Chapter Four

He was a complete psychopath, that was the only explanation. How could he kiss Zero in one moment, then threaten to have him killed in the next? For a moment in time she actually believed he'd changed his ways. Now he'd put her in an impossible position, exactly where he wanted her. It still made no sense. By the looks of him, he could have any woman he wanted. He was obviously beyond rich, which would make him the most eligible bachelor in town. It seemed most women, including her own mother, were only after a man's wallet.

Emily wasn't one of those women. She wanted love, the fairytale, even if it only ever existed in her head.

Now she had forty-eight hours to make her decision. It was surreal. She'd been moving around in a trance, not sure what to do or who to turn to. Her mother was still in some makeshift prison and Jude had sold the shelter to Dalton. And somehow righting all the wrongs came down to her giving up her freedom and virginity.

Emily knew what she had to do. If anything, she could remind herself she did it for the animals, for her mother. But Dalton's earlier rant also had her thinking about everything she'd tried to keep out of her mind all these years. Her mother didn't care and didn't have her back—he was right about that. Emily had no one in the world, and that was a lonely existence. It was hard keeping strong every day of her life. The animals were her only refuge, her only happiness in a life otherwise forfeit.

She sat down heavily on her sofa and exhaled. Tomorrow she'd call Dalton and agree to his unorthodox marriage proposal. It would solve all her problems. For a while she thought it could be more than that—maybe. But Dalton proved he was no different than he was in high school. Any man ready to euthanize dogs for his own personal gain was a big-time loser in her books.

Her cell phone rang. She reluctantly reached over to grab it off the table. The call display showed it was her mother, but her mother was in custody, which meant it was Dalton again. The two days weren't up and he was already pressuring her. She couldn't take much more of his threats or horrible news. Emily tossed the phone to the other end of the sofa and pressed her hands to her ears. Dalton was going to give her a freaking panic attack. Why her? Why was he going out of his way to make her life miserable?

She decided to go to bed early and face her problems tomorrow.

It was the endless ringing of her cell phone the next morning that finally woke her from sleep. She leaned up on her elbows. By the time she got to her phone, only to see it was Dalton using her mother's cell again, she wanted to throw it across the room.

Instead, she faced her demons.

"Hello?"

"You can't answer your damn phone?"

"Mom?" Emily ran a hand through her hair, surprised to hear her mother's voice.

"I've been calling since last night. Where have you been? My power's off and I don't have the cash to pay the hydro company. All the food in the fridge went bad."

"You're home?"

"Of course I'm home. Can you pay the bill for me this month? I wasn't expecting this and I'm short on funds."

"But—"

"Can you or not? I'm sitting here in the fucking dark."

"Yes, sure, I'll see what I can do."

After hanging up, she rubbed her temple. Her mother was free but Emily hadn't given Dalton anything in return. She wasn't sure what was going on. If she wasn't so shocked, she'd be pissed off her mother was leaning on her for money again when she hardly had enough to pay her own bills.

After a quick shower, she headed out to pay her mother's hydro bill. She wasn't surprised she hadn't mentioned being locked up. It wasn't something to be proud of. Emily wasn't going to mention it first.

On her way, she decided to stop at the shelter quickly to let them know she'd be a little later than normal this morning. She had mixed feelings as she walked up to the office. This was a place of joy and now it was the cause of her newfound anxiety. She couldn't help but wonder why Dalton decided to let her mother go. Playing nice wasn't something in his playbook. None of this could be good.

"Congrats, Emily!"

Sarah, one of the volunteers, ran up to her as soon as she opened the front door.

"Congrats?"

"I mean, the place couldn't have gone to a better owner." Sarah hugged her as Jude and Casey walked in from the back.

"Jude, what's going on?" she asked, stepping away from Sarah. "Why's everyone look so happy?"

"It's yours," he said.

"What's mine? Please fill me in because I think I'm the only one in the dark here."

Jude approached her, setting one hand on her shoulder. "Dalton Moore just signed everything over to you. The shelter, the land, everything. It's all legally yours once you sign the paperwork." He pointed to the stack of papers on the desk.

Now she understood. The paperwork probably had a ton of stipulations in it. She hoped Jude didn't read the parts about sex and virginity as payment. Emily thought they had to be married before this part of the deal took place.

She looked at the paperwork, flipping through the pages one by one.

"It's all there," Jude said. "Very straightforward." He handed her a pen.

She shook her head. "It can't be that simple. Not with Dalton Moore. No one gives away things this valuable without wanting something in return."

"I've looked them over myself, Emily. You're safe to sign. Everything will be yours."

She massaged her temples, trying to figure out what game he was playing now. Then she realized that the shelter was being sold for a reason. It wasn't financially viable. Without a revenue stream, the place would still go out of business, no matter how much Emily loved the dogs.

