Emmalin
I tried my damnedest to convince him. Didn't work. "So what's this meeting about?” I finished pinning my hair back as I looked at him in the mirror.
"He was an anonymous donor to the charity, to the tune of a quarter of a million dollars. Said he wanted to do lunch.” Grayson shrugged.
“That's it? I thought the point of anonymous donors were to remain anonymous."
"Under normal circumstances. Which means he wants to discuss business.” He turned to face me. "Are you all packed?”
I sighed. "Yes.”
He cupped my face. "Hey, you know why I'm doing this. I'm worried about you. We all are, okay?”
I nodded. "I just hate feeling like I'm being isolated, Grayson."
"Definitely not.” He peered at his watch. "I have to finish getting ready, but we'll talk later okay?”
I nodded. "I'm going to walk around a bit."
"I'll have Benny go with you.”
I stopped in my tracks. "I'm pretty sure I can walk without a babysitter.”
He smiled. "Humor me."
"Grayson, I'm serious.”
He ran his hand through his hair, looking tense. "At least take your phone and keep it on."
"Fine.”
He studied me a moment longer. "I should be back in a few hours. If you need anything call me. Otherwise, I would love it if you just stayed here, naked, in bed for me."
I laughed. "Right. See you in a few.” He kissed me before leaving.
A whole ten seconds went by before there was a knock on the door. I shook my head. He must've called Benny anyway— damn him. I opened the door. "I told him I didn't need—" I was caught off guard as I was shoved across the floor, landing on the hard marble tile. There was the sound of glass hitting the floor, followed by the sound of the door slamming and the click of the lock. I grabbed my head and tried to steady myself when someone slammed themselves on me, grabbing my neck.
"Took forever for your little boy toy to leave.” My eyes widened at the person on me. I was picked up and slammed back to the ground, and I screamed out from the impact. I started clawing at his arms.
"Easy, easy. You'll only tire yourself; you know that. Make it easier on yourself.”
I felt the tears prickling my eyes as panic swarmed over me. I couldn’t breathe. He eased his grip. "How?" was all I could breathe out.
"Find you?” he finished for me. "I must say, you did a hell of a job hiding all these years, but you fucked up royally the moment you started fucking one of the richest men in the world. I always knew you were a whore, just like Dad said.” Tears were now streaming down my face.
"Now, I'll let you up, but if you scream, I'll kill you and every person you give a fuck about. You understand?” I nodded.
He smiled. "Good girl.” He stepped back, and I scurried away— as far back as he allowed— into a corner. He stepped forward and reached out to touch my face, and I flinched away.
"This is a nice fucking suite. Way nicer than mine. Makes me wonder what the hell he's doing with someone like you. Tell me, does he pay you after each fuck?” I shut my eyes. "You know, my father offered you to me a couple of times. Probably should've taken him up on that offer. Never too late, now that you're all primed.”
I shook my head. "What the fuck do you want, Carson?"
He laughed. "Isn't it obvious? Tit for tat, baby sis. You took something of mine. You took my father from me. He loved you more, although I don’t know why. Now, I want to take something from you. Tell me who should it be? Grayson? Tyler? What about those two adorable little kids I met yesterday? He left everything to you! Everything! Why? You don’t deserve that money. None of it.”
My eyes widened, listening to him ramble on as he started to pace the floor. “But what if everyone knew about you, huh? Knew what kind of person you were. How about that?” He crouched in front of me and grabbed my hair, jerking me forward. “I’ve been watching you. The both of you, and I know shit that I guarantee if it got out it would fucking destroy both of your very existences. For someone so involved with charity, I doubt organizations would want to be associated with someone that enjoys beating on women. I can fucking destroy your life just like you destroyed mine, you little bitch, with all your fucking lies you used to tell.”
I looked at him as he paced the room, glass crunching under each step he took. He stepped toward me, grabbing my collar. “I’ll be back for you, and you’ll be smart to listen. Otherwise, I’ll fucking destroy you.” He threw me back on the floor. He was fucking crazy. Carson looked at his watch. "Well, I’m late for a very important meeting. You should fix yourself up, Emma. You look ridiculous. You wouldn’t want your boyfriend seeing you like this, now would you?” He smirked with those last words. Before he turned and left, he gave one last kick to my ribs, and I cried out. Right when he reached the door, he turned around. “Oh and Emma, mention who I am, and I will fucking kill those kids. Try me. You know what I’m capable of.” I laid there for a minute staring at the door before I was finally able to get up and make myself move, running to the bathroom and throwing up.
I don’t know how long I lay on the bathroom floor, but it couldn’t have been too long because Grayson came back. It wasn’t until the banging got louder before I realized he was banging on the bathroom door. I must’ve passed out.
“Emmalin!”
“Just a minute.” I slowly dragged myself up off the floor. Each movement felt like a bag of rocks were being thrown at me.
“Emmalin! Open the fucking door now!”
“I’ll be out in a minute.” The crack in my voice betrayed me. I watched from the corner as the door was kicked in. Grayson’s eyes were a mix of rage and concern. He ran over to me, looking me over as I clutched the sink. I tried waving him away, but he wasn’t having it. I didn’t even notice I was crying.
“What the fuck happened?”
What do I say? Tell him my deranged stepbrother came into town and he’s psychotic, or lie until I come up with something. “Someone broke in after you left.” All I could do was collapse into his arms from the pain.
“Fuck!” He pulled out his phone, dialing someone. “Get up here now! Emmalin was attacked.” He picked me up and carried me into the living room.
“I want hotel security up here now. There’s been a breach in protocol.” I sat listening to Grayson yell out demands. I looked around our suite. Within minutes, it was like a swat team was in our room. Benny and Grayson were both grilling security, and the police had just arrived as well. A blanket had been placed on me at some point.
“Do you have any idea who the man was?” They both looked at me as a detective was poised over me. I didn’t know what to say. I had to lie.
I slowly shook my head. “No,” I mumbled. “Everything was hard to make out, it happened so fast, and I hit my head.”
Grayson pulled me to him. “God, if anything had happened to you.” He looked at Benny. “Have the hotel doctor up here immediately.” I began to protest, but he stopped me immediately. “You’re hurt, Emmalin.”
I looked around at the broken glass strewn about. My head was pounding. I wanted to possibly throw up again and lay down. I glanced over at Grayson, talking with security, and started to stand up. He immediately reacted. “What are you doing?” He grabbed me before I fell over.
“I’m fine; I just need to sleep it off.”
“No, you may have a concussion. I need you to stay awake, baby, please?” I sighed.
“Mr. Mandrake, the doctor is here.”
“About damn time. She was attacked. I think she may have a concussion.”
The doctor approached me. “Any nausea?
I nodded. “I threw up once. A bit nauseous now.”
He nodded as his nurse took my blood pressure, and he shined a light in my eyes. “Can you tell me what you ate for dinner last night, Emmalin?”
I bit my bottom lip. “Um…” I turned to Grayson, trying to summon some magical brain power. “Steak. We had steak.” I smiled for remembering.
“I see you have some bruising on the neck, which will fade in time, and your ribs don’t seem to be broken, just badly bruised. I’ll prescribe you something for the pain because it’ll get bothersome, as well as drops for the redness in your eyes from the popped blood vessels.” I nodded. “For now, would you like something to help you relax?”
I nodded. “Please.” The nurse gave me a pain shot and left. Grayson remained tense the entire time. After a few minutes, I began to feel the effects of the medication and felt myself starting to doze off.