Chapter 20

I really should have listened to Steel when he told me not to open the door for anyone, not even him. Did I? Nope. Of course not, I heard a car and opened the door, walking right outside, not even thinking. Now I'm left standing here in front of six men I have never seen before in my life. All of them are dressed in fancy ass black suits, not even wearing any winter gear. They look out of place. No, better yet, they look dangerous. I'm definitely never going to hear the end of this when Steel returns.

Fuck! Steel, where the fuck are you!

Slowly, I begin to back up toward the door wondering how long it will take to get back inside and lock the door. Not that I believe a locked door is really going to do any sort of good. But it would give me time to make it to the panic room with Grace, and that's what's most important. My sister needs to come first and be protected. I'd never forgive myself if something happens to her.

"Good morning, Ma'am," the driver of the vehicle calls out as he moves toward the front steps, leading to where I'm standing on the porch. I watch him cautiously but make sure to keep the other in my sights as well. "Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?" he calls out again when I don't answer him.

The man is seriously creepy. His suit looks perfectly pressed despite the fact that he had to have been in the car for a while. I know when we arrived it took forty-five minutes to get here from town. Plus the suit really just doesn't fit in for the area. It's freezing outside and he has no coat on. I doubt anyone in town would be caught dead wearing a suit daily, it's too rural here for that. His black hair looks oily and is slicked back in a way that adds to his old man creeper vibes. I think he has to be at least fifty considering he has a weird-looking mustache that most likely has grey hair. He still has his sunglasses on so I can't make out his eyes but I'm sure he is staring at me, considering everything else about him.

"I'm not really sure that I can help you," I answer, trying to figure out how in the hell I'm supposed to get him to leave without exposing that Steel isn't here. If anything I need him to think that Steel is inside but I also don't want him to call my bluff. Damnit I don't know how I'm supposed to do this.

"I'm just looking for someone that I know is in the area. We've gotten a little lost with this snowstorm," the man states as he reaches the bottom step of the snow-covered wooden stairs leading up to the cabin.

Yeah, sure, dude, you got lost in the snowstorm. I doubt that completely. It only started snowing hard about thirty minutes ago, but even I knew it wasn't bad enough yet to make it hard to see. I also don't know why they would think I've seen anyone in this area. From what I've noticed, all the cabins are super secluded. We don't have any neighbors around here, so I doubt they took a wrong turn.

"Sorry, I don't think I can help you much," I answer, feeling the door handle behind me. Reaching back, I grasp the handle and turn it so all I need to do is push the door open and rush inside.

"No need to fret," the male soothes, grasping the railing on the side of the stairs like he is about to climb up them toward me.

My eyes move behind him, catching some of the other men moving around the vehicle as well. Two of them approach the cabin, both going toward corners. They don't go too far, stopping just within my sight. The third was still back by the vehicle, leaning against the driver's door nonchalantly. I could feel my hands shaking as I continued watching everyone.

Come on think, Illeana. How the fuck are you going to get out of this. You have no fighting experience and these guys are probably armed. It'd be stupid of them not to be, and they are dressed like the security guys my father employs for special events. They don't look like the same guys, especially the one who has a neck tattoo. That doesn't mean they aren't as dangerous, if not more so. I really wish we had gone with Steel now. This is ridiculous.

"Would it be alright if we looked around? It wouldn't take long at all. I promise. We just want to make sure we haven't missed anything," he smiles, walking up the steps slowly.

"I'd rather you didn't," I respond coldly, opening the door behind me as I step back over the threshold. "If you go back to town, someone there can assist you with directions for whoever you are looking for."

"My, my, why didn't we think of that?" he asks, reaching the last step to the porch. His head swivels to look through the windows. I can only hope that Grace isn't sitting in one and that she moved away. I'd rather these guys not see her at all. I already risked too much stepping foot out here like an idiot.

"I would like you all to leave," I demand, grasping the door frame with one hand. Mentally, I'm calculating how long it will take me to reach the kitchen and grab a knife, something, anything to defend myself with if these men refuse to leave.

