Chapter 2

Charlotte

The car pullsinto an underground garage, the tires bumping smoothly over the speedbump meant to slow cars. We don’t.

I’m gripping the handle again, my fingers clenched so tightly around the leather, my knuckles have turned white.

I haven’t spoken since the call, and I’d hardly spoken before that. I’m not sure why, other than it doesn’t matter. Nothing I might say is going to change anything that’s about to happen to me.

Swallowing down my fear, I draw in a deep breath as the car glides smoothly into a parking spot right in front of an elevator.

Roman gets out, circling the car and opening my door. I could cry. Beg not to go inside. Mason warned me two years ago what would happen to me if I caused trouble. The limo ride after the incident in the club was the stuff of nightmares and they’ve filled mine often enough.

I know who Mason is. Yes, he’s perfectly poised all the time because he’s barely human. He’s an animal, a predator. One I’ve been trying to escape.

And now I’m walking right into the lair of the beast.

Roman pushes the button on the elevator, the doors slide open. It’s the first time, other than that very first moment, that I hesitate, but as his hand comes to my back to see me into the enclosed box meant to bring me straight to my death, I can’t make my feet move forward.

“Please,” the word comes out a soft plea. I know it’s useless. The hesitation, the appeal for mercy, but I make it anyway. One feeble attempt at changing my fate.

“Princess,” Roman slides his foot in front of the door to keep it from closing, the pressure of his hand at my back increasing. “While your please is very pretty, almost as lovely as your face, save them for Mason. Pretty pleases are your best chance for help.”

I nod and step into the elevator, turning to watch the doors close and the parking garage disappear.

Roman hits the P at the very top of the rows of fifty buttons and I know we’re heading for the penthouse. The elevator glides up the Vegas skyscraper. I should have noted which building we entered, where we are, but I’m not sure I care.

I’m bone-tired, but not just tonight. In general. Everything is a struggle and I’m not sure I want to fight so much.

The elevator slows and the doors slide open. I step into the large room, Roman’s hand still at my back. The room boasts panoramic wraparound views of the Las Vegas skyline, the glittering lights set to a canvas of black filling the view of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

A configuration of tables is set up in the space in the shape of a U, thirty settings with half-eaten food and folders of paperwork littering the tables as though moments ago, this place was filled with people.

Now there is only one.

But he still fills the space.

Mason Kincaid stands in the center of the U like the king he is, fine suit accentuating the breadth of his shoulders. His arms are crossed, his height dwarfing me from fifteen feet away.

I stutter step in my sneakers, knowing that I was always building to this very moment. Why did I even bother to fight it?

I’ve got nothing left in my veins as Roman and I stop three feet from him.

I’m still in awe of this man. He’s a bit older, a touch of grey sprinkling his temples. How does that make him look hotter?

His jaw is hard enough to cut glass, his brown eyes so dark they are almost black. The only soft thing about him is his mouth, full and sensuous, even set in a hard line, it’s gorgeous and I find myself staring at this one feature. I’d like to trace its edges, know its shape.

“Charlotte.”

My name on his lips does little to quell my fears. It’s hard, rough, angry. Interestingly, it sparks a bit of life back into my limbs and I find myself standing straighter.

I must be a picture.

White sneakers, black mini skirt, Roman’s leather jacket. No style points are going to save me. “Mason.” His name isn’t a challenge. It isn’t a plea either. It might be a sigh. He’s dominated the last two years of my life even though I haven’t laid eyes on him.

And he still evokes this reaction no man has before.

“In the midst of trouble again.”

I shake my head. “I didn’t mean to be. Either time.”

“That doesn’t change anything.” He bites back.

I know that. I know what he told me that night, too, when he’d slid into the limo, all muscle and sinew, blood staining his right cuff. The reason, the only reason, I was alive was because I hadn’t actually seen anything. But if I caused any trouble, talked to anyone, they were the sort of men who eliminated trouble. Permanently.

And here I was in trouble again.

The one saving grace of that night was that Leo never called me again. I can only assume that he either lost interest or was told not to, but it had saved me from having to break it off with Mason’s brother.

“I’m aware of that,” I murmur back as I shrug off Roman’s coat. It’s a beautiful piece of clothing, the fine, buttery-soft leather sliding under my fingers as I swing the fabric around to my front. Carefully, I do up the zipper on the front and then fold the garment in half, laying the sleeves at a forty-five-degree angle. Draping the piece over my arm, I extend the piece to Roman. “Thank you for the jacket.”

He looks down at it for a moment. “You don’t have to return it.”

But I hold it out further until he finally takes the jacket from my hand. It’s then that I sink to my knees, closing my eyes. “And thank you for rescuing me from those men,” I whisper. “I don’t know what they would have done to me but I’m certain it’s?—”

“You don’t talk to him. You talk to me,” Mason grits out between clenched teeth.

I give a small nod. The carpet under my bare knees is plush and soft and I spread my hands into its deep fibers. “I just wanted him to know that no matter what happens tonight, I’m glad he stopped that…”

I’m not interested in upsetting Mason. Far from it. I force my eyes open, looking up at him. He always towers over me but down at this level…he’s massive.

His gaze is hard and unreadable as his jaw works.

“And I remember what you said…that night…” I draw in a large gulp of air, making a silent plea for a bit of strength. “I just have one request.”

“You don’t get to request anything,” he bites out rough and hard, his fists clenching at his sides.

I start, the volume of his voice making me shake again. I bite at my lip, forcing myself to hold his gaze. This is important.

He turns his back to me then, crossing to the table and picking up a crystal glass full of amber liquid. In one gulp, he swallows it down then lifts a decanter to refill the glass.

I can hear the pour, see the sparkle from the overhead lights as the liquor swirls about the snifter.

Full drink in hand, he comes back to me, where I’ve stayed on the floor. “You’ve made my life very difficult, Charlotte Fairfield. You know that, don’t you?”

I nod, sure he’s telling the truth. Some men can’t be trusted to be honest. Mason isn’t one of those men. He’s too powerful to deceive. He doesn’t need to cover the truth to bend people to his will.

A lion never lies to you. He just devours. “I know.”

My shirt pulls across my back, cheap, ill-fitted cotton. It scratches at my skin and I barely keep from fidgeting. In this position, on my knees on the floor, the skirt has risen up so high, I can almost see my underwear.

Not that they’re impressive. Nothing about me is impressive. Whatever swagger I had when I met Leo, it’s gone. I just want to slink away and lead some quiet, simple life. But that isn’t happening.

Which means I might as well go out with a bit of dignity.

“Mason,” I whisper again. Our eyes meet and I force my back straight. “Please don’t hand me over to those men.”

His lip curls. “I don’t have a lot of choices here, Charlotte.”

Pulling one hand from the carpet, I reach toward him, as though touching him might make him more sympathetic. But I stop myself before I actually make contact. Other than when he held me that night at the club, we’ve never touched. I’m sure it wouldn’t be welcome now. “I know. But…”

I notch my chin higher, forcing the words that had just died from my throat. “But if I’m going to die, I’d prefer you be the one who kills me.”

Complete silence meets my request.