Page 68 of Cruel Hearts

I study Nathalie out of the corner of my eye. “How do you know?”

“I saw her. At Black Enterprises. Ash ordered me there for a cocktail party...and activities afterward. She works for Ash.” She pales. “Is she here to bring me back?”

Wrapping my arm around her trembling shoulders, I say, “No. Calm down. Ash was keeping her prisoner like he was doing to you. She worked there for several years until she managed to escape. He’s looking for her, but I’m going to keep her safe.”

Nathalie presses her face into my chest. She’s so skittish. We need to remain calm, and I’m afraid if Nathalie can’t hold it together, she’ll be a danger to all of us.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you, too. I promise.”

Stella looks up from Zarah’s embrace and meets my eyes. Pain flashes across her face fast and sharp. She turns her attention back to Zarah, and I swear the temperature in the room drops fifty degrees.

Lucille stands, and beaming, she urges everyone into the kitchen. Food is the remedy of all that ails us.

I’m relieved Stella goes along. I know she’s hungry and she was too stubborn to eat with me. She’s been on the run for days, but after Lucille feeds her, we’re going to have to go. I need to say a few things to my father’s old business partner.

Meeting at the penthouse isn’t a good idea. We’ll need to find someplace else to hold our meetings. A safehouse. A place Ash would never think to look for us. I’ll remain normal, visible, go to work and maintain my social life. Ash is suspicious by nature, maybe because of all the secrets he and his father have to keep.

It will need to be business as usual for everyone involved.

“Are you going to be okay?” I ask Nathalie.

“Have you talked to Ash?”

“No, not yet. Do you have other . . . engagements?”

Nathalie bites her lip, and a pink stain creeps across her cheeks. “My handler texted me this morning. Vance Huxley is wondering where I am. He’s been requesting me, and that’s why I thought Miss Mayfair was here to bring me back. I can’t belong to you, Zane.”

“No, but you don’t belong to Ash, either. After all this is over, you won’t belong to anyone. Ever again.” I nudge her away. “Go into the kitchen with the others and eat lunch. Stella and I are leaving soon.”

Her arms tighten around me. I know what I’m asking her to do, and I’ll try to keep my patience. Not every woman I know can be as fearless as Stella.

“Go, please.”

Reluctantly, she walks toward the kitchen, her steps slow and hesitant. A low murmur of voices and soft laughter drifts out when she pushes through the hinged doors. It brings me back to the night Zarah brought Stella home, and I found them drinking wine and eating cheesecake.

I’ll always be on the outside.

I trudge up the stairs to my room. It’s tempting to strip off my clothes, crawl into bed, and hide from all this crap, but I don’t need anyone to tell me I’ve already done that for the past five years and my time to hide is over. I can’t be as fearless as Stella, but I need to do better than what I’ve been doing.

I call Ash.

“Black.”

“Hey,” I say, keeping my tone light, friendly.

“Hey.” He’s guarded—he doesn’t know what my mindset is.

I struggle to play it cool. “Ash, man, I need to ask you something.”

“Did Stella show up?” His voice is flat.

It would be like Ash to have my building watched. It’d be like Ash to plant people on the inside. I’ll need Mel to sweep my employees.

Shit.

That’s too much busy work when there are more important things she needs to do, but I can’t trust anyone else.

“No. Haven’t heard from her. I think she and Richard Denton are hooking up. I saw on the news someone pushed them into the river close to the industrial park. He might be giving her a place to stay, and he probably wants to pay me back for cutting him out. Have you seen her?”

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