"I understand, we didn't mean to scare you, Miss," he pauses like he is waiting for me to answer him with my name. When I don't, he lifts his hand in the air, waving his pointer finger in a circle. The movement has the two men at the edges of the cabin retreating back to the car. "Have a great day, Ma'am. We are sorry for bothering you."

I watch the male walk down the stairs, the others are already waiting beside the vehicle for him. All of them are staring at me. When the male that was speaking reaches the vehicle, they all turn as one and begin opening their doors to get inside the SUV they drove. I don't stop watching them until they are completely out of sight down the driveway, and even then I wait just a little bit longer to make sure they don't turn around. When I'm positive we're in the clear, only then do I take two more steps back and shut the front door, ensuring that I lock all three locks on it.

"Who was that?" Grace asks while I take a deep breath leaning my head against the door. Of course, she was standing there waiting for me.

"Did anyone see you?" I ask quickly, as I move toward the living room window to look outside and make sure they didn't double back toward the house.

"No, I was in the kitchen getting a snack. When I heard an unfamiliar voice talking, I stayed there. Why? What's going on?" she asks, her face full of fear as she looks between me and the front door. "Where's Steel?"

"I don't know. They claimed they were looking for someone and got lost. I don't really believe it but I'm probably just overreacting because Steel isn't back yet like he said he would be." My eyes cut over to the clock on the wall showing definitely past the three-hour mark now. "Steel should be back any minute. Do you need help with a snack?"

I'm completely freaked out and worried, but showing that fear to Grace isn't going to help anything. I need to keep her calm and focused on something other than what's going on. As soon as Steel is back, I'm going to tell him what happened and I'll see what he wants to do. I'm sure I'm going to get my ass reamed for opening the door but I'll deal with that then. Nothing I can do about it now.

"Nope, I'm good. I grabbed an apple and cut it up." She looks at the door questioningly one more time before coming back into the living room and plopping down on the couch. "Think I can play the Switch? Steel said that it should have Mario Kart on it. I bet I could kick your butt."

"You think?" I raise my eye-brow and look at her. "I don't think you could. You're on." Grabbing the remote off the coffee table, I switch the Input to the Switch while Grace grabs all four controllers from the mantle. I know most people only use one controller, but they have the adapters here that lets you use two controllers and turn it into one big one making it easier to play.

"How are you doing that?" I question, sighing as I drop the controller in my lap for the sixth time. Grace has managed to beat me in every race. Somehow the little shit keeps getting a red shell every time I finally gain the lead. She waits until right before the end to use it and pass me. It's driving me absolutely insane and is completely unfair.

"I told you I would kick your butt!" she taunts as she gets the next race set up.

"This is ridiculous," I shake my head, resting it back against the couch cushion behind me while I take a deep breath. I'm not a video game person, I know that, but like, it's Mario Kart, I've heard enough about it that it shouldn't be giving me this many issues.

"What the hell are you two going on about?" Steel questions, as he opens the front door.

The sound of his voice makes me jump out of my seat and I spin to look at him. His arms are full of bags but I couldn't care less as I run straight to him, wrapping my arms around his neck, in a tight hug as I hold myself against him. I didn't realize how freaked out I still was until I saw him standing there in front of me. With my arms wrapped around him, I finally feel like I can relax and know that all of us will be safe. Tears well up in my eyes as I let all the tension leave my body. I was terrified facing them, terrified of them coming back when he wasn't here.

"Illeana," he calls out softly, as his bag filled arms come around me. "Baby, you're shaking. What's wrong?" The concern in his voice just makes my tears fall even more, as sobs take over my whole body.

"Some guys showed up at the cabin earlier," Grace answers for me. How she can answer so calmly I have no idea. Maybe because she was smart and stayed hidden and wasn't facing them down the way I did.

