Falling for the ice quee.., p.20
Falling For the Ice Queen, page 20
He was always taking care of her. Did he even realize that?
She swiped the cloth from him. “I’ve got this.” She hurried away. Went to her bathroom and realized she was giving him a major view of her ass as he trailed after her. Not like she was going to waste energy on worrying about that issue. Not at this point. Eliza tossed away the cloth before rushing into her closet. She dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, toed into her flats, then marched out to confront him—
And she found Memphis sitting on her bed. He’d pulled on jeans. Ditched his shirt. Seemed to be waiting on her.
She took two steps toward him, then stopped.
“Tell me I’m an asshole,” he said.
She could do that. “Okay. You’re an asshole.”
A nod. “Selfish and manipulative. Dangerous and destructive. I do not belong anywhere near—”
Oh, for goodness’ sake. She took three more steps. Those steps brought her to the edge of the bed. Right next to his spread legs. “Did you mean it?” Because this was important. Extremely, crucially important to her. And she needed some clarity.
Somewhere in the penthouse, a phone began to ring. An unusual ringtone. Had to be his phone.
But he didn’t move. “Mean that I’m an asshole? Yes, but I think you knew that from day one. That I’m selfish? Always have been. Always looked out for number one. That I’m manipulative? Goes with the territory. So does being dangerous and having a—”
“Not that stuff.” She waved those points away. Stared down at him with determination. “I was asking, did you mean that you love me? Or was that just like…sex talk? Heat-of-the-moment talk.”
His brows lifted, only to immediately sink down low in a glower. “I don’t do heat-of-the-moment talk.”
Her heartbeat surged. “So you meant it. You want me to believe that you love me.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Is this part of your plan? You think I’ll go along with things, be easier to manage, if I believe that you love me?”
He…laughed. A deep, rough rumble. The sound boomed around her, and it was so oddly warm and rich. She leaned forward a little more, as if drawn to the sound, but she caught herself. Straightened.
The phone had stopped ringing.
“Sweetheart, there is nothing manageable about you. Any fool who tried to manage you would be in for a rude awakening. You do whatever the hell you want, and you just push aside anyone who argues with you by dismissing them with that cool grace of yours. If I’d been managing you, you never would have gone in front of the cameras tonight.” His laughter had faded completely. “You sure as shit wouldn’t have tried to run back toward the fire.”
“But…you wanted to use me.” She wet her lips. “I knew that from the beginning.”
“I knew you were the key.” No hesitation. “I thought that you could draw him out. And I thought that, yes, dammit, once you told me that he was still keeping track with the sunflowers, that he might come for you. You were the key and you were in danger, and I wanted to be as close to you as possible.”
“To use me…”
“I was using you and falling in love with you at the same time. That’s pretty much just what a sonofabitch like me would do.”
“Stop,” she whispered. It hurt. “You don’t have to say that stuff.” You don’t need to say you love me.
A phone began to ring again.
His brow furrowed. “Say what? I’m sorry. Yeah, I do need to say that shit. Because I am sorry. Sorry that I didn’t sweep you away from this place the moment we met. I think your dad might be onto something. I think getting you out of the country is a good plan. You’ll be safe. We can put a decoy in your penthouse. We can use a trained agent from the FBI—Elijah knows plenty of folks. We can—”
“Stop saying that you love me! I knew you were using me. Everyone knew it. Hell, even Kathleen tried to tell me that! And she hates me.”
The furrow of his brow grew heavier. “Why would she hate you?”
“Because I tried to stop my dad from marrying her years ago. Because I found out that she’d cheated on him when they first got together, and I was going to tell him and then—”
He shot to his feet. “Then what?”
“Then I was taken and…and everything went out of control. I stumbled into their engagement party all blood-covered and confused and…I…I had to get help for a while. Therapy. I tried to put my life back together, and Kathleen was actually…” Now it was her turn to laugh. Though her laughter sounded brittle while his had been rich. “Kathleen was very kind to me. She even referred me to the therapist I used. She had gone to Dr. Kendall before. Kathleen said she wanted us to start over. That she had changed. That she loved my father.”
