“Where’s Susie?” I ask Jessie as I hit the elevator button for the top floor, not sure if I should be worried for the nanny or angry that Susie hadn’t somehow stopped this from happening. That’s not fair, though, and I know it, so I go with being worried.

Jessie is clutching my hand so tightly that I can’t feel my fingers anymore, and seeing the fear on her face makes me almost wish I had interrupted Luke’s business meeting before rushing after her, the way I’d been so tempted to. That wouldn’t have been fair to him, though. As kind as he’s been to us—and as much as he’s come to mean to me—I can’t repay him by ruining the one thing that matters to him: his business deal with the Kohs. And not just by interrupting him before he can sign the papers, but with dragging him into… this.

The mess that’s my fault.

Trey.

“Mr. Romano knocked and said he was hotel security, but then he grabbed Susie and made her leave,” Jessie answers softly, pressing against my side as we huddle together and wait for the elevator to reach the top floor. “And then he said… he said if I didn’t go get you—only you, he said I couldn’t get anyone else or Susie would be in trouble—he’d make Luke make us leave.”

“Did Trey hurt you, honey?” I ask, my heart in my throat. I'm worried about Susie, too, but I can’t think about that yet. Jessie is my priority, and then... well, I’ll need to find out what Trey wants and go from there.

As if I don’t already know.

Jessie shakes her head, sniffling.

“Did he—”

My throat closes up for a moment, but I force the question out anyway because I have to know.

“Did he touch you, Jessie?”

She shakes her head again, and a tiny part of me relaxes. My stomach still hurts at the thought that Jessie was in the suite alone with Trey while I was oblivious, though. I was dancing with Luke without a care in the world. She was scared while I was happy. But as much as I hate the idea of Trey ordering her around—of Trey having anything to do with my sister whatsoever—I am thankful that he made her come get me.

I don’t know what Trey meant with that threat about Luke, but I do know that I won’t let him touch Jessie. I remember the vicious look in his eye the last time Luke punched him all too clearly; if Trey does have a way to get to me somehow, he will… but I won’t let him hurt the ones I love.

Either of them.

“It will be okay, Jessie,” I promise as the elevator gives a soft ping. We’ve reached the top floor.

I don’t know how I’m going to make good on that promise, but I love Jessie with my whole heart… and somehow, even though I haven’t known him long and know it can’t last, it seems that I’ve gone and fallen in love with Luke, too.

I’ll do anything to keep them safe from Trey’s ugliness.

Anything.

I swallow hard, hesitating for a moment outside the door to the penthouse. Anything? Will I really? I know what Trey wants. I’m not sure why—I mean, why me? Why can’t he just let it go?—but it’s not like he hasn’t been pretty clear about what he’s looking for.

The thought almost has me turning tail and running back down to fetch Luke. I know he saw me leave, but I don’t expect him to come save me. Not this time. My job with him is done as soon as the Kohs sign the contract, and he’s got a ballroom full of important people to mingle with tonight. I think… I think I’m important to him, too—Jessie and I, both—but I can’t fool myself about his priorities. If anyone’s going to save me this time, it’s going to have to be me.

“I don’t want to go back inside there,” Jessie whispers next to me, still clutching my hand as she stares at the suite’s door like it’s grown horns.

“I think we have to, honey,” I tell her, straightening my shoulders. I’m scared too, but I can’t let her see. “We have to get Trey out of here.”

“Can we go back and ask Luke to come with us?” Jessie asks in that small voice I hate to hear from her.

I waver, because despite knowing what I have to do, a part of me still wants to be saved, too. Then I suck it up and remind myself that I have to get used to being on my own again. I think Luke will let Jessie and me stay in his suite through tomorrow—after all, he did buy Jessie that insane number of Christmas presents and I’m sure he’ll have just as much fun watching her open them as I will—but after that… well, best to get used to not having someone to lean on.

“Luke’s busy, Jessie,” I tell her, proud of myself for sounding firm. I fish my keycard out of the wristlet I’m wearing. “But don’t worry, honey, I’ll handle—eep.”

Before I can finish promising Jessie something I’m not at all sure how to pull off, the door whips open and I’m face to face with Trey; once again close enough to count the pockmarks on his cheeks.

He smiles at me. It makes my skin crawl.

“Hannah,” he says, his hand darting out to wrap around my wrist. He yanks me forward and I crash into his chest, the distinct smell of alcohol and garlic surrounding me. “Knew you’d come to your senses, sweetheart.”

I shudder at his use of Luke’s endearment for me.

“W-w-why are you here, Trey?” I ask, hoping Jessie doesn’t hear the way my voice shakes. I need her to believe that I’ll take care of her, but the way Trey’s holding me so tightly is making me feel sick to my stomach… and scared. I want to be strong for my sister, but it suddenly occurs to me that Luke won’t be back for hours, we’re all alone in this incredibly private room, and if Trey’s been drinking as much as it smells like he has, I’m not at all sure he won’t try to just take what he’s been asking me for all this time.