"By the way, Zero's gone. Thought you should know," said Casey.

"Gone where?"

She shrugged. "He wasn't in his crate when I got here this morning."

Shit. He was going to use Zero's life as a bargaining chip now. That was his plan. The man was sick, sick, sick.

"I think I should call Dalton first. I just want to be sure of a few things before signing something this serious."

Half in a daze, Emily returned to her car. She took some cleansing breaths, then called Dalton's number. There was no answer. She called again with the same result.

Emily didn't like where this was going.

****

Dalton leaned back in his desk chair, throwing the rubber ball against the floor near the wall and catching it again as it rebounded. He'd been doing the same mindless drill for the past half hour.

All the money and power in the world couldn't buy happiness.

He was an empty shell of a man, hated and feared by most. The older he got, the more it all lost its appeal. What he wanted most, he couldn't have. After giving Emily the ultimatum yesterday, he could barely look at himself in the mirror. Yes, he wanted her love, but forcing her didn't give him any satisfaction. And nobody would ever love him for himself. He'd learned that long ago.

Maybe he'd get some points in Heaven or Hell for letting little Emily Sutton loose. He wouldn't force her into his bed, and he wouldn't make her marry him. She could have it all and forget about him. The bully. The asshole. The monster.

He threw the ball again, just as the phone rang. This time he missed the catch and the ball bounced along the ground. It was Emily again. Why couldn't she just accept this gift and move on? They had absolutely nothing to say to each other. Her mother was free and the shelter was her property now. In fact, he was considering moving out of town entirely. It seemed the real reason he was so determined to return was to prove to Emily he was worthy of her love. That he'd changed. He'd fucked that up royally.

Whatever.

Dalton left his office and walked to the living room which overlooked the front of the property. There was a light rain, the sky dark, perfectly fitting for his fucked-up mood. He heard a little whimper, pulling him from his misery.

He bent down in front of the large kennel. Zero waggled his tail and licked Dalton's hand.

"It's just you and me now, buddy."

Once he stopped feeling sorry for himself, he'd start training the dog. Before long, he'd have the run of the house. At least something good came out of all this bullshit. At least a dog's love was genuine and couldn't be bought.

A car caught his attention. His property was at the end of a dead-end road and there were no other houses. It was unusual to see a car at this time of night. Only his staff and security came and went but they used the back entrance, rarely the front.

It was her car.

Why couldn't she leave well enough alone?

He wasn't sure he had the willpower to deal with her face-to-face without doing something stupid to try and buy her love again. He'd have to put his game face on and get rid of her once and for all. Maybe he'd resort to his old bully tactics.

Her knock echoed in the oversized foyer. Dalton had sent his staff home early because he'd been in a fucking pissy mood.

He opened the front door. "Can I help you?"

"You never answer your phone. I had no choice but to show up," she said.

"What do you need? I thought I gave you everything you wanted."

She narrowed her eyes.

"I don't understand. The deals are off? You're giving me all this stuff out of the goodness of your heart?"

"I never said I wasn't charitable."

There was an awkward silence.

"Where's Zero?"

"Like you said, we're a perfect match. I've adopted him. He was available for adoption, no?"

"Um, yes, I guess."

"Well, that wraps everything up nice and neat. You take care of yourself, Emily." He attempted to close the door, but she put her hand against it to keep it from closing.

"Why the change of heart? What happened yesterday to make you release my mother and give me the shelter?"

"The game started to bore me."

"What game? Playing with my heart, my sanity? You demanded sex, my virginity, then my hand in marriage. Now you want nothing?"

"That's correct."

"I don't buy it, Dalton. What happened to the forty-eight hours?"

He rolled his eyes. "Like you really wanted to marry me? You wanted to save the dogs. They're safe. You win. That's the end of the fucking conversation."

"Dalton, maybe I would have said yes."

"Now who's playing games?" he asked.

"You're not a monster. Even the dogs could see that. I thought about the things you said to me, the stuff about my mother, how I never put myself first. Maybe you were right."

He opened the door wider, a silent invite that she didn't hesitate to take. Once she entered, she ran her hands through her damp hair. She was natural and gorgeous and perfect.

The house was too quiet, only the gentle static of the rain against the windows.

"Is there a reason you're telling me all this?"

She shrugged, taking tentative steps into the house, looking at every detail.

"Are you forgetting all the shit I said to you?" he asked.

"You didn't mean any of it. I know that. Sometimes people say things they don't mean when they feel threatened."

He touched her shoulder spinning her around to face him. "You think I'm afraid of you?"

"Tell me you don't have real feelings for me and I'll leave."