“Fucking hell.”
He rushed around her. Bounded to the door.
Eliza’s jaw dropped. “This is important!” And he was running away?
He swung back to her. “Yes, baby. It is. I needed to know this information back at the beginning. Would have helped a whole lot.”
It would have helped to know that she’d had a fight with her would-be stepmom? Talk about irrelevant. But he slipped through the doorway. She raced after him.
His phone had stopped ringing, but he was reaching for it. She reached for him. Grabbed his arm. “Stop it.”
A muscle flexed along his jaw. “I’ve been texting my team updates all along.” His head turned toward her. “Every time you gave me a new piece of information, I passed it along. When I learned about the sunflowers, when we got side-swiped on that old highway, when we were nearly set on fire at the bar—”
“You were nearly set on fire,” she corrected him. “I was outside. Safe and sound.”
His lips tightened. “I had them start digging into the people around you. When you wouldn’t give me a list of your exes—”
“I don’t have many! I haven’t been involved with anyone in ages, I told you that!”
“I got them to look.”
So he’d been ripping into her life without telling her. That was another of his big reveals? “One day, you’ll have to tell me every secret you have.” A huff of breath. Focus. “What have your people been doing, exactly?”
“I made a list of suspects—those closest to you. I wanted to get their financial info torn apart. I wanted to know exactly where they all were when the other women vanished. My friend Delilah is a top-notch reporter. I put her in charge of tearing into their lives.”
“Since her sister vanished, I’m sure she’s very motivated.” Eliza swallowed. She didn’t let him go.
“She won’t ever give up.”
Would Benedict have given up on her? Hell. She didn’t even know where Benedict was. Her father had said he was out of town…Why do I think he was lying? “Who are the people that you have her investigating?”
“Your detective buddy Daniel. He was involved in the case from the very start. Your bodyguard who likes to stay way too close to you, Alec. Your brother.”
Her fingers squeezed him. “My brother?”
“First, he threatens me, then he seems to vanish. Is he even in town any longer, Eliza? Or did he cut and run?”
“I—” She let him go. “Benedict wouldn’t do this to me. He wouldn’t hurt anyone. Benedict is gentle. He’s always been gentle.”
“Is he?”
“Yes!” A huff. He is my brother. He wouldn’t hurt me. I can count on him. I can…A memory buzzed and drifted through her mind. Gone too fast to hold. Eliza shook her head. “If Benedict is standing back, it’s just because he always does what our father wants. I’m sure Dad told him to stand back. I’m sure Dad told him—”
“Your father is protecting him from something, Eliza. There are secrets between them. You saw that at the hospital, didn’t you?”
Yes. “Who else? Who else are you investigating?”
“Your father’s lawyer sprang to the top of my list, too. Holden Gerard. Seemed awfully chummy with you at the scene—”
“You have some insane idea that every man in my life is sexually attracted to me. Not the case. Men don’t look at me and get obsessed. That doesn’t happen.” If it did, she would have gone out on way more dates.
“It did to me. Stands to reason that it could to others, too.”
Her hand jerked back. It did to me. “You lied to me.”
“No, no, baby, I didn’t. I just didn’t tell you—”
“You said no bullshit. I respected the no-bullshit rule, but it was just a line. You didn’t mean it.” He doesn’t love you. Didn’t want you from the first. Doesn’t want—
“What in the hell are you talking about?” Memphis rasped.
“You didn’t get obsessed with me the first moment you saw me.”
His eyes changed. Went hard. Flashed with green fire. Desire. Barely banked. Need. Possession. “Sure, I did. You walked out of that bar door, and I ran after you as if my life depended on it. I knew you were going to change my world, and there was no way I would ever let you go. If that doesn’t sound like obsession, then tell me what does.”