“Why am I here?” Trey repeats, thankfully ignoring Jessie as he drags me into the suite with a grip that I suspect will leave yet another bruise from him. The one on my ribs from the accidental elbow he caught me with when we were at Romano’s with the Kohs has almost faded completely, but it’s still an unpleasant reminder of how helpless I felt when he had me pinned to the wall in Kevin’s office.

Which is nothing compared to how helpless I feel now.

“All that time you worked for me,” Trey says, slurring his words together as my heart tries to pound out of my chest. “And you acted like you were too good to give it up. And now you’re spreading your legs for Masters? Not sure how much he’s paying you for your new ‘job,’ but you know I would have been a good tipper, too, baby.”

He makes it sound so dirty that I cringe. That’s not what it’s like. Not at all. Not for me.

“Luke loves Hannah,” Jessie shouts from where she’s huddled by the door. She’s got her cast pressed to her chest and her other fist clenched at her side, and she looks like a tiny, angry hornet as she jumps to my defense despite the fear I can still see on her face. “We’re not just a job anymore! Luke’s going to be our family.”

Trey laughs—an ugly sound—and my heart hurts even worse to hear the conviction in Jessie’s voice. I’ve been selfish this whole time, enjoying the illusion that everything she just said was true. Still, a part of me has never lost sight of the fact that I’m living a fantasy. A lovely but still temporary fantasy. But Jessie… Jessie believes it. Regardless of what happens with Trey tonight, I’ve already hurt her by setting her up for the kind of disappointment she’s going to feel after tomorrow.

“I know all about this job, Hannah,” Trey suddenly hisses, squeezing my wrist so hard I gasp. He yanks me against him, his other hand groping under my skirt, fingers digging into my bottom so hard that it feels like his nails cut my skin.

I whimper, wishing I was stronger.

I want Luke.

“I pieced together all the details when you and your boss came to Romano’s for dinner,” Trey continues, spittle flying. “That deal he’s got going with the Chinese couple—”

“Jia and Cheng aren’t Chinese,” I interrupt without thinking, making Trey’s eyes narrow.

“Do I look like I give a shit?” he asks in a truly scary voice, leaning in so close that I can’t breathe. “If the Chinese couple you two were so cozy with in the VIP room find out that that Masters has been lying to them about his sweet little ‘fiancée,’ they’re not going to be too happy, huh? Not going to want to do business with someone who’s passing off a little whore like you as his future wife. Can’t imagine they’d trust him with the kinda money that’s on the table if that were to come to light, can you, sugar?”

“What do you want?” I ask again, only this time, I can barely get the words out past the tightness in my throat. Trey is right. A few minutes ago, I was worried about messing up Luke’s deal by interrupting the contract signing… but this is so much worse. If Trey exposes our business arrangement, I really will be responsible for the whole thing falling apart.

I can’t do that to Luke… but I don’t know if I can do this, either.

“I want the same thing you’ve been giving him,” Trey hisses, squeezing my bottom so hard it hurts. “I want to see you on your knees with my c—”

“Don’t talk to her like that!” Jessie yells, cutting Trey off and snapping me out of my frozen fear. “You can’t say nasty things like that! My sister isn’t… isn’t that thing you said. And stop touching her! Luke will be mad!”

Trey shoves me to the side and turns on my sister with a vicious snarl. “I don’t give a shit what he—fuck.”

I knee Trey in the balls, scrambling backward when he doubles over.

He will not talk to Jessie that way.

“Fucking bitch,” Trey wheezes, stumbling after me with one hand clutching his crotch. I don’t move fast enough—still a little in shock that I was able to hurt him like that—and he latches onto me with his free hand. “You’re going to… pay… for… th—FUCK.”

“I told you what would happen if you touched her again, Romano.”

I gasp. Seemingly out of nowhere, Luke is suddenly here—his voice cold and deadly and his hard body a physical barrier between me and Trey.

He ripped Trey off of me so fast that I’m swaying, but even though Luke keeps his eyes locked on Trey—down on his knees and clutching the hand he’d been grabbing me with like it’s not working right anymore—he reaches out to steady me. Pulls me against him where it’s safe. Where I feel home.

But—

“Jessie,” I gasp, wrenching myself away from the comfort and security he offers as I whirl around to face the door where my sister had been huddled.

She’s not there.

“Shhh, sweetheart,” Luke says, finally looking away from Trey for a moment to pull me against him. His heart is beating so hard I can feel it as he tucks me against his chest, but his voice remains calm and soothing. “Bill has her. They’re out in the hall. Jessie’s okay.”

