Page 51 of Sold to Her Enemy

“He’s a good man—a brilliant man, but the Davis Moran I knew is also too kind to get entangled with criminals.” Todd places a hand on my shoulder in a fatherly way.

My throat is tight. I miss my father so much. He loved seeing a good performance. I nod, unable to speak. I feel Adrian’s heated stare on me as I pick a spot to focus on over Todd’s shoulder.

“Would you be willing to look at Colossus Corp’s security bones next week?”

“Oh, you don’t need an old man like me to do that. Get one of the new kids.”

“I trust your knowledge,” Adrian smiles slyly. “But I’ll have one of the new kids check your work.”

Todd laughs heartily. “Send it to me then. It was nice seeing you again, Mckenna. I’ll let you go and congratulate your sister.”

“Bye,” I whisper.

My stomach twists. The anxiety that calmed down with orgasms fires back up. Until Todd mentioned congratulating Ava, I hadn’t thought we would see her now.

I don’t want to see her at all.

Who wants to be face to face with the bully that tormented them every chance they got? “Mckenna.”

I blink to find Adrian’s hand clapped on my shoulder. “Are you all right?”

His tone isn’t the cold one I’ve been used to.

This tone is like cinnamon and whiskey, wrapping itself around my heart.

It pulls at my hopes of what could have been because there was no way I could ever act on what I felt toward Adrian.

That was made clear to me countless times.

“Yes, I’m just…this is a lot of people for me.”

The space feels suffocating, and the cloying smell of perfume makes me dizzy. I stumble, and Adrian catches me. “We’re going, now.”

“What about seeing your sister?”

“Backstage?” Adrian crocks an eyebrow. “Ava only lets our father do that. Not even her soon-to-be husband is allowed to see her.”

The relief makes me feel faint. “I’m not feeling good.”

“Hold on to me, and I’ll get us out of here.” He extends his arm, and I curl my fingers around his biceps. He strides straight ahead.

My hands are clammy. I take a few deep breaths as Adrian navigates us through the crowd to a side entrance.

“Is an alarm going to go off or something?”

He shakes his head, pressing me forward. “It’s a door, Mckenna. Come on, my car is right here.”

There’s a breeze. I shiver as I take halting steps toward the car. It’s not that I don’t want to get away from here. I think the whole evening is getting to me.

Mingling with people who knew my father, knowing I have to face my bully next, and the sudden switch in Adrian.

He passes me a bottle of water. I sip it. Then he opens a packet of trail mix, holds out my hand, and shakes some into it.

“Eat something, Mckenna. I should have fed us more before we left. I forgot how long these concerts go.”

I chew the trail mix, grateful to be in the privacy of the back seat. The privacy screen is up, so the driver can’t see what we are doing.

Adrian stares at me as I chew and swallow and take another sip

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