Her heartbeat seemed to echo in her ears. “Holden is gay. At the scene, he was busy checking you out, not me. You and your super-observant self should have noticed that.”
His phone began to ring again.
“Not every man is interested in falling at my feet.” She looked over at his phone. “Must be awfully important. We should answer.” Her gaze returned to him.
“I’m interested,” he growled.
Her eyebrows climbed.
“But how the fuck do you feel, my princess? How do you feel about me? Because I’ve told you exactly what you mean to me, but you haven’t said anything about how you feel.”
My was definitely possessive. Definitely rough. Definitely on edge. And princess didn’t feel mocking. It felt like an endearment. Like a tender caress.
He grabbed for the phone. Swiped his fingers over the screen then turned on the speaker so that she could hear. “Memphis.”
“Is it true?” A woman’s voice. Desperate. Shaking. “Did Eliza remember him? Does she know who took Layla? OhmyGod, Memphis, this is huge! This is the break we needed, this is—”
What have I done? “I’m sorry,” Eliza choked out as the world seemed to narrow around her. I didn’t think about the families! Oh, no. Oh, no. “I-I don’t remember him, but he’s going to come for me, and we’ll stop him, and we’ll—”
Memphis took her hand. Squeezed her fingers. “It’s okay.” Soft. Careful. “We are going to get him.”
I gave her false hope. I shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t think—
“Eliza?” The woman’s voice was hesitant. The woman—she had to be Delilah.
“Y-yes.”
“You said that on the news…you lied so he’d come for you?”
She held Memphis’s stare. “Yes.” I’m so sorry about your sister. I wish I could have stopped him. I wish I could have—
“You have to be careful,” Delilah told her. “Do whatever Memphis says. Do not leave his side. You are in serious danger. I believed what you said—you looked so certain, so convincing—and I’m not fooled easily. Please be careful. Don’t let down your guard, not even for a moment.”
Delilah was worried about her?
“I want to find your sister,” Eliza heard herself say.
“Don’t find her by disappearing!” Delilah’s voice cracked. “Don’t do that. If you get hurt, if you die, that doesn’t bring anyone back. Stick to Memphis. I would trust him with my life any day of the week. He can keep you safe. Trust him.”
She’d trusted him from the start. Known that he was using her, and still gone along with his plan. She’d opened herself up completely to him. Not just her body, but offered him everything. And he’d…
Said that he loved her.
A man who professed to have zero tolerance for bullshit.
Does he love me?
And how did she feel about him?
“Kathleen Robinson,” Memphis said flatly.
Eliza jerked at the mention of her stepmother’s name.
“Add her to your deep dive, Delilah.”
“The stepmother?” Delilah asked.
“She and Eliza had trouble right before Eliza vanished. The kind of trouble that could have stopped her wedding to a billionaire. If you ask me, that’s one hell of a motive. Dig deep on her.”
“Already at it.” In the background, Eliza thought she heard the tapping of fingers on a keyboard. “And it helps to have my husband’s resources at my beck and call…”
Her doorbell rang. Eliza pulled away from Memphis. At this hour…a visitor wasn’t going to be a good thing. After pulling in a bracing breath, Delilah started for the door.
“Oh, found out something interesting about the brother.” Delilah’s voice stopped her.
Eliza looked back.
“Turns out, on the night of her abduction, he was in a jail cell. Got busted for drunk and disorderly conduct, but those charges magically vanished. You won’t find them on any official record anywhere. Guessing her father pulled some strings, but hey, at least it’s an alibi for him.”
The doorbell chimed once more.
“I’m working on the others. Some stuff looks good on the surface, but not so sure it will hold up,” she added.
“Someone’s here,” Memphis told her. “Got to go, Delilah.”
“Is Saint with you?” Delilah rushed to ask. “Tell me he is. You need backup there, and Elijah said you told him to stay put—which he hates by the way, so you might see him showing up and—”
“Saint is here. He has my six.”
“Good.” Real relief.
