

I glare daggers into Royce’s back as he carries Bianca into the house, but to my surprise, he sets her car seat down in the living room instead of opening up a secret door and descending into some basement with holding cells.

His family is rumored to have multiple holding facilities spread all over New York, but this doesn’t look like one of them.

I would’ve thought that if I was going to be a hostage, I would’ve been kept in a cell somewhere. Maybe Bianca would’ve gotten better accommodations.

What I wasn’t expecting was to be taken to a house.

A nice house at that, with warm-toned hardwood floors and buttery soft suede furniture. Neutrals flow throughout the house, making it look nothing like the modern apartment we used to spend time in.

“What are we doing here?” I ask, needing an answer for why I’m not in some cell somewhere.

Royce shrugs and turns to get the rest of the things from the car. “It’s one of the safe houses I own. Good location. Nobody around to hear you scream.”

A shudder rolls through my body, heat gathering low in my core. “Yeah, I get that, but there aren’t any bars on the windows. No men with guns standing by the doors.”

He crosses his arms, muscles flexing slightly and sending a spark of heat through my body. “I can get those here if you’re going to be a problem.”

“I’m not going to be.”

“Well then, I don’t think I have to worry about bars and guards for now. You fuck up, though, and they’ll be here within minutes.”

I don’t know what’s going on or why I’m here, but there’s a look in his eyes that tells me I’m better off not knowing exactly what happened.

My gaze drops to Bianca as she murmurs in her sleep, her head turning to one side. “What are you going to do to me?”

Royce strokes a hand over his jaw. “I don’t know.”

The words are sharp shards slipped beneath my fingernails, forcing their way to the bone. A shiver runs up my spine, the heady scent of his cologne only making my head spin faster. Bianca snuggles closer to me in her sleep, but there’s little comfort in her warmth.

Royce doesn’t know what he’s going to do to me—and somehow, that makes this worse.