Page 12 of Close Your Eyes

“I trust him,” he says as he bites into his piece of toast.

I nod, not agreeing or disagreeing, because I don’t know how he’ll react. I could say I trust Ledger too, and he could accuse me of wanting to fuck him. Which I do, but still. So, once again, I remain stoic.

Bane studies me from across the table, and I force myself to eat. He taps at his phone, and Lazarus enters the room. “How are things going?” he asks Lazarus.

Lazarus takes one look at me and then focuses back on Bane. “We’ve had a few issues with the…” his words fall away as he stares at me once more.

“She’s fine. She wouldn’t dare tell anyone anything she overhears here at my home, right?” Bane raises a brow as his eyes bore into mine.

I nod. “Right.”

Bane laughs a sinister laugh. “She knows if she did it would be the last words she ever spoke.”

After that I tune them out. My mind can’t focus on anything other than the fact I’m forever trapped in my cage. Never to know the taste of freedom ever again.

I should make peace with it.

I need to accept my fate.

Once Lazarus has left the room, Bane’s attention falls on me once more.

“We’ll be getting married soon. Here. In the backyard.”

I glance out the window, overlooking the yard. The estate grounds are larger than Danbury Park. It would be the place I would imagine our wedding being anyway. “I think getting married here is a good idea. You won’t have many issues with security.”

Bane blinks, and it makes my skin crawl. Sure, Bane could be good-looking in another lifetime, but not in this one. He’s too cold. Too sinister. Too not my type.

I drop a sugar cube into my teacup and stir it with my spoon. “We should start planning.” I make an effort to appear happy, just like any blushing bride who is planning their wedding should be.

He nods. “Fine. Why don’t you and Bridgette plan things while I work?”

I take a sip of my tea. “Okay, thank you.”

Bridgette is his assistant and house manager. She’s the woman who keeps this place running like clockwork. She’s older, probably early sixties, and quite possibly the only ally I have in this house. Not that I trust her at all.

After breakfast, I head back to my room to grab a few things before I meet with Bridgette to plan the wedding. I glance at my phone and open my message thread with Ledger and think about last night.

Once we were alone in the room, things went downhill. I can barely even remember why. I think it was because he was so put out by having to watch me. I don’t blame him.

Who would want the task of watching Bane Delgado’s fiancée?

But I thought we were getting along. A small part of me thought maybe he was enjoying his time with me.

How silly I am.

I stare at his message.

Maybe.

Does that mean a small part of him had been missing me? Is it crazy that I want to find out?

I don’t know how to handle everything going on inside me. I just want to feel close to him.

To talk to him once more.

So, I bring my fingers to the keypad and think of something to say. He told me to contact him if I remembered anything, so I close my eyes and think back to the night I was attacked, something I’ve mostly avoided until now. As I attempt to recall every minor detail, something happens.

A smell overcomes me. It wafts through my memory.