Chapter 5 - The Golden Cage|
Before I could protest, Nathan’s enforcers opened the rear door of the armored SUV. Nathan’s grip on my elbow was firm, brooking no debate. He guided me into the supple leather interior, sliding in immediately beside me. The door slammed shut with the heavy, airtight thud of a bank vault.
"Drive," Nathan ordered coldly.
"Where are you taking me?" I demanded, pressing myself against the far door, trying to put as much distance between us as the luxury cabin allowed. "I have an apartment. I have a life!"
"You had an apartment," Nathan corrected, not even looking at me as he tapped a command into his secure phone. "Right now, Moretti’s cleanup crew is turning your apartment into kindling looking for anything of value. If you had gone home tonight, Bella, you would have left in a body bag."
The blunt cruelty of his words knocked the breath from my chest. "Why? Because of one night? Because of a hospital bill?"
Nathan finally turned to face me. In the shadows of the tinted windows, his sharp jawline and deep-set eyes looked carved from granite. "In my world, money isn't just paper. It’s an announcement of value. I have never paid a woman for her company in my entire life. I don't need to. When forty-nine thousand dollars left my private offshore account to an unknown girl working night shifts, the underworld didn't see charity. They saw a lover. They saw an obsession. They saw the only vulnerability Nathan Drake has ever displayed."
My heart hammered against my ribs. "An obsession? You don't even know me!"
"They don't know that," he countered fiercely. "And Marcus Moretti doesn't care. To him, you are a lever to break my neck. And I don't intend to let anyone break me."
We drove north, leaving the neon haze of downtown Chicago behind. Forty minutes later, the SUV passed through towering iron gates topped with surveillance cameras and rolled up a winding driveway lined with ancient oak trees.
At the end of the drive sat an imposing, gothic-revival stone estate overlooking the roaring black waters of Lake Michigan. It looked less like a home and more like an impenetrable fortress. Armed guards patrolled the perimeter with Belgian Malinois attack dogs.
The car stopped under the portico. Nathan stepped out, extending his hand toward me.
I looked at his open palm, remembering the morning-after pill, remembering the blood in the alley, and lifted my chin. I ignored his hand and stepped out onto the gravel on my own two feet.
A faint, wry smirk touched his lips. "Still stubborn."
"Still human," I fired back.
Inside, the estate was breathtaking. Vaulted ceilings, dark mahogany paneling, massive stone fireplaces, and floor-to-ceiling glass walls showcasing the lake. An older woman with silver hair pulled into an elegant chignon walked down the grand staircase, carrying a stack of fresh towels and a silk robe.
"This is Mrs. Gable, the house manager," Nathan said, shedding his overcoat and handing it to a guard. "She will show you to the east wing. You will have everything you need."
"And if I want to leave?" I asked, standing in the center of the vast marble foyer.
Nathan paused at the foot of the stairs, turning back to me. His expression was completely unreadable.
"The perimeter is wired with motion detectors, armed guards, and attack dogs, Bella. You leave when I say it's safe. Not a second before."
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"So I traded a hospital debt for a cage," I said, my voice echoing off the stone walls.
Nathan looked at me for a long, heavy moment. "It’s a golden cage, Miss Carter. But right now, it’s the only thing keeping your heart beating."
