The sound of shouting reached her ears and Lily looked contemplatively at the door. They were leaving it unlocked now, and had for the past two days. But she didn’t open it. She made sure to be in the bathroom, hidden, when someone came to deliver her meals, and she never went out into the hallways.

She did not want to see either of them. She couldn’t bear to face them, not after they’d rejected her. She was a virgin, nothing more. And she was a virgin, she thought rebelliously, because up until two nights ago, she’d never known what it was she wanted. Well, now she knew. She wanted them—both of them.

And they wanted her. This shouldn’t be so difficult, should it? But they had left and she was still here, still slick between her legs when she thought of them, slipping her fingers between her legs sometimes at night to try to remember how it had felt. She wanted…she wanted Cameron’s mouth on her again, and Liam holding her in place, kissing her until she wanted nothing more than him inside her.

She dropped back on the covers with a groan, hands pressed over her eyes. It already didn’t feel real. They couldn’t possibly have wanted her that much, could they? Had she just dreamed all of it? Maybe it hadn’t actually happened. That would make a lot more sense than what she remembered. Of course, it would make her desire to show up naked in their bed a lot more embarrassing. She sat up, blushing, and tried to compose herself.

The yelling hadn’t stopped, and finally she pulled on her work dress and went to go investigate—barefoot, of course. She hadn’t gotten her shoes back yet. She looked along the corridors to see if anyone was going to apprehend her, but no one seemed to be around at all. Odd. She was just looking around for a clock when the shouting took on a familiar tone, and she froze.

It couldn’t be…

But of course it could, she thought bitterly as she descended the stairs. It had been two days and she hadn’t been released. James hadn’t bargained to release her, or she would be gone. He never lost at bargaining. He must consider keeping the others captive to be a higher priority than her safety.

It occurred to her that Liam and Cameron might have lied to her, but she didn’t entertain the thought for long. Their words had rung true. The business deals had been too good lately; she had noticed, even if she wasn’t smart enough to ask why. She still couldn’t quite believe that she’d thought James was turning into a better person.

She padded along the hallway toward the sound of the yelling: the study, she was willing to bet, though it was difficult to say for certain, when she’d been blindfolded the last time. Two men were guarding the door, and they gave her the sort of nod that said she was welcome in the house, but not quite welcome enough to go into the study just now.

She didn’t particularly care.

“That’s my boss in there,” she said, and if it wasn’t entirely accurate—she intended to quit as soon as she got out of here—she was sure they wouldn’t much care.

“No one’s to go in there,” one of them told her gently. “I’d go back upstairs, miss.”

“No. I need to go in.”

“Miss—”

The door opened behind him, and Liam peered out. He seemed almost approving when he saw Lily’s stubborn expression.

“It’s all right, Dennis. Come in, Miss McDermott.”

Lily raised her eyebrows as soon as she made it into the room. James was lying on a very nice carpet wrists and ankles bound, and his suit mussed. She had never seen him look less polished than a GQ model, and she could not stop herself from biting her lip at the indignity.

“Lily.”

“Hello, James.” She supposed she should look frightened or injured, but that hadn’t moved him to pity before, and she rather doubted it would do so now.

“Thank God you’re safe,” he told her, and Lily raised an eyebrow at him.

“It’s not God that’s kept me safe. They haven’t harmed me. That’s why I’m safe.”

“Lily, you can’t trust them. Come away from that man.”

“I’m quite all right, you know.” She gave a glance at Cameron, and saw his lips quirk. Was it just her own desire, or could she see the pulse speeding at his throat? Was his breath coming short? She hoped so.

But there were other matters to attend to, and the genuine worry in Liam’s eyes reminded her of that. She leaned forward to peer at James.

“So where are they?”

“They’re—where are who?” His voice was suspicious, but growing in fear. She shouldn’t know about this, his eyes said.

