Page 39 of Indiscreet

His nostrils flared. “I didn’t procure you. I know it’s hard to believe, but we’ve been trying to save your ass. Your name and company are all over social media for the Dalton financial disaster. You also listed your company ownership for the remodel. We could have easily found out about you.”

“But that’s not how you did. I don’t believe you. Dane had my company before I even came to that mixer.” I stood up and folded my arms. “Stop pretending to be a designer. Stop avoiding the truth, and stop holding me against my will. If your involvement is as innocent as you claim and you’re really trying to ‘save my ass’, as you put it, then we can go explain everything to whoever is in charge and they can let me off this ship.”

Panic rioted within me as my thoughts raced, analyzing my situation. I had gone willingly to this prison. Elliott was quick to take hold of me before I could reach the door, and I was no match for his strength. Tears threatened my eyes, but I held them in. Instead, I thrashed out with my arms and legs, making his hold on me tighten. “Let me go.”

“Gia, calm down,” Elliott said.

“You remain with me,” Dane said as he entered the room, stopping only to lock the door behind him. He had the same solemn look he’d had after we had sex. “If we let you go, another man on board will take you because that’s what a woman at this mixer is expected to do,” he explained. “You’ll also have to reveal who you are, and that’ll be putting you out of the reach of my ability to help you.”

I gaped at Dane and Elliott let me go.

My eyes darted around the spacious room. The Pacific Ocean was in front of us, and the door led to more guards. There was nowhere to go, no way to escape. There was the devil before me or the unknown. Still, I wasn’t ready to give up.

I glowered at them. “You can’t keep me. My friends, my company’s lawyer will look for me. I am a public figure, a governor’s wife. I’m active in the community. People will notice. You can’t just keep me,” I told them, but even I couldn’t mask the uncertainty in my voice.

“Gia, listen to Dane. It’s not safe right now.” Elliott lightly gripped my shoulder. “Sit down and listen to us.”

I jerked away. “No. I want to go home. If you keep me, I’ll despise both of you.”

“Hate me,” Dane said before visibly swallowing. “Elliott is not the reason you’re mixed up with all of this. He tried to save you.”

I glowered at him. “What do you mean?”

“I will answer your questions,” Dane said as he moved toward me, but I took a step back. “I’m not going to harm you. I need to know if the guard hurt you. I wasn’t there when he first reached you.”

His kindness threw me off and I answered without thinking about it. “I wasn’t hurt—except for when Elliott manhandled me.” I glanced over at Elliott ruefully.

Dane’s gaze was unwavering, and if I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought he was concerned about me.

“What happened to you?” I asked.

Dane’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “Are you worried about me?”

I avoided eye contact. “I’m not,” I lied. I cared. No matter what happened, I didn’t want me showing up to be the cause of trouble, though what I really wanted was to go back home. “I need to know what’s going on here.”

Dane sighed heavily and sat down on the couch in the small living room area. “It’s time you know what I can share—”

“You can’t,” Elliott protested.

“I have no choice. The ship is casting off, so she’s a part of it now,” Dane announced. A tense silence filled the room.

It gave space for his words to sink in further. Panic like I’d never known before welled in my throat. I realized I’d been stupid to think Dane and Elliott were the good guys and would let me go.

“We will talk things through, Gia,” Dane said. “You will get back to your home, but you must first listen to me.”

I sighed heavily. What other choice did I have now? I was there, and I wanted what he promised. “I’ll hear you out.”

“I’ll go check on things,” Elliott said, leaving us alone in the room.

I took off my coat and sat down on one of the built-in couches in the suite. Dane sat down and angled his body toward me. I had a déjà vu moment of the two of us on his couch at the mixer at his home, and just like it had then, his proximity affected me, making my pulse pump faster. That wasn’t the only reason I was nervous. My gut said whatever Dane was keeping from me wasn’t good.

Dane clasped his hands together. “As you know, your involvement isn’t exactly coincidental,” Dane said quietly. “Your involvement is partly my fault, but it doesn’t start there. It starts with Angel.” He paused, his breath seeping out slowly. “Angel—Angelica Browne—she…was mine. She is also the reason I’m here in Seattle instead of New York City. She’s the reason I can’t let you go now.”

My gaze narrowed at him reaffirming his declaration of keeping me. “I don’t understand. I don’t have anything to do with your girlfriend or New York City. Is that where you’re from? I’ve never heard of or met any other Westbrooks in Washington, and I’ve lived here most of my life, besides college at Stanford in California.”

“I use my mother’s maiden name, Westbrook,” Dane explained. “I chose to do so after the scandal with my father, Walter Prescott.”

I stiffened next to him. I had indeed heard of Walter Prescott. He had gotten into financial trouble with antitrust litigation years back by forcing his competition out of business. Public pressure had made his companies finance some of the midlevel businesses they had pushed to bankruptcy. “So, like father, like son, you decided to take my company?” I said with blatant antagonism.

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