Seduced By The British Billionaire(41)

Rubbing her eyes sleepily and squinting at the bright light, she felt for her phone. Who was calling her at this time of night?

The private number kept buzzing as she declined the call, sending it straight to voicemail. After a few moments, the familiar sound of the message alert tone beeped softly.

She sighed, entering her voicemail. She had only the one call and it was a few seconds long.

After listening to it thoroughly, her blood froze. In the huge mess of things she had forgotten all about the money she was supposed to acquire. And now they were leaving her creepy messages. Were they in the building at this very minute waiting for her?

When her phone buzzed again, her text alert sounded.

Your time is up…

“Shit,” she voiced. It echoed in the room to reveal how truly alone she was. She didn’t have the money.

A loud knock on the door permeated the silence. If her blood hadn’t frozen completely, it did now. Her heart dislodged from her throat.

She crept out of the covers and tiptoed into the living room. She refused to close her bedroom door when she was alone in the house. Now she had begun to wish she had.

The fireplace next to the doorway meant there were stokers nearby. So she aimed for them, skirting the couch and feeling her way in the dark.

Every time the door pounded, as it was getting louder, her heart leapt in her throat. And then everything grew silent. She heard a series of clicking, the squeak of the front door opening, and softened footsteps.

Dear God…they had broken in to her apartment.

Her hand shook as she grabbed the long poker from its holder. She was dressed in small shorts and a loose t-shirt, but she felt naked.

Aiming for the couch, she took shelter and knelt next to it, bathing in its shadow. Suddenly she wished she had grabbed her phone and brought it with her. But it was too late now to flip out about it.

The shuffling noises stopped and everything lay still. She didn’t like the fact that she didn’t know who was in her home, or where they were.

Almost instantaneously she was knocked back and put in a headlock. She tried to scream, but couldn’t.

“Jesus, Babe, what the hell are you doing with that?” It was Charles’ voice. He dislodged the poker from her in an attempt to keep her from swinging.

Amber coughed when he let her go. He had done his best to be gentle. “I thought you were…” She caught herself in time before telling him exactly why she was defending herself.

“I couldn’t get in but I managed to hail down one of the bag boys to open the door. Luckily he hadn’t gone home for the night,” he exclaimed while flipping on a lamp.

“Be honest with me, please, my love. You can tell me anything,” he encouraged. “You shouldn’t be afraid of anything here. Trust me. I have the highest security in this place. There shouldn’t be anyone breaking in anytime soon.”

“Some security, a bag boy broke into here.”

“Okay well that’s beside the point. I have my own connections of keeping safe,” he said. “Now tell me, really, Babe. What’s on your mind? You look like a disheveled mess.”

She contemplated telling him everything. She wanted to be open with him, to be honest, and to be able to entrust everything to him. It was the hardest thing for her to put trust in a single person. After all, she grew up on the basis of trusting herself and herself alone.

The more she thought about it, the more she dreaded being afraid. She didn’t like keeping secrets from him. So she sighed and told him the whole story.

At first she told him about her childhood, how she grew up, and the kind of family that adopted her from the system.

He listened intently to the things she had to say. He honestly cared and it showed plainly on his face.

After explaining to him her past in a short summarized version, she told him about her last visit to her apartment.

He grew dark and somber. His protective nature took hold of him as concern etched his brow. “Why would you hide all this from me?” It was clear he was hurt that she didn’t trust him.

Unable to look him in the eye, she shamefacedly gazed at the floor. “Because I didn’t want you to get involved in my problems.”

He walked over and hugged her. “No, why would you ever think like that? You need to be able to come to me for anything. You can trust me to keep you safe.” He brushed away her tears, which were now trailing down her face. “But I can’t do it with you here. I need you to go back to Bora Bora. You need to be somewhere secluded and tucked away until I can sort this mess out. If you want, you can bring your friends with you. We can have our wedding there since you seemed to like it so much.”

He pulled away and stroked her cheek tenderly. “I need you to be happy. Plan our wedding, enjoy the beach, and I’ll be there when I can. Let me worry about things from now on.”