"WHAT?!" he shouts. "Fuck!" Unwrapping his arms from around me, he pulls away from me, making me let go of him. I stand still, tears still streaming down my face as I watch him move into the kitchen and place the bags down. Once his hands are empty he comes back over to me and lifts me into his arms, I wrap my legs around his waist, and my arms around his neck as he carries me back to the bedroom. "Grace, stay here and keep playing the video game. I need to talk to your sister alone."

His demanding tone really shouldn't be making my body react, but it does. I really like it when he takes charge and gets demanding, though I won't ever admit that to him except for in the bedroom. When we reach the end of the hallway he kicks the bedroom door shut behind us before dropping me on the bed. I don't have time to get comfy, before he's in my space, leaning over me and making me fall back to my elbows. "Tell me exactly what happened and don't leave anything out," he demands.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out, I try to get my body to relax before I rehash what happened. Steel is eerily quiet as I explain in detail what happened, making sure I don't leave anything out. I even manage to give him the best descriptions that I could of each of the men, though the one by the vehicle I really couldn't tell him anything about as he was too far away the whole time. By the time I'm reaching the end of my story, Steel is shaking. He's still leaning over me, but his arms on either side of me are shaking, and I don't think it has anything to do with the hold he's had, no I'm pretty sure it has to do with anger.

"Illeana," he sighs, leaning down just a little bit more to touch his forehead to mine. The move would be sweet and comforting if his eyes didn't tell me a different story. He's furious and holding on by a strand. "Do not. I repeat. Do not ever do anything so reckless again. Do you understand what you could have done? What could have happened? I gave you one direct order and you disobeyed it."

"I know," I sigh, tears slipping out of the corner of my eyes. I fucked up. I didn't listen to what he said, and I was terrified. I knew the second I opened the door it was a mistake. I should have looked out the window instead of just assuming it was him. "I thought it was you, I swear. I never would have expected some random car to show up here. You said no one knows about the cabin beside the team."

"How am I supposed to trust you? How are we supposed to work if you don't listen to me? This is exactly what you did at school," he pulls back and begins to pace around the room, leaving me lying on the bed. "I told you to stay inside.”

"I know you did," I sigh, sitting up and pulling my feet under me until I'm sitting indian style in the middle of the bed. "I'm sorry."

"Illeana, this is why I was trying to keep our distance. You're reckless. You have no idea what it's like out in the real world. You can't follow simple orders. I knew better than to get involved with someone as young as you but I couldn't help myself. I wanted you. I slept with you because I thought that you could listen but I should have known better," he snarls, running his hands through his hair as he turns to look at me. "Why would you do that?"

"I'm sorry," I plead again through the tears. "I thought we were safe here, I didn't think..."

"No! You didn't think!" he snarls. "That's your problem you never think. You just do what you want, damn the consequences. You think because your father is a Senator you can do whatever you want?"

"I didn't say that. I've never said that," my voice breaks. His words pull at the parts of me I keep hidden. He's right, we both knew better than to form something between us. God, how could everything go from being so perfect last night to us fighting now? "I know the consequences of my actions. Probably better than you," I shout back. "I said I was sorry. I thought it was you!"

"I told you to stay inside!" he shouts back. "Why didn't you stay inside!"

"Because I wanted to help you! It was close to the three-hour mark when you said that you would be back," I answer, much calmer than I feel. Shouting at each other is going to get us nowhere. "There's nothing that can be changed now. Just tell me what you want Grace and me to do and we will do it." My tone is cold and detached as I watch him take several deep breaths and stare at me. I want to cower as his icy blue eyes watch my every move but I don't, instead holding my ground until he makes a decision. I won't regret last night, but I also will learn from it.

"What do I want you to do?" he chuckles. "I want you to stay in here, while I go outside and check the permitter. After that, we will talk." He turns and heads out of the room, slamming the bedroom door shut behind him. The sound makes me jump, but other than that I don't move. Not yet. I'm too furious that he would bring up what happened last night between us and use it against me. That was a low blow and I'll be sure to remind him of it when he's back.