Page 90 of Hearts and Hidden Secrets

CARSON

Holy moly Christmas. I couldn’t believe what had happened.

Jonah kidnapped me, and then was like, “Oopsies, we shouldn’t have kidnapped you,” and my response was to fall on his dick. Multiple times.

I was nuts! My sister would—my sister! I’d been gone for a full night. She might’ve believed the first lie, but not a full night and day. I’d never been gone that long on a one-night stand, and I assumed that’s what Jonah’s brother had texted to her.

Jonah reappeared from the bathroom.

We’d been in the room all day, literally, and my stomach was growling. His had growled earlier during I’d forgotten which round, but he hadn’t cared.

Now he was dressed, and he took one look at my face and must’ve seen my alarm.

“What?”

“If you’re not going to kill me, I need my phone back. My sister will be raising holy hell looking for me in Kansas City.”

He grimaced and looked toward the ceiling.

“What?”

He looked back at me, his jaw set. “Why don’t you dress, and I’ll see if my brother is back. He’ll have your phone.”

“Will he have destroyed it?” I stood as he went to the door.

He put in the unlock code, and yeah, you bet your ass I was watching.

He turned back. “He waited to see what I wanted to do with you.”

A huge knot formed in the bottom of my throat.

He opened the door and started to go through it.

I called his name. I had to know.

He glanced back. “Yeah?”

“What are you going to do with me?”

A cloud came over his features, but he just shook his head. “Not what you’re worried about. Don’t worry.”

Then he was gone. The door closed behind him.

It locked again.

Fuck’s sakes. That pissed me off, but I hurried toward the bathroom. Wait … I backtracked and went to the closet. I had no clothes, so I perused the shelves, surprised to find some women’s clothes in here. I grabbed leggings and a large shirt—black to match my mood—and headed for the bathroom.

I wasn’t sure where to find shoes, hoping I wouldn’t need to make another run for it. Jonah seemed to have moved past that, so maybe we all had—his two brothers as well.

I showered and dressed, then went to the code box and put in the code Jonah had used.

The door flashed green. I opened it.

I realized why he hadn’t seemed to care if I saw the code. I had no idea where to go. However, the room was in the back corner. I only had one direction to go, forward.

I started exploring, remembering we’d gone down some stairs, so I went up some stairs.

After that...I got lost. At one point, I was pretty sure I was near where I’d been found in the forest. Which, if you thought about it, that was ingenious on their part.

At another point, I found myself in a hallway with a wall broken up by large rocks.

It was camouflaged to blend in with that forest I’d been in yesterday.

Whoa . If I kept going, would I make it to a road?

Also, a follow-up thought: Do I want to go that route now? Escape?

After Jonah and I did what we did, he seemed like he’d feel guilty if I were to die. He was a doctor... Those people took oaths of morality and saving lives, not killing people—and caring. That meant he had to care...right?

Then again, maybe I’d enjoyed a whole day in bed with someone I’d given too much credit to? Who knew where Jonah was in the hierarchy of his family? It might not matter what he said, what he wanted. The blond brother seemed higher up, or at least more ruthless.

I could possibly be screwed here. That seemed a high probability.

At this point, I was giving it up to the universe where I should go. So I kept going.

I went through another batch of hallways and turned left. After a bit, I came to a bedroom.

Another bedroom.

I got a glimpse of the middle atrium.

I kept on going.

I was going past rooms I didn’t remember seeing before, but I was on the other side of the middle green area, so that made sense.

A gym.

An indoor pool.

Another courtyard, but this one was inside. It looked like it was outside, but it wasn’t.

I kept on, coming to another set of doors.

I opened them and heard voices, and I froze because one of them was female.

“You never told me about Melissa!”

I careened to a halt as the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Whoever she was, she was furious.

“I learned this morning that she died nine months ago ! My little brother’s fiancée was murdered in front of him,” she rasped out in a screech. “Kai and Tanner were there. They fucking swooped in to save you, and you asked them not to tell me ! It’s me, Jonah! Me! What were you thin ?—”

“I was thinking I didn’t want you to worry about me!”

I nearly fell over, hearing that. My mind returned to that day. I’d seen the torment, but hearing it again, it tore through me, leaving scars in its path.

“Jonah.” A deep sob sounded from her.

I didn’t want to hear this, but I couldn’t make myself leave. I had to hear, but it was going to make me bleed on the inside.

“Brooke,” he said quietly, and I recognized that voice. He’d used it with me just a few hours ago.

Pain laced through me, spreading out, inching and weaving around all of my veins.

“You’d just had Millie,” he continued. “I didn’t want you to deal with?—”

“Deal?” Another choke from her. “Do you not know how much I love you? How much I adore you? You’re my little brother.

You’re mine to watch over. Mine . Kai takes care of all of us.

Tanner, he does what he does, but you—I got you growing up.

You and I were both shipped off. You and I are both different, but you and I—it was us.

I never felt more part of the family than when I was with you.

I’m the only girl. You’re nice. You should understand me. ”

I blinked away tears.

“You’d just had Millie,” he said again. “I know what you would’ve done. You would’ve packed up your newborn and flown straight to me. You would’ve tried to take care of me, your husband, and your newborn. I didn’t want you to be at risk, or her to be at risk.”

“Jonah.”

“You had an at-risk pregnancy and birth. Yes, I wanted my sister with me, but I’m a doctor in my heart. You needed to be taken care of, and not knowing about me was what you needed. I’d do it again.”

I could hear her sobbing.

“Brooke.”

A hand covered my mouth, and I felt myself yanked backwards—back through the door I’d just gone through, past the inside courtyard, past the pool, and into the gym.

The door shut behind us, and we were encased in four walls of mirrors—or mirrored glass, at least. I was able to see through them to the outside. The blond brother shoved me farther into the room and released me, blocking my way out with a smirk on his face.

“Aren’t you the sneaky little eavesdropper?” he said. “You’re supposed to be secured nice and tight in the lock room.”

I opened my mouth, ready to deliver some explanation, when I comprehended his words.

The lock room.

That’s what we’d been in?

Not all the bedrooms were the same?

I felt hot all over, and I knew my face was red, because that’s how I rolled, being a redhead. “Lock room?” I asked.

But of course. That made sense. The coded lock. I closed my eyes, bracing myself. “Is that where you put all your captives?”

He snorted. “No. Most of us use trusty guards to keep ours in. Consider yourself insulted that Jonah didn’t want to use guards for you, but then again, maybe he’d been thinking it through. We have security footage for that room.”

I rocked backward. My voice dropped to a whisper. “What?”

Security footage?!