A Debt Owed(62)

Oh … so now she intends to use it against me. Clever girl.

I smile. Perhaps I will someday, but not when she demands it. “I could,” I murmur, “but I have lots of work to attend to today.”

“What about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow’s busy too, I’m afraid. And the rest of the week,” I say, to which her face sours, and for some reason, that hurts my heart. The first time she said she wanted out, I wanted nothing more than to tie her to her bed. I never wanted her to get anywhere close to freedom.

“You’re making that up just to keep me here,” she hisses. “I can’t stay here all the time, Easton. I’m suffocating, can’t you see?”

“Hmm …” I mutter.

If I had my way, I’d lock her in a cage and throw away the key. Yet when I look at those beautiful, wistful eyes of hers, I melt away. I can’t ignore her desires any longer. I can’t get it across my heart to push my own agenda while sacrificing hers. After all, if I don’t nurture her, her heart will shrivel away and die.

“How can you expect me to love you when you don’t give me anything to love?” she murmurs, the pain in her eyes wounding my soul.

She’s right. If I want her fully and completely, I’m going to have to throw her a Hail Mary.

I take a deep breath through my nose, and say, “All right. Since you’ve behaved well these past few days, I’ll let you go out for the day.”

Her eyes sparkle with joy.

“If …” I add, holding up my knife, “you let Jill accompany you.”

The smile on her face dissipates.

“Take it or leave it,” I say, finishing my plate.

“Fine,” she snaps as though I’ll take the proposition away from her if she doesn’t comply. That’s a trick I always apply. It works in business … and with women.

I clear my throat. “Jill will take you to do some shopping. She said your closet was empty.”

She frowns. “No, I want to decide where we go.”

I cock my head and lick my lips for a second. “Charlotte,” I say with a stern voice, “don’t push me.”

She rubs her lips together and leans back in her chair.

“Do not waste this precious time to nitpick with me. I may be kind, but I am not patient,” I growl.

“Fine,” she says again. “I just want to get out of here.”

“To escape me,” I say with a grin, after which she looks away. “And I’ll allow it. For today.”

She doesn’t respond anymore, so I continue eating my breakfast, and she does too eventually.

I don’t know what’s gotten into her. One moment, she’s completely into me, almost begging me to kiss her, and then the next moment, she’s cold as ice, acting like a complete witch. She switches moods with just a snap of the finger. This girl is certainly a handful. If our children are anything like her, I’ll probably have to hire a dozen nannies, for sure.

And to be frank, I can’t fucking wait. Because the more time I spend with this woman, the more I realize … I married the perfect fucking girl for me.



Charlotte



As I expected, Easton had the car driven up to the front door, and his driver will drop Jill and me off right in front of the store. I’m sure he did it so he can make sure I won’t run off. Jill’s not only here to take me shopping but she’s also supposed to keep an eye out on me.

That’s okay. I didn’t think he’d ever let me off the property by myself.

But I didn’t expect him to ask Jill to do the stalking.

She’s such a friendly person and not at all someone who would keep basement prisoners. Yet she goes along with Easton’s wishes, whistling a tune while we’re in the car on the way to the store. The eerie sound gives me goose bumps.

“You’re not very talkative today, are you?” Jill suddenly asks.

I turn my head toward her, and answer, “Should I be?”

“Well, we’re finally going out together,” she says with a cheerful smile. “Just you and me!”

I don’t know why she’s so happy, but it’s scary since she knows this is all a farce. I’m still a prisoner inside Easton’s mansion. This “going out” isn’t really out … just another place where I don’t get to walk without supervision. I feel like a kid with a helicopter mom. Although this helicopter mom doesn’t know a thing about me, and that could definitely come in handy.

When we arrive at the store, Jill walks to my side and helps me get out, just like Easton always does. He probably told her how to do it because she too locks her arm in mine, preventing me from escaping.

The boutique we walk into is called Luuks, a high-end designer store. Each rack is sorted by color instead of a specific article of clothing, and they’re all very minimalistic. Jill sifts through them like crazy, but all I can think about is the notebook clenched between my top and underwear.

I couldn’t leave it at his house. The cleaning ladies would probably find it in a heartbeat, no matter where I hid it. There was no safe place in that house, so my only option was to bring it with me.

I hope to God Jill doesn’t try to come into the changing room with me.

Or that Easton doesn’t open that drawer in his study today.