A part of me relaxes. I can’t remember who Bill is and I have no idea why Luke came for me, but I believe Luke. I trust him. He’s here, and that’s all that matters. Even though I’m shaking as the aftermath of Trey’s attack starts to set in, I can’t feel afraid when I’m in Luke’s arms. With him here now, I know Jessie and I are safe.

Except, Luke is here, not down in the ballroom where he should be, and that means—

“The Kohs,” I whisper, looking up at him. “I’m so sorry, Luke. I didn’t… didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Hannah,” he says, the word sounding like it was ripped out of him. “Jesus. Do you think I care about that?”

My eyes widen. “But…” I start to say, but then I just shake my head. I’m at a loss. Of course he cares about the deal with the Kohs… doesn’t he?

From the floor behind Luke, Trey starts to laugh. “That deal isn’t gonna happen, you bitch. When I—”

I don’t even see Luke move, but suddenly Trey’s coughing, drops of blood and other bodily fluids dripping on the plush carpet. “You… fucker,” Trey gasps, which earns him another sharp kick, this time to the ribs.

Luke crouches down as Trey curls into a protective ball, yanking Trey’s head up with a firm grip to the back of his hair.

“Remember my promise to kill you?” Luke asks, sounding deadly serious. “Call my future wife a name like that again, and I’ll follow through.”

I haven’t had a chance to tell him that Trey knows our engagement isn’t real.

Trey coughs again, more droplets spraying from his rapidly swelling mouth and nose, and glares at Luke with enough hatred to melt steel.

Luke doesn’t flinch. Instead, he smiles at Trey, and it’s such a dangerous look that I almost feel sorry for Trey.

Almost.

“You’re done, Romano,” Luke says flatly. “Cops are on their way up to the penthouse to collect you as we speak.”

“Cops?” Trey wheezes, laughing up at us despite still being doubled over and in obvious pain. “You got nothin’, Masters. I was invited here. You didn’t think Hannah was whoring around just for you, did you?”

Luke goes rigid, his entire body shaking with fury, and for a moment, I almost think he is going to kill Trey for calling me that. But then, true to Luke’s word, police officers burst into the room and then everything seems to speed up. Luke gets up—his knee connecting with Trey’s face one last time as he stands—and pulls me to the side. Trey immediately starts spewing profanity—ranting about how he’s going to ruin things for Luke, how he’s going to press charges—but the officers ignore his outburst and the fact that they had to have seen Luke’s final assault on Trey—which of course Trey completely deserved—and start reading him his rights.

They have Trey in handcuffs and out the door before I can even catch my breath, and the next hour is even more of a whirlwind. Luke doesn’t let either Jessie or me out of arm’s reach until he finally gets us set up in the honeymoon suite on the twentieth floor—he promises the cleaning staff outrageous bonuses to have the penthouse cleaned up and perfect by the morning—and Jessie settled in a room across the hall with a distraught and apologetic Susie.

Thankfully, Trey threatened her and lied to her, but didn’t hurt her. He had a man with him, one who kept Susie from going to security herself, and the cops have taken him away, too.

The Luminare’s attorney, Bill—who I will forever be grateful for since he was the one who comforted Jessie while Luke was in the suite with me and Trey—stops by briefly for a hushed conversation that includes some talk about an overwhelming case for sexual harassment charges against Trey, but it isn’t until Luke and I are finally alone together that I realize he never went back down to finalize the contract with the Kohs.

“Luke,” I say, my stomach clenching. I’m so grateful he came for me that it almost made me forget. “The Kohs…”

He puts a finger over my lips, smiling down at me with a look in his eyes that’s everything my heart secretly dreams of. “Shhhh, sweetheart.”

“But… the new hotel you want to build,” I start to say, my resolve to remind him of what matters already melting under the heat of his gaze.

“Not tonight,” he says, scooping me up in his arms like I really am his bride.

I gasp, then giggle, clutching onto him. “But—”

“No, Hannah,” he interrupts, leaning down to kiss me. “I know what my priorities are. Why do you think I came after you?”

I catch my breath, eyes going wide. “Luke?”

“Hannah?” he replies playfully, eyes twinkling.

I can tell he’s teasing… but unless I’m mistaken, there’s something real there, too. Something I haven’t let myself want up until now. Well, I mean something I haven’t let myself hope for… I think I’ve wanted it since the moment I met him.

“What… what are you priorities?” I ask breathlessly, never wanting to leave his arms.

He smiles—the slow, sexy one that I could happily spend the rest of my life watching for—and even before he answers, I can see it in his eyes.

“Oh,” I breathe out, my heart soaring. He still hasn’t said it, and I guess I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. Christmas isn’t until tomorrow, but this is my gift. Luke has been giving it to me all along, I just couldn’t let myself believe it, and regardless of what surprises he has under the tree tomorrow morning, it’s the only gift I want…

Luke’s love.