Page 29 of Snowed in with the Billionaires

Chapter Eighteen

––––––––

Madisyn

––––––––

Istop myself fromgoing to the room where my father is sleeping just to make sure he’s still there. He looked so tired. Dragged his bad leg, where Ace had shot him ten years ago, a little too much. It’s been an emotional couple of hours for him. He needs to rest. So we can leave in the morning.

So we can leave first thing in the morning.

We’ll have to pick up our new identities from my contact—he owns a bakery in the city and hides the fake identification in the prettiest cinnamon buns ever.

After that, we start the first leg of our journey to Costa Rica. Ace will never find us. We can finally be free. It’s almost unbelievable.

I should go to bed as well. Today has been every kind of crazy there is, but tomorrow will be even more important. All I want to do is cry. But I can’t bring myself to cry out in the open.

I remove the dress and stand under the shower. A wave of fresh emotion floods over me, but I swallow my tears before they can escape. I can’t break down now. There’s still too much to do. I have to stay strong until we’re on a plane to freedom.

But there is another level of anxiety at play here.Them.

I’ve only been postponing the inevitable. I need to go and see them. Thank them for bringing my father back. Profusely. Yes, I need to thank them before I drown in the tears of my own gratitude.

I step from the shower with a towel around me. I flip through the rails of clothes and half-heartedly come up empty-handed. There’s a lavish variety of clothes, yes, but none of them is casual enough to just step into and go and see the three billionaires.

Before I lose my nerve, I remove my towel and slip into a thick white bathrobe, pulling on the belt so tight around my waist, I momentarily see stars.

My heart pounding with every breath I take, I head toward the door. I have to thank for bringing my father home; I repeat in my head. I have to thank them for the hospitality they’ve shown us. I’ll thank them from the bottom of my heart. And then say my goodbye. I need to erase them from my mind. The thought destroys me, and tears well up inside me. No. Now is not the time.

The instant I swing open the door, I backtrack into the bedroom. Standing on the landing just outside the door is Tristan. Ren and Kaiser, as if they were my own personal bodyguards.

Were they just standing outside the door?

“What took you so long to open up for us?” Ren says softly as they step into the room, tall and powerful, dangerous, magnificent.

My heart falls out of my chest at the sight of them. They’re clearly freshly showered, wearing nothing but grey sweatpants. Their bodies are a design of pure, untainted power. Muscles leap out from their tanned skin. Layers of mini boulders for abs stare back at me from their bare torsos. I lose my breath at the way a soft trail of hair leads into the band of their pants.

Suddenly, I only have one question.

“Why did you bring my father here?”

“For you, sweetheart. We brought your father back for you.”

Tears drip from my eyes, surprising me. Their gazes are possessive, but at the sight of my tears, they turn a dark, dangerous hue.

“Madisyn? Why are you crying?” Tristan’s voice is filled with rage. They all three look ready to rip heads off. Because they think someone made me cry?

“For you,” I whisper. “I’m crying because of you.”

“You own us, Madisyn. From the moment we first saw you, in the kitchen, in the cabin, pretending to be our girlfriend, peeling potatoes, you owned us. And now you belong to us.”

I throw myself into their arms, kissing their faces desperately, clinging to them.

Ren carries me back into the bedroom. Tristan locks the door behind him. I’m all alone with them now.

I can’t stop touching them. The words I want to say, to thank them, remain jumbled inside my head.

---