Present Day

I woke up to the sound of rain pounding against the building. There were square-shaped indentations on my cheek from having fallen asleep on my keyboard. At least I hadn't drooled, or my laptop would have been ruined. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and groaned. Technically, I still had another five minutes before I had to get up and catch my flight, but there was no way I was going to get it. I knew I was going to want those five minutes of sleep later today. It had been a long night and was shaping up to be an even longer day.

I had been up most of the night with worry. I could feel my business and my future teetering as though on the edge of a knife. I was furious that Logan had been able to hamstring my company in four, well-paid moves. I had called each of my former employees; three had been smart enough not to pick up and the fourth apologized and promptly had an emergency to attend to.

After punching a pillow several times and threatening to stomp on my phone, I started trying to fix what I could. I posted ads for new consultants and had made some inquiries into potential applicants. I had also called my lawyer, several times. There was no way that what Travel, Inc. was doing was anywhere close to legal, but as far as getting my business on the rocks, it was effective. Mounting a legal defense would take weeks, and while Travel, Inc. would lose, the impact on my business would be big enough to force me to sell to them.

Just thinking about it was making my blood pressure rise. This was my business, and I had worked far too hard to just let them take it. I loved this company too much to give up on it now. Logan Hayes wasn't going to defeat me that easily. He may have thought his good-boy act would fool me into trusting him again, but I wasn't falling for it this time.

I slammed my laptop shut and grabbed my suitcases. I was already dressed, so one last look around the room was all it took for me to be ready. I was on my way to the lobby to get on a plane to go save my business before the light was even off.

I set my bags down in front of the check-out desk when I heard Maddy calling my name. She was hurrying toward me as fast as she could on her ankle.

“Olivia! Don't check out yet!” Maddy's cast made a hollow thunking noise as she limped over.

A ray of hope lifted my spirits. “Did the girls change their minds?” I asked with anticipation. Maybe they had come to their senses and realized what they were doing.

“No,” Maddy said with a grimace. “The flight's been canceled. The tropical storm upgraded and turned South last night. We're going to have to wait out the hurricane.”

Her words entered my ears, but I didn't comprehend them. I had to get home. “What?”

Maddy put a hand on my shoulder. “The island is about to be hit by a hurricane. All flights are grounded until further notice,” she explained. Her brown eyes were full of sympathy as she waited for me to understand.

“But, Maddy, I have to get back-” I started but she shook her head.

“I'm sorry, Livia,” she said, stopping me from saying more. “I called all the pilots I could find this morning, even the one the locals said might be crazy enough to fly through the storm. No one will do it. I'm really sorry.”

My shoulders slumped as I looked from her to the big glass doors of the lobby. I had been in such a rush that I hadn't noticed that a hotel employee was busy boarding them up with plywood. The last window was blurry with rain as the final board fit into place. The empty grand entrance dimmed and echoed with muffled rain.

“What am I going to do, Maddy?” I asked as desperation settled around me. I sat on my suitcase and tried to come up with a positive solution, but all I could see was the gray gloom of disaster.

“Nothing,” she said softly, kneeling to meet my eyes. “There isn't anything you can do right now except go back up to your room and get some sleep. You look terrible.”

I glared at her. She didn't look so hot herself.

“Well, it's true,” she said in response to my angry look. “Go rest. Things won't look so bad when you're not exhausted. You've done all you can for now.”

“What time is it in Chicago?” I asked, planning not to follow her advice and make more phone calls.

“Time to rest,” she replied. I darkened my glare. She shrugged it off. “Your lawyer called me to ask you to stop phoning him, especially at three in the morning. He'll get back to us once he has more information.”

I sighed and looked at the blockaded doors. “I just...” I whispered, losing my words to frustration.

“I know,” Maddy comforted, hugging me close to her. I held onto her like a drowning person to a life-preserver.

“What are we going to do?” I whispered, feeling a tear trickle down my cheek.

“We'll come back stronger,” she whispered into my ear. “This isn't the end of the world. We've faced worse and come out better because of it. Now, go rest.”