The chime came again, only this time, it was followed by a fierce pounding on the door.
Memphis shoved his phone into his pocket.
Eliza reached the door first. She put her eye to the peephole to see who was causing all the late-night drama— “Daniel.” Of course, he would stop by. He’d probably seen the news, too, and he’d want to know about the man she supposedly remembered.
He’d be pissed when he found out she was lying.
She started to open the door.
Memphis shoved his hand against the wood. “Nope, baby, we need to plan first.”
Her head turned. He was right beside her. Mere inches separated them. “Look,” she began, her voice a whisper because his had been, “I get that you have Daniel on your suspect list, but he’s a cop. He didn’t even start working my case until much later. He was one of the few people who believed me. He—”
“So far, Delilah has discovered that he doesn’t have an alibi for two of the disappearances. He was on vacation. So-called fishing trips, so, yes, I do find that suspicious. I find him suspicious. Know who is good at not leaving incriminating evidence behind? Cops.”
More pounding. “Eliza!”
“If you’re a woman alone at night…a woman who is uncertain, maybe drunk, quite possibly drugged…guess who you would allow to give you a ride home because you thought he was safe?”
“A cop,” she replied as her body chilled.
“Damn straight. See why he’s on my suspect list? And it’s not just because he eye-fucks you too much, though that shit will be stopping. We need to handle this scene with care. Follow my lead. Remember, you were supposed to do that in dangerous situations?”
Her lips thinned. “You would go back to that.”
“Yes, you forgot that rule at the hospital, didn’t you? You also forgot it at the bar. You came back inside, baby.”
“Open the door!” Daniel blasted.
Memphis winced. “For such a fancy building, the walls and doors truly aren’t thick enough. I will be complaining to the owner, count on it.” His eyes glinted. “Follow my lead.”
“I went back inside because I was scared.”
“When you’re scared, you’re supposed to stay away from danger.”
A shake of her head. “I was scared you’d be hurt. I was afraid because I didn’t want anything happening to you.”
His eyes widened. “Princess, just what are you saying?”
“I’m saying…” I don’t know what I’m saying. “If you’re in danger, I’m not following any of your rules. I’ll rush to save you anytime you need me.”
“Fuck. That is beautiful.” He pressed his lips to hers. Hard and fast and possessive. Then he wrenched open the door. “Detective!” Memphis boomed. “What an unpleasant surprise.”
***
“Is it true?” Kathleen demanded the minute Prescott walked through the front door. She’d been waiting at the base of the stairs, a black robe wrapped around her body, full makeup on her face, and her hair carefully styled around her shoulders.
She always looked perfect. Pristine. He swore she even slept in her makeup because when he’d open his eyes in the mornings, she’d already have it in place.
There was no need for the makeup. He’d always thought she was lovely just as she was.
“Does Eliza remember what happened that night?” Kathleen’s hands twisted in front of her.
Odd, she wasn’t normally one to make nervous movements. Everything she did was careful. Almost practiced. As if she was afraid to put one foot out of order.
Benedict and Eliza’s mother hadn’t been so restrained. She’d been a brilliant, passionate burst of life. With her, everything had seemed to swirl by him at one hundred miles an hour. She’d lit up every room she entered. She’d had everyone laughing at her jokes, pushing to get closer to her undeniable beauty, admiring her wit…
She’d been such a brilliant light. One that had burned too brightly. Too hard. Because sometimes, she hadn’t wanted to be the life of the party. Sometimes, she had just cried and cried, and he hadn’t been able to comfort her no matter how hard he tried.
“Prescott.” Kathleen crept toward him. Her slippered feet made no sound. “What did she tell you? And did you fire that annoying bounty hunter? He’s trouble. He’s feeding Eliza lies and—”
“He doesn’t work for me.” He turned away. Headed into his study. Went toward the small bar that waited. A bar stocked with the most expensive whiskey money could buy. “He never did.” He reached for a decanter, then stopped. Where is Benedict? “Have you seen my son?”
