He's Captured My Trust (Captured Series Book 2) (23 page)

“James, I think you heard the lady. She has somewhere she needs to be,” Michael says, suddenly at my side.

“Katherine was right. You and Alex are still sharing toys! So because he’s finished with her, you think it’s your turn?” James’s words hit a note with me. He knew Katherine was with Alex when I passed him in the corridor earlier. My blood boils. I pull my hand out of James’s, and, before I know it, it connects with the side of his face in a hard slap.

“How. Fucking. Dare. You,” I spit at him.

Before I can say anything else, there is some commotion. I stand riveted to the spot as Alex angrily makes his way to us. James is still holding on to me with one arm. Alex strides across the room, a man on a mission. “James, if you have any sense, you will take your hand off her now,” he says through gritted teeth.

“And if you had any sense, you wouldn’t be fucking around behind her back.”

It happens fast. Michael pulls me out of the way as Alex punches James in the face. Blood runs down his face from a cut in his cheek.

“What the fuck? I was only speaking the truth,” James yells at him. “You fuck about, someone’s bound to get hurt and as I’ve already told you , there will always be someone waiting in the wings to pick up the pieces.

“And I warned you to stay away from Libby.” Alex lunges at him again, but Michael releases me and intervenes. Sophie quickly takes hold of me.

“Sophie, take Libby away from here. There will be a car out front,” Michael shouts over the ruckus.

She takes me by the arm and we leave, but not before being stopped by Sarah. “Girls, I hope one of you is going to tell me what’s going on,” she says.

“Mom, I’ll tell you everything after I go and get Libby’s things. She’ll be staying with us for the remainder of her visit, and I don’t want Alex at the house.” Sophie’s words crush her mother.

“But what about Alex and James?”

“I’m sure Michael will sort those two out. We’ll see you at home,” Sophie says before giving her a kiss and whisking me away.

I feel awful. I want to be sick. I don’t take notice of anything or anyone. I am moving on autopilot. It’s not until we’re outside that I finally pay attention of the flashes of a few cameras. Shit. Questions are fired at us, but I blot them out. The car is only a few feet away, but it is still too far away for me. Murphy is out of the car in seconds. The flashing of cameras continues as we hurriedly get into the back of the car. Murphy puts his foot down, and the car screeches away.

“Hey, are you okay?” Sophie asks.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know anymore.”

“We’ll be at the apartment shortly. We’ll get your stuff and be gone.”

“I’m going to have to talk to him at some point, aren’t I?”

“When you’re ready,” she replies, putting her arm around me and giving me a tight squeeze.

It’s not long before I’m standing in the grand entrance to Alex’s apartment. Both Murphy and Joan have been polite and sincere, but I get the impression that Murphy is not happy being in the know about where I’m going. I suppose it’s Alex who pays his wages after all.

I leave Sophie downstairs pouring a drink while I head upstairs to sort out my things. Joan follows quietly behind. “Miss Stewart, do you need a hand with anything?”

“No, I should be fine,” I reply softly as I stop in front of his bedroom door. This will be the last time I’m ever in here, and with that thought, all my hurt and humiliation resurface, and I find myself sobbing again.

“Miss Stewart, would you like me to stay with you?”

I nod.

As I pack my case, all sorts of thoughts run through my head. The biggest one is
How bloody foolish am I?
My heart is shredded, torn apart by the man I love—the one man I thought I would give everything up for, but now I’ll never find out. I knew it was too good to be true. I am not destined to have a happily-ever-after. Some things are not meant to be.

I’M PUTTING THE LAST OF
my things away when a lot of screaming and shouting comes from downstairs. From the sound of things, Alex is home and not happy.

“Miss Stewart?” Joan’s voice is warm and caring as she stands in the doorway.

“I’ll be finished in a minute.”

“Where. The. Fuck. Is. She? Michael, get out of my fucking way. I need to explain.”

