Page 7 of Firedrake Betrayal
Isit at the far end of a long oak dining table, still in my silk gold and lace nightdress, still unable to process Dominik’s shocking news.
And his betrayal.
This is nothing less than a betrayal I willneverforgive.
My dad could be dead, and he just left him. Carried me away and left him.
He sits opposite. Over his right shoulder is my one and only avenue of escape: a door with a button on the side that looks like an elevator. The rest of the penthouse doesn’t matter. My brief glance as Dominik led me from the bedroom to the dining table revealed masses of white everything. And glass.
“Eat,” Dominik gently orders me.
He can keep his gentle orders. He’s my captor here, and I want nothing to do with him.
My gaze lingers on the white door with the gold round button.
Is it only a matter of getting to that door, pressing the button and riding an elevator down to the lobby of his penthouse apartment? Or will there be a key I need to insert?
And he said something about a concierge. So where is this concierge hiding? Is he lurking out of sight, waiting to stop me the second I get close to that door?
“Your food is getting cold,” Dominik says.
But not my anger.
The more attention I pay that gold button, the more warning I give Dominik that I’m planning to run for it, so I peel my eyes off it and focus on my newest captor. “My dad told me to leave you in that cell. He wanted me safe. I wanted to break you out. I really wish I had listened to him.”
His expression doesn’t change as he points his chin at my plate. “The pasta is from one of Manhattan’s best restaurants. Comes highly recommended by the concierge.”
I pick up my plate of pasta and I launch it at the nearest wall.
Still expressionless, he sits back in his seat, reaching for a glass of red wine. “You are behaving like a child.”
“Youare behaving like a dictator. Let me go.”
We stare at each other across the glass twelve-seater table. On my left, a view of Central Park is so stunning it belongs on a postcard.
Dominik at one end, probably wondering how to control me. I’m at the other, figuring out how I can escape.
“Your place is here, with me.” Dominik takes a sip from his glass and returns it to the table.
I lean toward him, not even thinking about my V-neck dipping until his eyes flare with heat. “Myplaceis with my dad and?—”
Dominik’s mouth flattens, and I lean back in my seat. “Thosefriendsof yours?”
“Shep, Isaiah, and Pattensavedyou. You should be grateful they?—”
“They claimed what is mine?” he interrupts.
I stare at him, and I see all the arrogance he must have been hiding from me all along. “I was wrong. You don’t sound like a dictator, you sound like the collector.”
The corners of his eyes pinch, and he takes a long draw from his wine glass. “You are not going back to them, Jade. The sooner you accept it, the better for you and our child, and the happier you’ll be.”
“And how is accepting you as my captor better for me or my child? Please tell me howhappyI can be as long as I agree to be your captive.”
“You would not be my captive. I can give you everything you want.”
“I want my freedom.”
He nods at one of the sliding glass doors. “The reason I selected this penthouse is that it’s one of Manhattan’s tallest buildings. I have a private rooftop terrace where I can come and go.”
