Page 1 of Protected Hearts

Chapter One

Steam filled the small bathroom, and the scent of lavender bodywash hung in the air, the closest thing to a spa that Shiloh Sutherland had experienced inmonths. She luxuriated under the warm flow of the shower and drank in the calming scents. Being in hiding meant she couldn’t go out for manicures or massages anymore. She couldn’t even risk being seen at the grocery store. But thanks to delivery services, she could quietly hole up within the four plain walls of her New York City apartment.

At night, she laid in bed listening to the sounds of city life humming around her, wishing she could be a part of it all. But it had to be this way if she wanted to stay alive.

Rubbing a towel over her damp hair, she reached for her fluffy bathrobe and slipped her arms in.

A soft metallicclickshattered the silence.

Shiloh froze. The towel slipped from her fingers. Cold, hard steel pressed against the back of her head.

“Don’t move.” The voice was gruff, placid and terrifyingly close.

Under her still-warm skin, her blood went ice-cold.

Her mind raced as she flipped through every possible option of escape. Before her mind totally registered what was happening, her body flipped the switch into fight-or-flight mode. Desperation pulsed in her veins.

The odds were not in her favor.

She swallowed the sharp lump in her throat. Hadn’t she been waiting for this very moment? Ever since she ran awayfrom William, she’d anticipated the moment he found her. Even hiding in plain sight in a city of eight million people, she knew her time was limited.

“You’re coming with me, Shiloh.” His breaths were as steady as hers felt frantic.

She drew in a deep breath and released it, filling herself with as much steadiness as she could muster with a bullet inches from the back of her head and her crazy ex’s finger on the trigger.

“Can I at least get dressed?”

William gave her a little shove in the shoulder to get her moving, but he didn’t shift the gun from her head.

She walked into her bedroom, taking slow steps more as a way to stall than from fear. What objects were in her bedroom that she could use? A mattress on the floor and a lamp beside it. Or one of three books she was reading, depending on her mood of the day.

Other than that, she didn’t own much. Living in hiding meant being a minimalist.

She swept a swift glance around the bedroom, but she didn’t see a single thing that she could use to defend herself against a man holding a gun, unless she whipped him with the pair of workout leggings dropped in the corner.

While she was in the shower, William had torn apart her room. Her closet door stood open, the garments dangling off hangers. What was he searching for?

Of course, she knew the answer. William Vanderpool might be a criminal aiding Russian terrorists, but first and foremost, he was a tech mogul.

He was searching for her laptop.

Good thing she was always prepared. Her system uploaded every scrap of evidence she had on him to a cloud, leaving nothing on the hard drive but the bare basics of pre-installedsoftware. Since she hadn’t started her day yet, she hadn’t signed in. Thank god.

He shoved her in the back, causing her to stumble forward. “Get dressed.”

When she didn’t jump at his barked command, he stalked over to the closet and yanked a sundress off the hanger. He tossed it at her, but she let it fall to the floor.

No way was she leaving the house—at gunpoint—wearing uncomfortable clothes.

With a haughty tilt to her jaw, she slowly drifted to the closet. When she had a pair of leggings, an oversized T-shirt and a trench coat in hand, as well as undergarments, she finally turned to face her ex-boyfriend.

As their stares locked, a shiver ran through her. He was still handsome, carrying himself with the air of mystery that sucked her in at the beginning of their relationship. Back when she was dazzled by her boss.

Now she saw through the pretty exterior to the criminal core hidden underneath the expensive designer outfit he wore.

She cocked a brow. “Holding women at gunpoint in a two-thousand-dollar leather jacket?” She clicked her tongue. “What if you scuff it?”

He narrowed his brown eyes on her. “This is the last time I tell you to get dressed, Shiloh.”

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