“Alex, she won’t speak to you when you’re like this,” Michael says. “I’m not letting you see her like this. Fucking calm down. She won’t listen if you go up there angry.”

“She needs to understand. I need to make her understand.”

“You’ve fucked up this time, brother,” Sophie says. “Seriously—Katherine?”

“Sophie, fucking stay out of this. I’m warning you. It’s not your concern. Move, Murphy. Out of my fucking way before I send you on your way.”

I can only imagine the scene downstairs.

“Joan, I’m sorry,” I say. “I don’t mean to cause you any trouble.”

“Hush, dear. Murphy can handle him. Don’t fret about it.” Her voice is soft, but there is pain in her loving face. “Libby?”

“Let him come up.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” I sigh with a heavy heart, unsure about seeing him.

She heads down the stairs, where Alex is still ranting and raving about not getting up the stairs.

“Now, Mr. Mathews, if you calm down, I will let you up, but you have to promise to stay calm, because that poor girl is upset enough already.” Joan’s voice is raised above the others. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know she doesn’t deserve this. Promise me?” That sweet, loving woman has a fine set of lungs on her.

“Joan, I promise I won’t hurt her.”

“Too bloody late for that, brother,” Sophie says.

“Sophie, I have already warned you. Butt out.”

“Sophie, give him a break. I’ll fill you in,” Michael’s voice is raised.

Everything goes quiet and the only sound I hear is Alex walking up the stairs slowly. I am nervous about seeing him. I don’t know what to do when he walks through that doorway. What am I going to say to him? God, I don’t think I’ll be able to look him in the eye. I walk over to the large window and stand staring out into the night sky. My eyes travel, watching the lights lighting up this wonderful city—the city that never sleeps.

The steps stop. I don’t turn, but I know he’s standing in the doorway. I’ve caught sight of his reflection in the glass, just standing, staring. He looks hurt—wounded even—and the small amount of blood on his face isn’t helping me. All I want to do is go to him and take care of him.

“Alex, whatever you have to say, please get it over with so I can go.” I try to sound calm and firm.

“I don’t want you to go. I need you to stay.”

“Stay?” My voice rises. “How can I possibly stay, knowing . . .” A single tear trickles down my face.

“You don’t know anything. Please let me explain.” I hear his footsteps lightly cross the floor.

“What’s to explain? I saw both of you. I heard the words both of you spoke. It was like a knife ripping my heart in two.” I still don’t turn and face him. I’m scared. How will I react to him? How will my body react to him? God, it already is!

He leans forward and kisses my neck ever so softly.

“Alex, don’t.”

He takes hold of me with both hands and turns me to face him, keeping a firm grip of my shoulders. “Look at me, Libby!”

There is nowhere to run.

“Elizabeth Stewart, I love you. There is no question about that.”

I stand, shaking my head at him as the tears that have been slowly building start to fall. My whole body is trembling. I am cold and tired and want to rest—to go to sleep and pretend this was all a bad dream. But it’s not, and I need to deal with it now. Emotionally, I am wrecked. Torn in two. Broken.

“That’s not love, Alex,” I say. “If you really loved me, you wouldn’t have fucked her in your office, and especially not after we had been in there.”

“Oh. For. Fuck’s. Sake. Libby.” He releases me and runs his fingers through his hair, exasperated. “Nothing happened with Katherine and nothing ever will. I think she finally got the message loud and clear. She left my office hurt and humiliated that I didn’t want her.”

“That makes two of us then,” I snipe back. “You have no idea how I felt seeing you two and hearing those words coming from your mouth. What was it? Can you feel this . . . But you know what? It doesn’t matter now. It’s happened, and we can’t change it.”

“Oh, believe me, I do have an idea after seeing you dancing with James, but we’ll get to that in a minute. I don’t know how many times I can tell you. Nothing. Happened. With. Katherine.” He lifts my face so that I have no option but to look into those brown eyes. All I see is hurt and sadness. “Libby, I was so angry with her. What you heard didn’t mean anything. I was proving to her that my body didn’t want her. I wasn’t hard for her, unlike now. You must’ve heard the tone in my voice. I was proving a point. She is vulnerable.”