She leaned back, and I nodded dejectedly. I felt like an empty balloon as I dragged my suitcases back to the elevator. I looked back at Maddy one last time before stepping through the silver doors. She gave me a weak smile and motioned me to get on.

* * *

The ride up was uneventful. I dropped my bags in my doorway and sank into the bed. I lay there in the dark gloom of the storm, listening to the howling of the wind and rain against the protected building. Sleep was far away and not getting any closer. There was too much to do and no way to do it. Frustration and fury writhed in my stomach like a mass of angry snakes.

I sat up. I needed to move, to vent my energy. I was up and out the door, walking the hallways before I had even made the decision to move.

The halls were dark despite the fact that it was morning. All the windows were boarded and secure, hiding most of the thin gray light from view. I wandered aimlessly from hallway to hallway, looking for a glimpse out at the storm.

The doors leading out to the garden were locked. The big window overlooking the ocean from the reception area was boarded and covered with a heavy velvet curtain. Every place I thought I might be able to look outside was boarded or locked. The sound of the wind outside was unceasing and unnerving. There was no escape. Everywhere I turned I was reminded that I was trapped here by the hurricane.

After finding yet another locked door, I growled with frustration. I couldn't even see outside, let alone change anything outside of this stupid hotel. I kicked the door and turned around in time to see Logan walk across the room at the end of the hallway. He was grinning, his hand on his bodyguard’s shoulder as he laughed at something the other man said.

Rage flared red at the edges of my vision. The man who was about to ruin me was laughing. Laughing. Probably about me. My fingernails dug into my palms to the point of pain, but my fists just continued to tighten. The walls were closing in on me. I needed to get out. I needed to escape this nightmare.

I wrenched the doorknob of the door behind me, throwing all my weight into it. I needed to break out of the confines of the hotel. I could feel the walls pressing down on me from the weight of the wind. Logan took too much space and I needed to get as far away from him as possible. The door creaked and surprisingly gave way. It must have just been sticky, not locked.

I charged through the door and out onto the patio. The strength of the wind took me by surprise as raindrops pelted me like tiny rocks. I had seen enough reporters braving hurricanes, but that still hadn't prepared me for the raw strength of the storm. Gray waves ripped at the shoreline with furious fists of white foam while the sky churned with a dark livid power. I could suddenly understand now why no pilot had been willing to risk a flight.

I battled my way out further into the storm. The wind whipped my hair into my eyes and pulled my clothes in every direction as if to rip them from me. I could only stand in awe of the power of the storm, especially knowing that this was only the beginning. Nature could throw more at me than this. This was just her warmup act.

I closed my eyes and let the storm surround me. I was small and insignificant in comparison to this. My problems were nothing; this wind could blow them all away with one tiny gust. In one hundred years, the elements of this storm would still exist, while my business and I would be long gone. I reached out my hands and felt the tempest inside of me raging along with the hurricane. My rage bled into the storm and released me from it.

A strong hand clamped down on my arm and forcefully spun me away from the beach.

“What are you doing?” Logan screamed at me. I stared at him for a moment in complete surprise. No one, not even me, was supposed to be out here. There was worry in his brown eyes and he was doing his best to use his broad shoulders to shield me from the wind. His hair whipped wildly around his head as his shirt darkened with rain.

“None of your business,” I snapped, wrenching my arm from his grip. He was the exact person I didn't want to see. “Leave me alone!”

I took a step away from him and toward the beach. A blast of wind caught me as I left the relative safety of the patio, and I stumbled. Part of a tree whizzed down the beach, spraying pieces of leaves as it bounced like a child's ball across the sand.

Suddenly, I was up and over Logan's shoulder. He carried me as if I weighed nothing, pushing through the wind, rain, and my thrashing with ease. His shoulder was hard and warm under my stomach as his arm pinned me to him. I was furious. Furious that he was rescuing me when I didn’t need saving. What I needed was to be saved from him.

I kicked and punched Logan, screaming into the storm for him to put me down. I hated that he thought he was helping me when all I wanted to do was forget about him and the trouble he was causing me. I hated him. He opened the door to the hotel and stumbled inside. The danger of the hurricane diminished as he carried me inside the safety of the door, but my emotional fury was just getting started. He was a dead man.