Page 16 of Tower

“I have my reasons, Azalea, but I’m not going to discuss them with you yet. Right now, you need to be a good girl and get in bed.”

“I’m not tired. How can I sleep here?” she demanded.

He released her arms, took a step back, and licked his lips. “I can help you sleep, if that’s what you need.” His stare raked over her body, and she moved back again, knocking herself into the cross.

He laughed and shook his head. “Get in bed, Azalea, before I forget I swore to myself I wouldn’t touch you tonight.”

“You said this is your room. Where will you sleep?” She inched around him and padded over to the bed, kicking her shoes off.

He studied her quietly. The little tic in his jaw was back, and his lids narrowed more the longer he watched her. She climbed onto the massive bed but didn’t slide under the covers. No way could she sleep yet.

“Stay in this room, Azalea. There’s a washroom through that door if you need it.”

She grabbed a pillow and held it over her stomach, hugging it to herself. He ran his tongue over his bottom lip as though coming to terms with a decision then headed back to the door.

“In the morning. We’ll talk in the morning.” And before she could respond or register his words, he was gone. She waited for the familiar click of a lock sliding into place.

It never came.

Chapter 6

“You can’t be serious,” Daniel said with disapproval. “She’s here? Like in the house? Not the Annex?”

Peter opened his laptop and powered up. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t stutter. Yes. She’s here. Upstairs in my rooms, probably still sleeping.” At least that’s where she had been when he left his bedroom that morning. When he’d gone up to bed the night before, she had been asleep, still hugging that damn pillow to her body and sitting up against the headboard.

Peter swung his gaze to Daniel and hardened his jaw. “She is under my protection. If any of the men so much as look at her too long, they answer to me. And she’s not in the catalog.”

The women of the Annex had choices—they could stay or leave at will. They didn’t play or sleep with anyone they didn’t agree to, and when they did agree to a contract, they had complete say over the terms. Not a single one of them lived there by force.

“I got it. I don’t get it, but I got it.” Daniel rubbed the back of his neck. “Santos was pretty freaked after you left last night.”

“I’m sure he was.” Peter leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think his boss took too kindly to coming home and finding her daughter missing.”

“His boss isn’t coming home for a few more weeks.”

“Did you see the paintings in that room? The portraits? I’m assuming those were of her. She looked familiar.”

Daniel frowned. “Yeah, I noticed that, too, but I figured we’d seen her at a meeting or something. Maybe she works for one of the families.”

“What’s her name?”

“Bellatrix Gothel,” Daniel said.

Peter tossed the name around in his mind but made no connections. An unusual name. If he’d heard it before, surely, he’d remember.

“I want you to find out what you can about her. I want to know who she works for, and what she does. Santos was more afraid of Azalea being taken than he was of us coming for the money.”

“Wouldn’t you be afraid if someone came to take Ellie while Ash was away?” Daniel pointed out.

“I’d kill anyone who tried, as would you. But this is different. Azalea wasn’t simply up in her room, she was locked up there. There’s more going on here, and I want to know what it is. I can’t place her, but I know Bellatrix is bad news.”

“What are you going to do with the girl?” Daniel asked with a tilt to his lips.

“That’s not your concern, asshole.” Peter went back to logging onto his computer. “You make sure she doesn’t leave the grounds and that she’s safe when I’m not with her.”

“She can roam the house?” Daniel asked with some surprise.

Peter looked at him over the top of his screen. “She’s not a prisoner here, Daniel. She just can’t leave the estate. And if she goes outside, I want a man with her. For her safety.”

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