“No, Alex,
vulnerable
is not a word I would use for Katherine.
Manipulative bitch
comes to mind.” I walk across the room, sit down on the bed, and rest my head in my hands, trying to process what he is telling me. “So nothing at all?” I ask.

“No, baby, nothing. I couldn’t and wouldn’t do that to you. You are more than enough for any man to contend with.” He comes toward me and sinks to his knees, kneeling in front of me. “Baby, I will love you until I take my last breath. That you have to believe, and now Katherine knows it too. But I wish you had let me know you were there. It would have saved us all this tonight.”

“It was known that I was there, alright. Katherine looked me square in the eye with smug satisfaction. Like the cat that got the cream.”

“Oh, baby, I am so sorry. The thought of hurting you doesn’t bear thinking about, and I seem to be doing a good job of hurting you. Katherine knows to stay away from both of us from now on.”

I nod.

“I suppose my mom was right about Katherine, and I’m sure she won’t let me forget that she told me so. Giving in and letting her have so much control over me has to be the biggest mistake of my life so far. But if I let you walk out tonight, there will never be a greater mistake.”

I breathe out a sigh of genuine relief—relief that nothing happened with the two of them. He takes my hands away from my face and leans toward me, placing a small kiss on my lips before pulling back.

“Libby, please stay. I couldn’t cope if you left tonight,” he pleads with those eyes that make my heart melt. “Tell me you’re staying.”

“I’m staying,” I whisper. “But we need to talk. Your reaction to my dancing with James was, shall we say, a bit over the top.”

“No, it wasn’t. He knew what my seeing you with him would do to me. He planned that, there is no doubt in my mind. He is so fucking twisted—but you knew that after hearing the phone call. But now, knowing that you were at the office—you must have seen him, right? Because he was there for a short time.”

“Yeah, I saw him in the hallway on my way to the office after a waiter told me you were waiting there for me. I didn’t think too much of it. He could’ve been anywhere—the men’s room or taking a call.”

“Fucking hell. So this was all planned by both of them. One of them sent for you to walk in at the right time. I’m going to fucking kill him. I need to go speak with Michael. I’m glad he was looking out for you earlier. What I got from him after he separated James and I was, shall we say, interesting. As for Sophie, she wanted to kick my ass downstairs.”

“It does look as if someone has.” I reach up to below his eye, where there’s a small cut. “I can clean that up for you if you like.”

“No, what I want is for us to go downstairs and let everyone know we’re okay so they’ll leave, and I can get you all to myself. At the moment I don’t care if I’m buried deep within you or lying holding you. I just want you. I want you to let me love you, because right now there is nothing in the world I want more.”

“You have such a way with words,” I say, grinning.

“Miss Stewart, you have no idea.” He rises to his feet and throws himself at me, throwing me back onto the bed playfully so I am lying flat on my back with him hovering above me, laughing. Who would have thought even an hour ago that I would be laughing tonight? Funny how things turn out. I reach up and cup his face, and our lips collide with the desire that has been building between us since he entered the room. Everything that has gone on this evening seems like a distant memory, forgotten.

There is a tap at the door, which is still open. It’s Sophie. “I take it we have sorted everything out?” She’s smiling. “Um, I thought I should warn you that Mom and Dad are headed here. Seems you’re in a bit of trouble. They’re not happy with you.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Alex sighs. “Come on. Let’s get downstairs before they get here.” He stands up, pulling me with him.

“What time is it?” I ask.

“After two,” Sophie replies. “And Libby, your phone has been going.”

I look at her puzzled, realising my phone is in my bag, and I don’t remember picking it up.

“I have your bag, Michael gave me it before we left,” she tells me.

We all head downstairs and enter the sitting room as Sarah and Richard arrive. Sophie wanders off to get my bag and brings it over as I sit down.