Chapter 1 - THE NAME HE CALLED IN HIS FEVER
“Elena?”
The name came out of Adrian Cross like a wound reopening.
His fingers tightened around my wrist, but his eyes weren’t really seeing me. They were glassy from fever, unfocused beneath wet strands of dark hair.
“My name is Nora,” I whispered. “Nora Bennett.”
For a moment, he only stared.
Then his body shuddered violently.
I forgot every cruel thing he had ever said to me.
The first-day humiliation.
The dinner-table silence.
The way he had looked at my body and decided it made me incapable.
None of it mattered while his skin burned beneath my hands and a blizzard sealed us inside a mansion with no working phone lines.
I checked his breathing again.
Rapid.
Too shallow.
His left ankle was badly swollen, and the steel awning had cut through his trousers near the thigh. The wound wasn’t deep enough to explain the fever.
Something else was wrong.
“Adrian, can you hear me?”
His eyes opened.
“Nora?”
“Good. Stay with me.”
He looked toward the fireplace.
“How long?”
“Since I found you? About forty minutes.”
His brow furrowed.
“You went outside?”
“Yes.”
“In that storm?”
“You’re welcome.”
Even half-conscious, he looked offended.
Then his mouth almost moved into a smile.
I pulled another blanket around him.
“I need to know if you’re allergic to any medications.”
“No.”
“Heart condition?”
“No.”
“Diabetes?”
“No.”
“Recent illness?”
Silence.
I looked at him.
“Adrian.”
He closed his eyes.
“Three days.”
“What happened three days ago?”
“Headache.”
My stomach tightened.
“Anything else?”
“Chills. Tired.”
“You went outside with a fever?”
His eyes opened again.
“Security alarm.”
I stared at him.
“You have six armed men on this property.”
“Not tonight.”
That made me freeze.
“What?”
His expression sharpened despite the fever.
“I sent them away.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the windows.
Then whispered, “Because one of them tried to kill me.”
The fire cracked behind us.
Outside, wind screamed against the mansion.
I slowly sat back.
“What are you talking about?”
Adrian struggled to reach inside his shirt.
I stopped him.
“Don’t move.”
“Nora.”
“What?”
“My necklace.”
I frowned.
He wore no necklace.
Then he tapped weakly against his chest.
I opened the top button of his shirt.
A thin chain appeared.
Attached to it was a small brass key.
He gripped my hand again.
“Upstairs study.”
My heart tightened.
“The locked one?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His eyes began closing.
“Drawer behind Elena’s photograph.”
I stared at him.
“What’s in it?”
His breathing became uneven.
“Proof.”
“Proof of what?”
For one terrible second, I thought he had passed out.
Then his lips moved.
“Elena wasn’t kidnapped.”
My blood ran cold.
May you like
Adrian opened his eyes one final time.
“My own family sold her.”
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