Chapter Twenty-Seven

Gazing into Blake’s frigid eyes, Jewell tried to tell herself to be strong, tried to assure herself this was only one more bump in the road. He wouldn’t hurt her physically — not that anyone would care if he did. After all, she’d signed releases at Relinquish Control, and she knew he could do with her what he wanted.

Though he might think she was nothing but a money-hungry whore, she still knew who she was. The cold fury in his expression was the only thing that was shaking her up. She’d never seen a man so angry before. His mouth remained in a hard line; not a muscle moved on his chiseled face.

“Where were you?”

Ice ran through her veins at his words, spoken quietly yet harshly. Yes, fury didn’t even begin to describe what the man appeared to be feeling.

“I needed to get out of the apartment for a while, so I took a walk.” Should she try to move past him or not? She thought the safest thing would be to stay right where she was.

“You’re lying to me.” She waited for him to say more, but nothing else came from his tightly pressed lips.

“Do you have any idea how stir-crazy I get when I’m stuck here all day with very little to do? No, you probably don’t, because you leave here at the crack of dawn. I will say this again — I needed to get out and walk off my ‘cabin fever.’” She was trying desperately not to change her story.

He took a sinister step forward. “I spoke to McKenzie. She said you disappeared last Saturday as well. Is there a man you’re meeting every Saturday, Jewell? Don’t you dare lie to me!”

His voice rose just a little, but that was enough to show her he was barely in control. Maybe she shouldn’t have come back to his place. It looked as if this wasn’t going to go well for her — not well at all.

She didn’t know what to say to his unfounded and totally unexpected accusation. But she was damned if she were going to stand there and take his verbal beating. If she stood her ground, refused to back down, refused to allow him to intimidate her, then wouldn’t he stop? Isn’t that what she’d been taught years before when she’d taken a self-defense class?

“Look, I wasn’t with another man, Blake. I swear to that, and anyway, that makes no sense. You know I was a virgin before you. I just had something I needed to do today, and it’s something that I can’t talk about.” She moved forward and edged by him, but made sure not to bow her head.

He didn’t grab her, didn’t try to stop her. That was a positive. She walked into the living room and went straight to the couch, afraid to stand any longer for fear that her legs would end up buckling.

“I don’t believe you, Jewell. You may have been a virgin, but there are a lot of ways to get off. There had to have been someone pretty damn special for you to sneak out of my place to meet with him. Did you try to save yourself for him? Or was he the one who made you become a little whore?”

He came closer but still kept about five feet of distance between them. Was it because he feared he would forget his self-mastery if he touched her? That sent a shiver of fear down her spine. She wanted to spit in his face and tell him exactly what she thought, but she decided to be more judicious.

“I’m sorry if you don’t believe me, but there’s not another man. I neither want nor need a relationship with anyone, and that includes you. Your suspicions are simply stupid, and if you were as smart as you think you are, you should know that. Anyway, I leave here tomorrow and go back to Relinquish Control, and we can forget all about each other and what happened over the past few days.”

There. Maybe pointing out the fact that they weren’t in a relationship would change his attitude. Yes, he sort of owned her this week, but their time was pretty much up, and she owed this man nothing. She’d done everything he’d asked of her and more. A few more times with other men and she could get away from this place, leave Seattle even, and she and Justin could live happily — just the two of them.

If the state tried to keep him from her, she would take him away in the middle of the night and the two of them would go somewhere no one would ever find them. Alaska seemed far enough away. Maybe. It was still in the U.S. and if they were found, Washington state officials might still try to take her brother back, but would they search that far? She could live in some Eskimo village. It didn’t matter as long as they were together.

“Follow me.” He turned, confident that she would do as he said.

“One more night,” she whispered to herself as she got up off the couch and walked behind him to the back of the apartment, where his office was.

As soon as she stepped through the door, her throat tightened. This was all his domain, where he spent his time when he wasn’t away at work or in the bedroom. She knew he was coming in there because this was his fortress, his place of power.

If he wanted to intimidate her, he was doing a damn fine job.

She couldn’t help but notice that it was more decorated than the rest of the place; it boasted expensive artwork, hardwood floors, and antique furniture. But no clutter was permitted in this space, making it in that way consistent with the rest of the house.

“Sit down, Jewell.”

He indicated a stiff leather chair in the corner, but she didn’t want to sit, didn’t want him towering over her. Yes, her knees were still shaky, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get up this time if she sat back down. She was on the verge of collapsing and she just needed to get away from him.

“I’d really like to take some Advil and lie down before we go out,” she told him, staying where she was, just a few feet inside the door. “I have a terrible headache.”

“You can’t seem to listen, can you?”

He came closer to her. She wanted to retreat but she willed herself not to. Retreat would show him how weak she really was.

“I do listen. I’ve done everything that you’ve asked of me. I just…I won’t allow you to attack me when I’ve done nothing to deserve it.”

Her words stopped him, and his eyes widened, as if he was surprised that anyone would argue with him. She knew she shouldn’t do it, but what else was she supposed to do? He was a large man and he was scaring the heck out of her.

“You haven’t done everything I’ve asked. I asked that you stay in today. I asked you to get ready. Instead, you disappear — something it seems you like to do on Saturdays.” As he spoke, his lips weren’t nearly as hard as before.

“I wasn’t doing anything wrong.” Maybe if she said it enough, he’d finally understand and let her be.

“You will tell me where you went,” he said, punctuating every word.

His voice had risen, and he was back in confrontational mode. When he moved right in front of her and faced her down, she wanted to take a step back, but she wasn’t going to cower.

“You might as well take me back to Relinquish Control right now, because I won’t tell you.” Whatever was going to happen would happen. It was beyond her control.

“Fine!” He grabbed her arm and hustled her out of his office, down the hall, and right to the elevator door.

“What are you doing?”

“You want to go back? I’m taking you back. And you realize, of course, that I’ll do my best to see that you won’t get paid a dime for this week. I already know that McKenzie told you if I wasn’t satisfied, you would lose your job, so you just screwed yourself. Remember that! This is all on you.”

Bile rose in her throat. She was doing all of this for Justin, and because she’d visited him today, she’d be one step further back in her ability to have him permanently.

Tears burned in her eyes as she desperately tried to find some sort of explanation that would calm Blake’s temper. But the man seemed to know when she was lying. He’d figure it out, and then he would still take her back. So instead of crying, instead of throwing up, she stood in silence beside Blake as they rode down and walked into the garage.

When he went to a large black pickup truck, she didn’t know what to think. Blake drove expensive sports cars, not trucks that seemed more fitting for work. Then she remembered he’d been called to work and had most likely been using it on a job. That’s what happened when they left Bill’s house a few days ago.

Still, why was he taking her in it now? Why not just leave it? Maybe because there was a shovel in the back and he needed to take her in the truck and get rid of the evidence…

As Blake closed the passenger door and then entered the truck on the driver’s side, Jewell focused on the windshield and the view straight in front of her. He was taking her back. She would get the paycheck — she didn’t buy his threat that she wouldn’t get a dime — and the first thing she was going to do was put down money on that apartment for her and her brother. Because as of tonight she would no longer have a job.

Yes, Ms. Beaumont would be furious, but even if she lost her job, she’d have enough to secure a place and some of the basics, enough to convince the courts that her brother should be with her and not strangers. She would get another job. There wasn’t another choice.

A strange sense of peace washed over her, and Jewell turned to look out the side window. Soon this would all be over. Soon, she would be with her brother and both of their lives could return to something like a normal existence.

It was the only thing she could think. Because the alternative would send her into a downward spiral of depression she was sure she would never be able to escape.