“The people you had kidnapped.” Lily watched his face pale, and swallowed down her regret.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, but it was far too late. She had hoped against hope that when she saw him again, he would say something that would prove he’d had nothing to do with all of it. That everything had been a mistake. A terrifying mistake, but just a mistake. She’d known from the moment he got so scared that he’d done something truly, terribly wrong. She had continued to hope that she was mistaken, but she knew it was a lost cause.

She looked away, tears in her eyes, and took a moment to compose herself.

“Mr. Dominick.” Liam crouched behind him, his voice friendly in a way that made Lily’s blood run cold. “You seem to be under the mistaken impression that you can lie your way out of this.”

“I won’t be lectured to on morality by a hit-man,” James hissed.

Lily winced, expecting a blow, but none came. Liam only stood, pacing around James where he lay on the floor.

“Do you know,” he said conversationally, “Watts constrains himself by the same standards to which he holds you?”

A glare was the only answer.

“Accordingly, he did not do what the extended family requested, and hand you over to them.”

At this, at last, James paled.

“He asked,” Liam said, as if he hadn’t noticed the man’s discomfort, “that he at least be given a chance to change your mind. They agreed. They gave him four days. As you’ll note…this is the third.”

“You don’t know what you’re meddling in,” James tried. “You’ll get their enemies coming down on you if you try this.”

“I don’t think so. I think everyone’s going to think a stupid American businessman tried to play hardball and got taken out. You see, Mr. Dominick, I don’t want to hurt you, and we both know that.”

“You’re not a very good interrogator.” James looked like he wanted to laugh. “Watts’s morality shot him in the foot.”

“I don’t have to do anything to you, though, do I?” Liam asked. “Like Watts, I don’t like doing violent things. But you see, in this case…I just have to step out of the way. Unless you give me the information, they’ll be here for you tomorrow. And they’ll kill me and mine if I get in their way. And you see, my obligation to you ends when it starts to endanger my men. Do you understand me?”

James said nothing. His face was contorted with hatred.

“So, let me put it this way: you can tell me, or you can go with them, and you will tell them, because you will tell them anything you can think of to make them stop hurting you, and then they’ll kill you anyway. What’s it going to be?”

“Lily.” James’s face was twisted. “Don’t let them do this to me. Don’t let them—”

“Where were you,” Lily asked him softly, “when they took me? You were in your panic room. You hadn’t even bothered to warn me. And it’s been two days now that you haven’t even tried to save me. How can you possibly ask me to save you?”

“You could. They’ll listen to you.”

“They will,” Lily agreed. “But if you think I’m going to lift a finger to help you so that you can keep holding a family hostage, you’re sadly mistaken. Goodbye, Mr. Dominick.” She stood up and walked out, listening to his cries behind her, hating him and hating herself for ever having trusted him, and she was almost to the stairs when Cameron’s feet sounded behind her.

She caught her breath when she looked up at him, and saw desire flare in his eyes as well. But he was resolute.

“He’ll talk,” he told her. “He’s talking now. Lily, I’m…sorry.”

“Sorry about what?” She asked, a touch of humor. “Him being him, or you kidnapping me?”

“Both. I’m sorry you were scared. I hope you know that no one here would ever have hurt you.”

“I do know,” Lily said softly. She looked down at her hands, trying to screw up her courage to ask the one question she couldn’t hold back any longer. She had just drawn in a deep breath when he said, softly:

“You should go now.”

“What?” She looked up, lost.

“You should…you should go. There’s a car waiting outside. It will take you home.”

“I don’t…” I don’t want to go. She knew how ridiculous it was, but it was still true.

“You should. This is no place for you.” And he was gone. Did she see regret in his face? Was he fleeing from her?

She hesitated, looking at the front door that one of the men was holding open for her. She wanted to run back to the study, to drag Liam and Cameron both away from what they were doing, to tell them the truth—that she wanted them, that she wanted to stay.

“Miss?” The man’s voice was soft, and Lily blinked back tears and hurried out into the sunlight, still shoeless, to go back to a life she no longer wanted.