Page 39 of Sweet Surrender
For as long as you do everything Nash tells you to.
The hand squeezing my chest tightened as the little voice repeatedover and over the answer I didn’t want to acknowledge. But along with the fear and anguish I’d felt for the few seconds I thought Liam was dead, I was slowly realizing I had no choice but to accept the answer.
Unable to speak any words, I watched in stunned silence as Nashgrabbed a few things around the suite as if he hadn’t just ripped my heart out and stomped all over it, before putting it back together with all the pieces in the wrong place.
“Here, take these,” he said, shoving his palm under my nose wheretwo small tablets lay. In the other hand, he held out a sealed bottle of water he’d taken from the minibar.
“You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to let you drug meagain,” I said, my voice shaking.
His face twisted into a scowl. “I believe we’ve established that itwasn’t me who drugged you,” he said, his soothing voice betraying the tension radiating from him. “Besides, these are Tylenol, they’ll help with the headache.”
“I don’t have a headache,” I retorted. My head was foggy, but it didn’thurt. Unlike my neck which was still throbbing from the needle.
“Not yet you don’t,” Nash said, dropping the bottle in my lap andgrabbing my hand to tip the pills in. “But as the propofol leaves your system, you’ll most likely get a headache, and I need you to be able to focus this evening.”
My head snapped from the pills in my hand to meet his eyes, findingthem alive with mirth.
“Focused on what?” I asked tentatively, not wanting to know theanswer but unable to resist asking.
“On the wedding.”
“Wh…what wedding?” I stuttered, trying to ignore the weighty dreadthreatening to consume my entire being.
“Our wedding, Savannah. We’re getting married,” Nash repliedcasually, his lips tugging into a devious grin.
The blood in my veins turned to ice, yet every inch of my skin flushedto boiling point. Nausea mixed with the dread, and a tremor began in the tips of my fingers, slowly making its way through every inch of me.
“What did you say?” I replied, disbelief heavy in my voice, thepills in my hand long forgotten.
“Like I despise being asked if I’m joking, I despise having to repeatmyself,” he replied coolly.
Feeling like an ant about to be stomped on with the way he toweredover me, I jumped to my feet, the bottle of water falling to the floor along with the pills.
“We arenotgetting married,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady,but unable to hold back the despair.
He took a step forward, closing the gap between us. “I assure you,we are sweetheart. In,” he paused to look at his watch before meeting my eyes again. “One hour, so you might want to start getting ready unless you want to get married in what you’re wearing.”
His eyes raked up and down my body, his lips curling in disgust at myfaded jumper and stained jeans. I glared back at him, defiance warring with embarrassment. I knew my clothes were shabby, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of making me feel like shit because I couldn’t afford the fancy clothes he wore.
“Why?” I whispered through gritted teeth, horrified at this turn ofevents.
“Because you ran. You got to your knees and convinced me you wereall in, and then you ran. So now you’ll make the ultimate commitment. Youwillbe my wife, and the world will know you belong to me.” His voice was soft, lulling me into a state of incredulity. When he reached up and brushed a finger over the spot on my neckwhere Brian jabbed me, the flash of pain barely registered. “You will never run from me again, sweet Savannah, because if you do, Iwillfind you. There won’t be a place in this world you can hide from me, understand?”
Tears welled in my eyes and spilled over, gracefully sliding down mycheeks. I nodded my head once because in that moment, it was the only part of my body that could move. The rest of me had frozen in shock.
“Good,” he replied, his voice turning stoic as he took a step back.“Now, in those dress bags are a choice of two wedding dresses. Take them to ourroom and decide which one you’d like to get married in. You have one hour before the concierge comes to get you to bring you to the ceremony.”
He turned, giving me his back and leaving me speechless. My headraced, and as Nash predicted, a headache began forming.
Not giving a shit if the pills were indeed Tylenol or somethingstronger, I crouched down and picked them up, swallowing them with several sips of water, and spilling some down my chin where my hands shook so much. But as I drank, a thought sprung to mind.
“Nash?” I called, stopping him from walking out onto the balcony.When he turned and raised a questioning brow, I summoned up the courage to speak. “What about Liam? If I marry you, are you going to let him go?”
A puzzled look swept over his face, almost as if he forgot he washolding Liam prisoner somewhere. Composing himself, he opened the door to the balcony, the hustle and bustle from outside drifting in.
“As soon as you say ‘I do’, I’ll let Liam go. But mark my words,Savannah, until I’m satisfied you’re not going anywhere, I’ll be keeping a close eye on Liam’s whereabouts, and if you so much as put one toe out of line, Liam will suffer the consequences,” he said, his voice full of threat.
Not giving me the chance to respond, Nash turned and walkedoutside, closing the door firmly behind him.
