The Billionaire and His Castaway(19)

“So he sets up this little island plan. He was escalating quickly, and I didn’t know what else he would do, the lengths he’d go to to have you, so we thought we’d just take you back ourselves before he did something crazy.”

He wouldn’t have had to do anything else. I was his. Well, I was an hour ago. Now I don’t know anything.

“Has he done this before?” Was this some game? Was some of it real? Or was nothing at all?

“Yes,” my brother snaps, making my stomach drop. I feel like I want to throw up, tears burning my nose. “I've seen him do it a hundred times when I worked with him in business deals and so on. He’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He’s cold and will stop at nothing. Though I didn’t think he’d go to the level of lying. He might be a fucking shark, but he still always played by the rules.”

“I meant, has he done this with women before.”

Mark turns to look at me, zipping my bag up. “Women?” he asks, like he doesn’t get my question. I don’t know why I need to know this, but I do. I really don’t give a shit about what he does at work. This coldness he’s talking about doesn’t sound like the Kenton I’ve come to know.

“Yes. With women.”

He throws my bag over his shoulder and gives me an odd look for a second. I can feel the tension pulsing through my body as I wait for him to tell me. “I need this, please.”

“Yes.” The one word makes a tear slip free. It takes everything in me to not release the sob that is sitting in my throat. “Can we talk about this in the car on the way to the airport, Maddie? I wasn’t lying when I said I don’t know what he’s doing. I’ve never seen him go this far, and I don’t know what he’ll do next, but what I do know is that he has some kind of obsession with you.”

I just nod, not knowing what else to do. I slip on the shoes and shorts Mark left out for me while packing and grab my purse. I feel nothing. I’m just numb. But a tiny part of me, hidden deep, wonders that if he’s done this to get me, what would he do to keep me?





Chapter Ten





Kenton




A man can go only so long before he breaks, and that’s exactly what’s happened. It’s been two months. Two fucking months since I’ve touched her or even seen her, unless you count the pictures I have. That’s it. I thought I wanted her before, but now after having touched and tasted her, I can barely breathe without her. Hell, I can’t seem to do anything at all.

I just don’t fucking care what I have to do to get to her. Even if it means ripping down her own front door.

I walk towards her front door, a door I know all too well. I’d sat my ass on her porch for a few days before Mark threatened a restraining order and still she hadn’t come out. But I’m not even sure she knew I was out here.

Fuck Mark. I’m more than willing to spend a few nights in jail if I can talk to her for just a minute. Try to make her see reason. I never should have let him take her from the hut. I had no idea he was going to take her off the island so quickly, that they would find us so fast. My plans crashed all around me. I was supposed to have two more days with her, but I was stupid. I’d learned my lesson. Mark wasn’t to be trusted when it came to his little sister. None of her brothers could be.

Just like I would do anything to have her, they seemed to do anything and everything to keep her from me. I growl at the thought of anyone thinking they can.

Having been driven to the edge of madness, I raise my foot to kick the front door. But before I make contact, it flies open. Mark fills the doorway. I give him a hard look, and he holds his hands up before stepping aside and motioning for me to come in, taking me by surprise.

“How’s your hand?” he asks, shutting the door behind me.

“How’s Seth’s face?” I shoot back. My hand hasn’t been fine. I’d fractured a knuckle on his brother’s jaw after I watched Mark take off with my Madeline. Seth made some remarks that just didn’t sit well with me, that I was using Madeline and other things. I push back the thoughts, not wanting to punch another one of her brothers. She’s clearly already pissed enough as it is.

Mark cocks a half smile and starts walking down a hallway. I glance around to see if I can spot Madeline anywhere, wondering whether I should just go in search of her. He stops and turns to look at me.

“We need to talk first,” he says with a grim expression on his face, making a shiver of fear snake up my spine.

“Is she--”

“Come on.” He motions for me to follow him down the hallway until we turn and enter what I’m guessing is his office. He doesn't go to sit behind his desk but walks over to a little bar, makes himself a drink, and shoots it back.